3. Black Bag

I woke up on the wet bathroom floor. The faucet had not been turned off so water was flooding the floors. I must not have been out for very long since light was still shining in from the bathroom window. I sat up, and noticed I wasn't feeling any pain. I saw Carl lying still on the floor as well.

I raised my hand and held onto the edge of the pedestal sink to lift myself up. Turned off the water and drained the sink before daring to look at myself in the vanity mirror. I remembered that he had smacked me twice, so I was expecting some bruising and maybe even a cut on my lips.

In disbelief of what I saw, I placed my hands on my cheek. It was curious, there were no injuries at all. I almost doubted that all that had happened until I tasted the lingering soap in my mouth. Turning my face left and right, I inspected my face just a moment more. Moving closer to the mirror and still saw no signs of the struggle that had ensued not long ago.

Finally seeing Carl in the reflection, fear again welled up inside me and I decided to leave the house. The best option was to find someone to help me if he did wake up. I closed the door and I walked slowly over to my neighbors house. On the way over, I was contemplating whether to tell the neighbor about the abuse but would she believe me, since I had no signs of injuries? I decided it was better just to omit that for now and just tell her that I had come home from school and found him on the bathroom floor. Secretly I was hoping that he would never wake up.

I knocked and rang the doorbell. Soon the elderly woman came to the door.

"Oh, Caitlyn. What brings you around?" she sweetly said.

I had to yell since she was hard of hearing, "I found Carl unconscious in the bathroom. Can you call the police?"

"What? Carl is cleaning the bathroom? That is nice dear but why do you need the police?" she asked.

"No, he is unconscious! UN-CON-SCI-OUS! I enunciate each syllable.

"Oh." she started being a bit flustered and said again, "Oh" while she went back in to grab the phone. "Come in dear, help me dial." she said as she waved me in.

I took the phone and dialed 911.

"Hi, my name is Caitlyn and I just came home and found my mom's boyfriend unconscious in the bathroom, " I said, then pausing for instructions. "My address is 752 Goodwill Drive in Lemoore. Then with another pause. "I am not in the house, I am at my neighbor's house." I listened to the instructions and finally responded, "Okay, bye."

I gave the phone back and asked if I could wait for the police in her living room and she agreed.

She even served me some cookies and milk while I waited.

About 5 minutes later, a fire truck appeared with an ambulance. My neighbor walked out with me to greet them.

A fireman asked "Are you Caitlyn? Can you tell us where the emergency is? Also is there anyone else in the house?"

"Yes, I'm Caitlyn. He is alone in the bathroom," I quietly responded.

"Okay, wait right here," he responded to me and at the same time waved for the medics to go in with him.

I stood there fidgeting a bit, moving my feet back and forth. Not long after they went in, they came back out to get the gurney.

Not long after that, they came back out with Carl on the gurney in a black bag.

I knew that from watching movies that it meant that he was already dead. I was secretly overjoyed, and a smile crept up, so I buried my head in a bear hug with my neighbor, who gasped as she saw the site. She held me tight and kept stroking my back and saying, "It's alright. It will be alright, my dear."

As the ambulance drove off, my mom's car came into the driveway. My neighbor was still holding me tight but I sneaked a peek over at my mom's direction. A police car arrived a little earlier and a police woman went to meet my mom at her car and she must have told her what had happened.

"Oh gosh!" she covered her mouth in shock, then as the police woman continued to speak, I heard mom say, "Oh no! Where is Caitlyn?"

I responded and said, "Mom, I am right here." Tearing away from my neighbor's hug, I ran to my mom's side and hugged her tightly.

The police woman said she had a few questions for me and asked my mom if it was okay if she asked me in her presence.

My mom looked down at me and replied, "Sure." She released me from her hug at the same time.

"Hi, Caitlyn. I'm Officer Wilson.

"Hi." I said, as I hid a bit behind my mom.

What is your last name and how old are you?" she asked.

"Chen and I'm nine and a half."

"When you called 911, the dispatch had recorded you saying that you had come home to find him unconscious in the bathroom. You called at 4pm. What did you do after getting home?" she asked.

"I went directly to my room, placed down my backpack and walked out to the kitchen to get a snack, after playing with my hamster a bit."

"What happened after that?" she asked.

"I saw a puddle in the hallway, and heard the sink going. The door wasn't fully closed but I knocked just in case but there was no answer.. So after a while I walked in and saw even more water, so I rushed to the sink and turned it off. I also saw Carl on the floor. I called him but he did not respond. I got scared and went over to my neighbor's house and asked her to call 911." I responded.

"Okay, when the firefighters were in the house, they noticed that the bathroom door was closed. Why did you close the door?"

"I did? Maybe it was just a habit, we close bathroom doors when we are done." I said.

"Yes, that is true" mom chimed in.

"There was also a bit of a mess in your living room, what happened there?" she asked.

"I was chasing the hamster ball and had knocked over a couple of pillows and a throw from the couch before I saw the water on the floor," I replied.

"There was also a bit of blood and water on the kitchen floor. Can you tell me how that got there? Are you hurt anywhere?

"Are you accusing her of something officer?" my mom asked sternly.

"No, Mrs. Chen, I was just concerned that she was hurt during the incident," the officer answered.

"Mom, I am not hurt. Look no scratches anywhere." As I showed her my arms and hiked up my pant legs.

Mom turned me to the Officer, "See, she has no injuries."

The officer checked me for injuries then asked, " Could you open your mouth?"

I hesitated and looked over at my mom, she said, "It's okay, go ahead."

She looked and saw nothing wrong and then said, "Thank you."

The police woman scribbled something on her notepad, then smiled and said "Okay, that was everything I wanted to know. Thank you for talking to me. If you think of something else, you can contact me at this number." She handed my mom a card and walked back to her patrol car.

After typing something in, she drove off. Mom and I were left alone on the driveway.

We walked into the house and for some reason, the house felt warmer to me. Mom cleaned up the bathroom and locked it. I was sent to her room to use the ensuite to clean up.

I cleaned up and went into my room, took a short nap until mom came in with pizza around 8pm.

"Honey, are you hungry?" mom asked.

Sleepily, I responded, "A little." I squinted, as my eyes adjusted from the light.

My mom handed me a plate. We each took a piece and we started to chew on our slices of pizza quietly. I tried to gather up enough courage to ask.

"Mom, why did you like Carl? He beat you and you still like him?" I timidly questioned.

She placed her plate down, "Sometimes love is hard to explain. When he was sober, he was sweet and he treated you well."

"Treat me nice! What the heck?" I screamed.

"Watch your language, missy!" she admonished.

"Didn't you know he hit me too!" I yelled at her.

The shock on my mom's face said it all, it was horror that was expressed in her eyes. She covered her face with her hands and I sat in silence staring at her until she faced me again.

She hugged me. "Honey, I am so sorry. I didn't know," she said with teary eyes. "I would not let any harm come to you if I knew." she said sadly. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"It started about a week after you brought him home to live with us," I said calmly.

"Oh, no!" She stood up, grabbed her hair and started pacing around the room, "That long!"

"He would hit me whenever he was drunk and you weren't home. Most times just with his hands, but sometimes with whatever he can grab a hold of. Each time, he would always apologize profusely and say he would not do it again. Then buy me presents or take me on outings. But it did happen again, every time he got drunk," I stopped as my mom's face had turned pale.

She sat down again and placed her head between her legs for a while and when she came up, she took a deep breath and asked, "Did he ever touch you, I mean you know, sexually?"

"No." I replied, shaking my head and I saw the tension in my mom's face release, but then replaced it with sadness.

She hugged me so tightly. "I am so sorry."

I hugged her back, we both cried until we both felt completely empty of tears.

My mom held me at arms length and looked me directly in the eyes. "Okay, starting tomorrow, we will leave all this behind. I'll look for a new place to rent and leave all these unhappy memories behind."

I smiled and nodded.