"Come on Beca! You know how much my mum loves you, spend the night at mine!"
Stacie pouted at her best friend, they were fifteen years old and standing outside their High School, Beca just stared at the other girl with a look of discomfort on her face.
"Stacie I can't, Dad wants me home tonight…"
Stacie pouted. "He wants you home every night! It's been a year and he still has this hold on you Becs! I miss my best friend!"
Beca lowered her eyes. "I miss her too. I know how long it's been but he needs me Stace, now I've really gotta go."
The small girl scampered away before Stacie could stop her; she took out her phone and dialled her mother's number. The phone was answered after two rings.
"Did you see, mom?"
Stacie heard a sigh from the other end of the line. "Yes, I'm across the street. Jump in the car and we'll talk, I love you."
"Love you too…" Stacie replied before hanging up.
She sprinted to her mother's car, it was a black Ford Fusion and it sat inconspicuously in the line of cars along the busy street. Stacie dumped her bag on the back seat before climbing into the passenger seat, finally allowing her worry show on her face.
"Something's up Mom" she began. "I know what happened but Beca's acting beyond grief, she doesn't even play sport anymore!"
Stacie's mom pursed her lips. "I don't know Stace; this could be her way of accepting it? Everyone handles grief differently-"
"No!" Stacie cut her off in a huff. "Beca isn't the type of person to let her emotions rule her for this long, she normally would've acted strong for me when I was dealing with her Mom's death and forgot her own troubles. She's shutting me out Mom; Beca would never do that unless something was seriously wrong!"
Stacie stopped her rant when she felt a hand squeeze her arm gently. "Tell me what's changed in the last few months, honey."
"She's just changed. I mean after it happened she took some time off but it's like she's still going through the pain. She doesn't sing anymore, she's getting thrown out of class, she's withdrawn, her grades have dropped, and she doesn't eat properly. I'm scared she's dying Mom! She only wears black and every inch of her skin is covered, we can't even touch her without her jumping a mile!"
Cassie sat back, her jaw slacked for a moment, and she knew what a possibility in this situation but no way. There was no way it could be true.
: :
"How was school?"
"Fine."
"That's not an answer Beca."
"…"
The breath left Beca before she could reply, or even beg for mercy, her father's fist connected with her stomach and it sent the teenager to her knees. Her vision went blurry and she wanted to be sick, she couldn't breathe properly and all she could register was John's voice from above her.
"It's your fault she's gone, we were happy before you were born. As soon as you started to grow up she went downhill, it's your fault she isn't alive and with me. She never loved you, who could love a pathetic little wretch like you?"
He punctuated the last sentence with a hard kick to her ribs. Beca rolled on to her back, tears pouring down her cheeks.
Mom I'm sorry.
"Look at you, crying like your tears will bring her back. You deserve this, you know that don't you?" John growled as he hit her again.
"Yes… I deserve it, it's my fault Mom is gone…" Beca whispered, trying to ignore the fierce burning in her ribs.
John yelled a stream of curses, making Beca try to crawl away. Her efforts were futile as John brought his foot down on Beca's leg, snapping the bone. She reared her head back and screamed a high pitched cry of agony. She wanted to die, she begged for her father to kill her, to finally be released from her pain.
The last thing she saw before her vision went dark was John pulling a knife from the kitchen…
: :
Cassie and Stacie were shooting down the highway of Los Angeles, way over the speed limit but Cassie was in no position to care. An empty feeling had begun to curl in the pit of her stomach, she had a hunch about what was wrong with Beca but she couldn't afford to make any accusations. Stacie had her head buried in her hands and she was crying, she knew this was serious, her mother never freaked out.
She had noticed the strained body language of Cassie, the rigid posture and the constant biting of her lip.
"Her Dad is hurting her isn't he."
Cassie whimpered, hearing the words said out loud was so much more difficult than simply thinking them, it made everything more concrete. "I don't know, baby."
"Don't bullshit me!" Stacie yelled. She never swore at her mother. "My best friend is being abused and I didn't fucking notice!"
"Stacie Conrad you take down your tone right now." Cassie spoke with coldness in her voice. "If we are right we are going to protect Beca and if I have to kill that man to protect my second daughter I will."
Stacie stared at her, she hoped to God that Beca was okay but she knew what her mother was capable of when it came to protecting her children.
They swerved around the corner of Beca's street and the tires screeched as the car came to a stop outside Beca's home. Their blood ran cold as a bone-chilling scream pierced the air, Cassie reached into the back of the car and pulled out a metallic baseball bat, she looked at Stacie. "Stay here, call the police and tell them the situation. Do not follow me in there. I don't know if John will try and harm me but I need to put you and Beca first, so I will go alone and try and hold him off until the police arrive."
Stacie went to protest but nodded reluctantly; she pulled her phone out and called 911 as Cassie moved out of the car and towards the house.
: :
Cassie kicked the door down and moved quickly, her eyes darted around each room searching for either Beca or John. An irregular thud kept occurring upstairs; Cassie prayed that it wasn't the sound of him beating Beca as she moved through the house.
A blood trail ran through the living room and into the kitchen from the stairs, Cassie gagged as she gazed upon the knife that was covered in blood.
Protect Beca. She repeated to herself as she crept up the stairs, following the trail of blood. She walked up to a partially opened door and the smell was putrid, vomit and blood. Taking a quiet breath she burst into the room and swung at the first human she saw, which was John.
The bat cracked his jaw and he dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes, Cassie cried out when she saw the beaten and broken body of Beca Mitchell. She heard a crash downstairs and a yell of "Police!"
"Up here! This girl needs help!" Cassie screamed, taking the girl into her arms.
Beca looked up at Cassie and it broke her heart to see the girl so small and fearful. "Cass?" She whispered, her voice broken from her screaming. "Hurts…"
"I'm here baby, everything's gonna be fine now I promise." She mumbled, trying to placate the girl as she fell unconscious.
Stacie burst into the room with two police officers; she burst into tears at the sight of Beca and ran over to her. "Beca… What happened, Mom?"
"I came in and saw him beating her down, I took him out with the bat and then you walked in. We need to get her to a hospital." She answered Stacie whilst looking at the officers. They directed her downstairs where an ambulance was waiting. Beca was loaded inside but Cassie and Stacie were not allowed in with her.
"I'm sorry Ma'am, you aren't family."
"Are you fucking kidding me? That man they are arresting is her biological father; we are the only true family she has left!" Stacie pushed the man, making him hit the doors of his vehicle.
Cassie grabbed her daughter. "We'll follow behind. We need to get the car Stace, come on we'll get to the hospital right behind them."
Her daughter reluctantly nodded, she turned and tried to move to the car before seeing the police removing all the items from the house with blood on. She dived for the nearest bush and was violently sick, she cried for her friend. Why didn't she say anything? Why didn't she notice the trouble herself? Was she that bad of a friend and sister?
Cassie rubbed her daughter's back soothingly. "Don't worry, we'll keep her safe."
The two women moved to their car and set out for the hospital, the same thought running through their minds as the silence filled the air between them. They would keep Beca safe, even if it meant sacrificing everything.