Chapter 24 Wren
Wren
THE SONGBIRD
My phone is dead. I didn’t want Kage to hang up but now it’s dead and I’m so fucking scared. My chest feels tight thinking about what might have happened here. My breath is shaky as my eyes fixate on all the blood. There’s so much fucking blood.
Slowly, I stand up staring at the smeared handprint on the wall next to Chen’s front door. Pushing it open, I step inside, following the deep red that contrasts against the stark white of the linoleum tile.
“Be quiet Wren, don’t let him hear you.”
I blink hard, trying to shake the memories away but they crash into me like a freight train.
Small beads of blood paint the floors of our kitchen.
Where does it lead to?
Following the droplets, I step down the hallway and into mommy and daddy's room. The door is cracked just enough to where I can see her. Mommy is laying on the bed, her hair sticking to the dampness of her cheeks. A large cut slices through her eyebrow, the blood pooling in the corner of her eye where it’s starting to swell.
Her lip is busted and bleeding and ugly bruises are painted all around her neck.
“Wren baby, go to your room before your father sees you in here. You shouldn’t see me like this.”
Mommy is trying to hide her face from me now, turning her head towards her headboard but the light from the lamp on her bedside table only highlights the swelling of her face.
I’m frozen in place, terrified by how different mommy looks right now. She’s so scared, there’s so much blood. I look down at the floor, my toes scrunch in the tiny pool of blood I’m stepping in. A rush of horror spikes through me. I need to get it off.
“Please sweetheart,” she begs, her voice cracking on the last word. “Just go. Be a good girl and go.”
Tears sting my eyes, I want to run to the bathroom and wash the blood away. I want to take her with me and fix her. Why can’t we run away? Away from daddy and all the pain he causes us. Daddy’s aren’t supposed to hurt their little girls.
My lip trembles as I whisper so soft, mommy almost doesn’t hear me. “You didn’t stay quiet when daddy asked you to either…did you?”
Mommy’s eyes grow wide and I look back down to the floor where my toes are still covered in blood. Footsteps pound on the other side of the house and I know he’s coming.
“Go Wren! Please! Go hide!”
Listening to mommy, I run back to my room, grab Mr. Teddy Bear, and hide in the closet like I’ve done since I was four, only this time daddy doesn’t come get me.
The door to the closet swings open and I hide my face in my knees, curling into myself like maybe that will protect me from him hurting me again.
“Wren!” The voice is loud and panicked, causing me to shrink into myself even more. Maybe if I’m really quiet he won’t realize I’m in here. Was dinner not made? Is daddy going to take it out on me again?
Finally dredging up the courage to look, I slowly raise my head from my knees.
All I can see is him. His large silhouette looming in the door frame, just waiting to take more from me. I scream.
“Wren, baby, look at me. It’s me. Kage.”
That voice. Soft, familiar, and full of worry.
It’s not my dad, but one of the two men I know would never hurt me.
Looking past him, I glance at our surroundings.
I’m in my bedroom? How did I get in here?
One moment I’m following the blood in Chen’s apartment, the next I’m nine years old again, hiding in my small closet clutching Mr. Teddy Bear.
Only now I’m not nine. It’s twenty years later and I’m in my apartment clutching a pillow. Where’s Mr. Teddy Bear?
“Fuck baby, I'm so sorry,” Kage whispers as he crouches down to my level on the floor, holding his arms out for me to crawl into.
My first instinct is to flinch away, the fear overpowering all rational thoughts, but I can see the pain in his eyes. The primal instinct to protect me from the monsters that plague every tragic memory that I can’t seem to bury.
I practically throw myself into his arms, sobbing into his shoulder and soaking his grey t-shirt. When I draw back, I notice the blood he's covered in. Splatters of red stain his shirt, dried blood painting his skin in several places.
I pull further away from him, crawling backwards into the closet again.
“What? What is it?” Kage asks in panic as his eyes trail mine, landing on the blood spattered across his shirt. Looking himself over, the panic on his face morphs into something else entirely.
“No little bird, this isn't what it looks like.
Nox and I went hunting after dropping you off at work.
We shot a large buck, it's just animal blood.” He's looking at me like he's willing me to believe him.
Like there couldn't be any other possible explanation as to why he's covered in blood.
Why do I feel like I should believe him? Why would he lie to me about that?
Deciding to believe him and get the fuck out of this apartment, I crawl back over to him and he picks me up, cradling me in his arms as he kisses the top of my head.
“Let's get you out of here.”