Thank Goodness

"Violet!" Eric yelled drunkenly from the other room. "Get in here pretty girl!" It didn't matter how many times he said it, his compliments on her looks made her cringe. "VIOLET!!" Ice poured through her veins because he was getting impatient and that was unacceptable in Eric's world. Impatience was always followed by blood. "Coming!" Violet yelped in the highest voice she could muster. Violet was always to sound like that little girl Eric stole from Swiftwater, so every word she said was in a higher pitch than what felt natural. Eric had commandeered an unfinished house in Arkansas for a few days, so he and his "children" could sleep peacefully. To Violet and Rachel's surprise, Eric had met a few men at a nearby gas station and invited them over for a half-assed poker game in the dusty basement.

Creepy basement in an empty house? How typical could you BE?

Before Violet made it from the dungeon-like bedroom, also in the basement, to the smokey game room, Eric had grabbed her hand, hard. She stifled her yell from the pain. He had nearly ripped her arm off for three years now grabbing it, so she learned to take it. She didn't want to give Eric the satisfaction. Three strange men looked at her like she was a piece of meat, practically drooling. She looked at Eric confused, but immediately noticed he was smiling and that never ended well for her. Violet raised her eyebrows waiting to hear what was going on because though he smiled often, it was never like this. She had never seen this look on Eric's face. "Well, gentlemen? What do you think?" Eric nodded his head, again impatient, waiting for a response from these strangers. "She's stunning." A fat, sweaty man wearing a stained white shirt and ripped jeans walked closer to Violet. She stepped back, but got nowhere because Eric had quietly shifted his body behind her. "Eric . . ." Violet's eyes widened and she felt them sink into her head. The strange man got close, close enough to reach out and touch her face. Before he had fully stretched out his arm, Violet turned and ran into Eric pushing him uselessly trying to get away. "VIOLET!" Eric screamed as he grabbed her by the shoulders and leaned in close. "Violet. Stop. This is for us. For our family. Think of Rachel! How could you be so selfish?" Violet's crying had gotten so loud that she couldn't hear anything else around her and the room felt like it was closing in. She dropped to her knees and rested her hands on Eric's stomach, pleading for him to let her go. Her tears were hitting the cement floor and she was losing the ability to form words when Eric slapped her across the face. "Enough." Violet let out one last cry before Eric grabbed her shirt in his fist and lifted her to her feet. Before she could plead once more, she saw Eric look behind her and wink. Moments later, she felt an unfamiliar hand wrap around her waist as Eric was handed money. Violet started screaming once again as the man lifted her and took her across the basement to a bedroom nearby. He shut the door and locked it, but the walls weren't thick enough to block out one of the other men saying, "I get her next."

"MAX!" Max snapped out of her nightmare and felt someone shaking her body. As she started fluttering her eyes and attempting to quiet her screams she heard a familiar voice belt another, "MAX!" Without fully realizing what was happening, Max jolted up in the bed and grabbed her chest with her shaking hands. She felt her chest falling and rising up at a rapid pace and thought she may be suffocating, but as she looked around, she realized where she was and who she was with. Max locked eyes with Anna and yelled, "I am so sorry!" Before Anna had the chance to reply, Max lunged into her chest and let her tears fall onto the mattress.

"God, Anna, I am so sorry!" Max rubbed her eyes with her trembling hands. "I don't know what the hell happened . . . I haven't had that one in a long time . . ." Her voice quickly faded. Her usual recurring dreams were painful, but she had mostly gotten used to the pounding heartbeat those brought in. This particular dream always shook her more. It was the true beginning of her descent into becoming the ghost of a person she is today.

Eric and his abuse had broken Max, of course, but this moment was different. She was older. Old enough to understand exactly what was happening and that it would become a regular event. It only took a few times for Max to shut down and learn to just lay there. Just do her job. She convinced herself that she was providing for Rachel and most days that was enough to get her through.

"Stop apologizing, babe. It's okay."

Max took a deep breath and leaned back, away from Anna's now tear-soaked shirt.

"Anna . . ."

"I'm serious, Max." Anna grabbed Max's hands firmly.

"It's not like you went to bed hoping you'd have a nightmare and scream in my face."

Anna laughed, but Max's face was still. All she could think was that at some point, everyone in her life would leave. Why would they want to stick around? To shield Max from herself and her inner turmoil? She never heard of anyone actually enjoying having a burden in their life.

"Max." Anna tapped her on the tip of her nose as she said, "BOOP." Max couldn't help, but laugh. "Did you just boop my nose?"

"You're damn straight I did! You are in your head thinking about how I don't love you anymore and I am going to ditch you." Anna let go of Max's hands, "Which is NOT true."

Max sighed softly before wiping the left-over tears off her face.

"Why? How could you want to stay?"

"Because! Now you're the crazy friend and I like it."

Max hung her head and scoffed before giggling.

"Well, I can't exactly argue with that."

Anna laughed quietly and touched Max's cheek lightly.

"Max. I love you. I am not going anywhere and I will repeat that everyday until the day I die if it shows you how serious I am."

Max couldn't take her eyes off of Anna. She never ceased to amaze her with her understanding. After being screamed at by Eric everyday for five years, Max instantly shrunk into herself when she did something she deemed unacceptable.

"I guess I am just flipping out about tomorrow. I am sure it'll be fine."

Max shrugged her shoulders and made to lay back down, but Anna stopped her.

"Not so fast, buddy." Max rolled her eyes as she straightened up again on the mattress.

"How did I know I wouldn't get out of this so easily?"

Anna laughed before she said seriously, but gently, "you're flipping out? How?"

Max tossed her hands up and let them hit the mattress hard on the way back down.

"I don't know! I feel like I should be all excited and stuff, but I am just terrified and on the verge of tears every step I take!"

"It makes total sense, babe! I am sure somewhere in that dark and mysterious mind you ARE excited. But, this is not going to be easy for you. I know I have been talking like it is, but I also know you have stuff you will need to deal with."

Anna sighed. "I am sorry if I have made you think you should be feeling one way. I honestly just thought you wouldn't come if I acted like doomsday was arriving."

The girls shared a laugh and Max finally smirked.

"No, don't ever be sorry. The last seven years of my life have been one long doomsday. You are my sunshine, BABE." Max fluttered her eyelash and dramatically grabbed and shook Anna's arms.

"You know, Max, I really don't appreciate the sarcasm during our very beautiful moment."

Max smiled while Anna giggled. "I can't believe after all of this time you even bothered to try and rescue me."

Anna stopped laughing and looked at Max curiously. "Why? You're my best friend."

"I just thought you would've found a new one."

Anna raised her voice sarcastically, "and replace YOU?! Who doesn't want a weird, black-haired, rude best friend?"

Max nudged Anna's shoulder lightly with her hand.

"And how could I replace my psychotic, loud, red-headed best friend?"

Anna scrunched her face "Geez, we're a freakin' mess!"

Max and Anna giggled loudly, but they shushed each other at the same time. Max was hoping they didn't wake Chris with their late night therapy session.

"There is something I have been wondering, but I didn't want to upset you."

Max raised her eyebrows and tilted her head slightly.

"Max . . . what happened to you after you left Eric? It was around two years, right?"

Max pursed her lips with her eyebrows still raised, "well, nothing really. We were rescued in Florida and I just made my way up here."

"How long did it take you to get here from Florida? That sounds like forever, yikes."

Max smiled. "No, it was about two weeks. Getting rides, walking, taking a bus or something when I had money. It sounds depressing and exhausting, but it was like a vacation for me. I barely had to speak to anyone. Some nights I slept in a motel, an empty house, even in a field of grass once and it was beautiful. Honestly, the stars that night . . . "

Max shook her head and smiled at the memory. "I always wanted to live here, though. It was a place Eric hadn't brought us, so there were no memories attached. It felt like a clean start, you know?"

Anna nodded her head as Max's voice softened. "But, I soon realized that the memories lived in me. I couldn't escape them even if I tried. And that was my life. Wake up, play guitar, go home, have nightmares, and repeat."

"Max, that sounds miserable."

"It was and it wasn't." Max sighed once again. "It was a freedom I never had and as depressing as it sounds . . . I felt so far away from the girl held captive. So far from Violet. It was the best feeling I had in a very long time."

Anna nodded her head as a smile lit up her face.

"Well, thank GOODNESS you have me to make your life fabulous."

Anna fake swiped sweat from her forehead and smiled.

"Yeah. Thank goodness."

Max looked into Anna's eyes and smiled back.

She knew that Anna could see on her face how grateful she was.

Without another word, the girls laid down and slept until morning. Max slept through the night with no more nightmares, but as soon as her eyes opened, the twitch in her stomach returned. The day had arrived and it finally sunk in that there was no turning back.