Virginia Gone Read Free Page A

deeper down in to the covers. Her eyes fluttered as she slipped in to a heavy sleep, dreaming.
     1:30 am. She felt the mattress dip behind her. Her eyes opened. Arms circled her waist. His chin dug into the tender muscle along her shoulder causing her to cringe. She could hear his excited breaths coming more rapid as he molded his body against her backside.
     He whispered, “Shh, I just want to be near you.”
     Virginia screamed, and sat straight up in the bed to find herself alone. Her heart sped, the only sound in the room. She pressed palms to her cheeks slick with perspiration. Her white cotton gown clung to her skin.
     The door knob to her room rattled. She held her breath clasping the covers to her chest. She listened. One beat. Two beat. The door knob rattled again! And again! Pressure was applied to wood from the other side, but the lock held. There was a shake. A shove.
     “Honey, are you okay? I heard you scream,” her father called.
     “Go back to bed dad…I’m okay,” Virginias words came out broken.
     
     
      Three
     
      “She sometimes thought she was going crazy. Her first thought when she woke up was always how to get him out of her thoughts. And she would keep watch, hoping to see him next door, while plotting ways to never have to see him again. ” –Sarah Addison Allen, Garden Spells
     
     Virginia had never seen her mother appear so vulnerable or broken. The left side of her face was bruised and swollen until her left eye was hardly visible in the folds of flesh. Her lips were chapped and peeling, dried blood in the thin lacerations. A hissing sound came from her mouth with every labored breath.
     
     The reality of her mother’s condition came rushing in like arctic air slicing deep and painfully to the marrow of her bones. She sat in a chair by the bed clasping her mother’s hand tight drinking in the sight of her still body, limp under the layers of blankets. The room smelled of rubbing alcohol and something Virginia couldn’t quite make out.
     
     “I’m sorry I haven’t been home. I just couldn’t….” Virginia wiped away tears from her cheeks, and tried again.  Her voice was barely a whisper, “I just couldn’t face him. I am a horrible daughter. I know it. Will you ever forgive me?” Her mother moaned, and her head lolled to the opposite side. Her mumbled words were incoherent—a bad dream maybe. She did appear slightly feverish.
     
     Virginia heard movement, and turned to see her father pause in the doorway. She immediately dropped of her mother’s hand and abruptly stood, a vein in her forehead pulsated matching the beat of her speeding heart. She sniffed, forced back the tears refusing to let him see her cry. “Does she ever say anything? I don’t think she knows I’m here.”
     
     “Oh honey, I know you’re here . Isn’t that good enough?” He came to stand before her making movement towards a hug.
     
     “Dad, please don’t.” She stepped back twice, and touched her face.
     
     Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
     
     He tried pulling her towards him, but her feet were planted were she stood. 
     
     “Don’t….” She wrenched her arm free.  “I can’t breathe! Shit, I can’t breathe!” Red blotches broke out all over her chest as she bent clutching her knees gasping for air. Inhale. Exhale. Her heart beat so freaking fast. It had to be a heart attack. That’s what it was, a heart attack. Nobody’s heart pounded that bad without them falling over dead. Her father advanced towards her again.
     
     “I said don’t touch me!”
     
     “Riley! Get in here!” her father yelled.
     
     Riley appeared in the doorway. He immediately went to Virginia. The expression on his face was hard, unreadable, but there was no trace of a smile. Gone was the young boy whose infectious humor used make others laugh.
     
     Smack!!  The flat of her hand met his cheek. He grabbed her wrist stopping a repeat of the action. She pushed against his chest.