CHAPTER 30
*PAST*
“Knife to the neck”
Aaron
I called Maya’s house multiple times. She didn’t reply. Then, I called Rita. She worked in the station and called a neighbor who told her that he had seen Maya get into the station and that her mother hadn’t picked her up. She had ridden her bike back home.
She had lied.
I called her mom and she told me that she was still at work and couldn’t talk with her, either. I decided to wait until the morning. I would call her work and make sure that she was alright. I went to sleep, but couldn’t. I was going to buy her a cell phone and stick it to her hand. I didn’t want to call the police, but I was about to do it multiple times during the night.
My parents told me that she probably fell fast asleep, but I could see that they were worried, too. I called first thing in the morning to her boss. Maya was still not there. I told her to call me as soon as she arrived. The minutes were passing slowly, and when another hour had passed, I called again. She told me that she still hadn’t come. It was strange. Maya was always on time.
I decided to get into the car and go to our town. My brother, Niko, convinced me to let him drive; he told me that I was no way in shape to be driving.
The drive was tense. We passed by her work first. Nothing. She hadn’t even talked to tell her boss to say that she couldn’t go.
I told Niko where she lived, and the road to get there was one of the worst of my life. After the scare with my grandpa, I was still anxious and tired, and what wasn’t helping was that Maya was not replying. We entered the trailer park. I didn’t know exactly where she lived, so Niko asked a neighbor for directions.
“Good morning, ma’am. We are looking for Maya Amery.”
“Why are you looking for her?”
The woman was short with a toddler in her arms. He was blonde with big cheeks.
“My brother is her friend, and they were supposed to hang out to do a high school project. She didn’t come and didn’t reply to her phone. We are worried about her. Just want to make sure that everything is alright.”
“Her house is the last one. The gray one with a green mailbox. If she is in the house, her bike must be tied to the house. If it isn’t, she’s out.”
“Thank you, ma’am. Hope you have a good day.”
The kid said bye to Niko with his hands and Niko smiled at him. I was about to get out and push him into the car when he opened the door.
We continued on the way, following the instructions until we saw an old gray house made of metal. The mailbox was green and there was a bike next to it. I recognized it as Maya’s. I relaxed a little. She came home last night.
I almost jumped out of the car. Niko stopped it quickly. He shook his head. “Now you can, Romeo.”
I went to her door and knocked. No one replied. I knocked again, this time harder. Nothing. When I was about to scream Maya’s name, someone opened the door. It was just a small part, but I recognized Maya’s voice when she said, “Aaron, what are you doing here?”
“You didn’t call or take the phone. You didn’t go to work either. Are you fine?”
“I’m sick. The flu, probably.”
“Let me enter,”
I said too quickly. “I can make you some soup.”
“Aaron, I’m fine. You need to go back home. I can’t talk right now.”
I pushed the door and tried to enter the house. Something was wrong. She tried to push me out with the door, but she couldn’t.
“Maya, if you have the flu, I—”
Her eye and forehead were bruised, her lip had a cut, and her eyes were bloodshot. “What happened?”
I said slowly, touching her cheek.
“You need to leave, now!”
“Who did this, my love?”
“Aaron,”
she cried. “You need to leave, please,”
she said as her voice broke. I shook my head. I couldn’t leave her like this. I entered the house.
“Let me help you.”
She shook her head with unshed tears in her eyes.
“You can’t.”
She tried to push me while I got closer.
“Can I hug you?”
She kept looking behind her, like someone was going to come and hurt her. I followed her eyes and saw what appeared to be her room completely destroyed. Her clothes, books, all her things where everywhere.
Someone attacked her here. They had robbed them, maybe, but the rest seemed fine compared to her room. But she wasn’t looking at her room. She was looking at the one next to hers. I went there. I grabbed a knife from the kitchen and went to check the room. She kept pulling on my arm, but I decided to see who or what was there that had her panicked.
I saw the room. A queen bed with a man on top. The man reeked. I couldn’t see his face properly. He seemed in his late fifties with a beard and a beer belly. He was wearing street clothes, clearly too intoxicated to change. He moved and Maya panicked, trying to push me to hide. I wasn’t moving until she pushed me into her room.
“You need to leave, Aaron. If you don’t, I will never be able to talk to you again.”
She was clearly scared and hurt, and I didn’t want to cause her more grief, but I wasn’t going to leave her there with that man. The man made a sound and then seemed to rise up. Maya pushed me inside her closet and put a finger to her lips.
“Maya!”
She jumped, scared.
“Yes, Dad.”
This man couldn’t be her dad. I had heard rumors that he had a temper and that he was jobless more than working but never heard that he was violent. This man could not be the same man I met when I was a kid—the same one who brought Maya to my house and had dinner with my family.
My heart broke for Maya. Her own father had done this to her. Hit her. Bruised her. He was a monster.
“Maya, make some breakfast and give me some water.”
I assumed that both were in the living room or the kitchen. The house was small, but I couldn’t see them. “And an omelet. With sausage and coffee. And some toast.”
This man had some nerve. After hitting her, he demanded she make his breakfast.
Maya made a little sound of hurt. Did he put his hands on her again?
“Don’t be a baby. I didn’t hurt you yesterday. It looks worse than it is. Your arm is in perfect condition.”
Did he break her arm? I was going to kill this piece of shit.
“It doesn’t hurt. It’s fine,”
Maya said softly.
“And if it does, you deserve it. How can you be so selfish and conceited? You should be grateful for all that we have done for you. Money isn’t everything. We didn’t raise you to be a whore or a gold digger.”
I was shaking from rage. A sound was made. Something fell to the ground.
“How can you be so stupid?”
he screamed. “You threw the food on purpose. You are going to clean it with your mouth.”
I got out of the closet and saw that he was grabbing her hard by her arm. She was making a face of pain. I was going to destroy him. I grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and pushed him into the fridge. The knife was still in my hands. Maya screamed my name.
“Leave her alone, you monster.”
Maya tried to push me away from her dad.
A door opened and closed hard, and then I felt strong arms trying to get me off of the scumbag that I had in front of me.
“Maya, get in the car.”
It was Niko’s voice. “Aaron, we need to get Maya to a hospital. The police are on their way. We need to leave. Now. He’s not worth it.”
“Aaron.”
Maya’s voice was full of anguish. I released him and followed them to the door without stopping to look at him. He wasn’t going to harm them.
Niko pushed me out of the house, and we quickly entered the car. I was in the rear with Maya next to me. She was shaking, completely pale. I touched her hands gently. They were frozen.
The car hit a bump and Maya hit her shoulder with the door. I put her in the middle seat and put on the seat belt, trying to avoid touching her bad arm. She was in shock. I touched her cheek and looked in her eyes.
“You are safe. Everything is going to be alright, my love.”