Page 52 of The Wrong Sister

“Of course.”

“Then please, do what I asked. I don’t really have a handle on this situation, but this is already not how we do things. You need to stay in the car, out of sight. And if I tell you to, you leave. Got it?”

Fear is weighing down my extremities, as cold and heavy as ice, but I agree and follow her instructions. It’s not easy to get the car turned around in this narrow alleyway with cars crowding every available space. I’m pointed towards our exit and my head is ducked down below the window. It makes me even more nervous to not be able to see what’s going on. I lean back awkwardly to get a tiny view of the outside. At least now I’ll know if someone approaches. Will someone be approaching? I don’t even know what I’m looking for.

I hate sitting here, hiding, doing nothing. A little asshole voice niggles in the back of my mind.Obviously, she wants me to stay in the car and run away if things get bad. A boring family lawyer doesn’t belong in situations like this. I should be behind a desk somewhere, making lists. And Mina should have someone by her side who can legitimately stand alongside her.It’s hard not to listen to the voice when it’s the only thing around for me to focus on.

Mina has only been gone two minutes at most, but it feels like an eternity. I’m counting the seconds with the frantic beats of my heart. I can see her from here, standing on the front steps of a run-down duplex. She knocks, waits, knocks again, and checks her watch. My legs are bouncing and my fingers are tapping restlessly on the steering wheel. I’m not sure how CWS calls usually work but everything about this feels off. I want to urge Mina to hurry, but for what?

I’m watching the clock, trying to stay out of sight when I hear the roar of a big truck. I chance a glance out the window and see a large, lifted dual cab pickup with huge tires pulling into the driveway. A guy gets out and slips around the front of his truck like he’s sneaking instead of simply walking up to his own house. Is this his house? Is he who the caller was afraid of? Indecision has me frozen and sweating at the same time. I don’t know what I should be doing here.

I’m trying to watch out the passenger side window without being seen. I want to get out and, I don’t know, call attention to him. Ask why he’s slinking around in the middle of the day. Run over and grab Mina and force her back into my car where I know she’s safe. Right, because it’s possible to force Mina to do anything she doesn’t want to do. Fuck. Mina wants me to be ready to drive away, so I stay.

She knocks on the door again, shakes her head, and turns to leave but stops short when she sees the driver of the truck. He’s stepped closer to the duplex, more fully in view, and I recognize the wide shoulders and blond hair. I can’t hear what’s being said but she’s holding her hand out, gesturing as if she’s trying to calm him down. He reaches for her extended arm but also steps in front of her. I can’t see what’s happening but everything about this is wrong. He shouldn’t even be here. This doesn’t make sense.

Then Mina screams.

The sound rips at my insides. There’s so much pain in her voice. I’m yanking the car into park and running in the same instant. Frantic, I’m trying to dial 9-1-1 as I sprint toward the house. A tinny voice answers but I’m putting everything into covering the ground between us. He has his hand around Mina’s throat and she’s clawing at it with one arm, the other hanging down and looking wrong. Her eyes are wide and terrified.

I launch myself at his back and the movement causes him to lose his grip on her throat. She kicks out and it sounds like she gets his groin.I fucking hope so. His fist is connecting with Mina’s face as he’s going down and I’m tightening my arms around his throat. Mina lands roughly on her back, clutching her arm to her body and wheezing. He goes down hard with me underneath him. He’s trying to thrash around, but I have my forearm against his windpipe and all of my weight on his back. I can hear the small voice calling from my dropped phone.

I yell, hoping she can hear me. “My name is Griffin Simms. There’s already supposed to be an officer coming to this address but,” I’m gasping for air, “this is so fucked up. It’s not a child welfare situation. And we need an ambulance!” He pushes back against me, my body sliding in the dirt. “I can’t reach my phone unless I let go of him and that is not fucking happening!” I can hear sirens in the distance. I hope they’re coming to us. It’s taking everything I have to keep this guy down, I can’t even turn to check on Mina.

“Mina! Talk to me, baby, please?” I plead, unable to keep the terror out of my voice.

She sucks in air through her teeth. Her voice is raw. I can tell it’s painful to talk. “He broke my arm. Shit! It really hurts. It’s bad, I can see bone, Griff, I think my eye is swelling shut. I can’t see!”

Her voice trembles at the end and that hits me hard. Mina is so fucking strong. It has to be bad if she’s on the verge of tears. I hate that I can’t do more; that I didn’t do more. The sirens are louder now and finally, I can hear doors opening and steps approaching. Two officers walk up from the street behind us and cuff him, enabling me to get up. I scramble over the patchy, scraggly grass, desperate to get to Mina. That guy is lucky there are cops here now. I want to beat the shit out of him. I want to punch him until my knuckles are raw. Anything to replace the fear and guilt eating at me. They haul him up and one guy walks him to the cruiser while the other addresses us.

“Miss Brookner.”

“Hey, Kawika,” Mina greets him wearily, “er, Officer Mix.” It looks like she tries a joking salute but she can’t manage it and the raw pain in her eyes guts me. I’m worried about her throat swelling more. She shouldn’t be talking.

“Mina, try not to talk.” I turn to the officer. “Look, I don’t know what the fuck kind of situation he fabricated to try to get her here alone but that bastard,” I jab my finger towards the squad car, “is not allowed anywhere near her! She already has a restraining order out against him!”

“The ambulance will be here any minute. Be right back.” He stares across the street, expression grim, before striding off. I forget about safety or protocols or common sense and lift Mina as carefully as I can off the ground, cradling her against me. She winces, squeezing her good eye closed.

“I’m sorry, Meens, I should have run out the moment he pulled up.”

She reaches up with her uninjured hand, touching my face gently. “I asked you not to.”

Like me being great at doing what I’m told makes it all okay. Kawika comes back, handing me my keys.

“I locked your car up. Figured you could come back for it later.”

I could not care about my car less. The cry of the ambulance siren fills the crowded alley, adding to the overall feeling of chaos. They load Mina up and I follow the gurney into the back, Kawika climbing in behind me. He talks me through the incident, clarifying points and taking notes while I cling to Mina’s free hand. Once inside, I try to follow them back to triage but he stops me at the door with a steady hand on my shoulder.

“She’s going to be assessed and we need to get photographs of the injuries. I’ll come back out and let you know what’s up as soon as that is done, ya?”

I nod numbly and he pushes through the heavy door, leaving me alone.

I pace my small corner of the overly chilly, sterile room, anxiety eating at me. The overload of adrenaline has left my hands shaking and my chest tight. I know, logically, that they couldn’t let me go back there with her. Logic is hard to hold onto right now. I don’t want her to be back there alone. Ineedto be with her.

Eventually, Kawika comes back out to let me know they’re taking her back to surgery. He leaves and I’m alone again. Just me and the pacing. Me and the worry. Me and the looping image of Mina, helpless and broken, while I run from too far away. Shit. It isn’t just me alone though. Or, at least, it shouldn’t be. I group text our parents and siblings, only having energy enough for one message.

Me: At Queens. Mina’s in surgery

That taken care of I go back to pacing until Kawika comes back to check up on Mina and update me on Troy, whose ass is currently parked in jail. I’m sitting in the sad upholstered chair, talking to him when our family descends en masse.

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