Chapter One: Trust
It happened so fast. And I was a mix of emotions. Miriam, my mom had finally realized that Big Bob was an ass and was leaving him. After saving the neighborhood with Arnold, my secret infatuation, I dreadfully made my way home, knowing that Bob was going to start the verbal abuse and Miriam was probably drunk already. I walked inside and was quickly ushered by Miriam upstairs.
"Mom? Whats going on?" I said as she led me to my room and quickly shut the door. "Honey, I am so sorry. I've been a horrible mother to you and your father's been worse. But its all going to stop. We are going to leave him, not today. Soon, I just need to figure some things out." She hugged me. "But you can't say anything, not even to Phoebe because then its going to ruin everything." I nodded. She gave me another hug and then went downstairs, it was quiet for a few minutes, then I heard the blender. "Yeah, right." I said and grabbed my pink notebook and started writing odes to my beloved.
The months passed and Big Bob's insults continued. The only thing that changed was the look that Miriam gave him. She glared at him when he had his back turned and when I caught her gaze it was full of pain. Forgive me. Soon, I promise.
Soon came by closer than I thought. It was the day before my birthday. Miriam was still acting drunk around the house. I was in bed, in my favorite pajamas when I heard an argument starting upstairs. "I said no, Miriam!" Bob's yelled echoed. "No?" Miriam echoed. "No? I just want to have a party for her birthday tomorrow and you say no?" "Yes, Miriam. Its a no. No, no, no! She's not worth it and your a sorry excuse of a woman and a mother. A stupid alcoholic. Now, Olga, she is all Pataki. Helga is clumsy and stupid I'm sure a Barbie will be enough." "She's turning twelve. She doesn't like dolls, never has and if she did she will still be too old for them. I am sorry excuse of a mother? Well, your a worse father, you don't even know what your daughter likes!" I heard something fall and then my mothers wails. "I have let you do a lot of things Bob, but hitting me! That's the last straw! Im taking Helga, the car and I'm leaving!"
I heard footsteps leaving the kitchen and walking to the stairs. Crap! If this was happening then we were finally leaving Bob! I grabbed my pink notebook and made sure that I had the heart-shape locket and climbed into bed pretending to be asleep. The light flooded the room and Miriam stepped in. "Helga, honey. Wake up. Its almost time for your birthday. I have a surprise for you!" She said excitedly as she grabbed my shoes. She grabbed my hand. "We're leaving tonight!" She whispered. So, the fight was all pretend in order for us to leave. "But—." I didn't finish when she pulled me out of the room with my free hand. She questioned the notebook in my hand but, did not say anything as she ushered me down the stairs. It was a rush of movement getting my coat on as Miriam put her trench coat on and grabbed her purse. "Leave!" Bob's voice echoed from the leaving room where the television was already on. "You'll be back anyways! Your too drunk to realize what your doing, you will crawl back when you run out of money. You will!" Miriam ignored him as she opened the the door of the house and closing it with such force that the windows rattled and we walked to the car.
She opened the passenger door and waited for me to sit before slamming it open. She glanced around the street and I saw a few neighbors still out, it was only a little after nine thirty. She walked around the car, tripping over her feet a few times and then pretending to have problems finding the keys in the pocket of her trench coat, and fumbling to unlock it. I stretched across the car and opened it for her. "Thanks ho-ney!" She said a little too loudly and added a hiccup. She pulled herself in. Once again slammed the door. "Seat belt." She said as she fumbled with the shifting gear, then she speed down the street. "Where are we going?" I asked when she lowered the speed. "Far away from Hillwood. I took Bob's money. All of it. But we have to ditch the car. We have to disappear or he'll force us back and it will be worse." She turned on the radio to some Christian music, lowering the volume and humming the songs. "Honey, its going to be hard now. But you have to do as I say in order to be free from him. I know that you couldn't say bye to your friends, especially Phoebe. And I'm sorry for that." We were outside of town. On an empty street, a few miles from the highway and the convenience store. She changed the station to a rock station and said, "I'm going to go in and buy alcohol. In a few minutes you go in and try to stop me, tell me I'm drunk. Try to stop me, but you won't succeed. When I say, 'Stop, it. Helga, stop it or you wont get your birthday cake." You'll stop pestering me and run out of the store. Okay?" "Okay." "Open the glove bow and hand me the perfume." I did as she asked. "Hold your breath its going to smell bad." She sprayed the thing around herself, and it smelled like alcohol. Putrid smell. Her hair that was in a pony tail, she let loose and then shook it out to make it disheveled. She took out eye drops and put some in her eyes as she drove slowly on the abandoned street. She blinked a few times and then pinched her cheeks making them red. She sped up again, swiveling a bit on the street and turning up the volume on the station.
She pulled into the station with a loud screech and parked diagonally she reached in the back seat and pulled out a bottle of vodka. It was mostly empty now. "Mom, what are you doing?" "Its just water, Helga." She said as she stepped out of the car and tipping the bottle to her throat, the stench of alcohol was still there. She dropped in on the pavement, half the bottle breaking. A few seconds later I saw her walk to the back of the store. I made myself open the car door and started walking to the store. Halfway there I stopped and questioned Miriam's sanity. What is she planning? After a few seconds of my internal debate, I decided to trust in mom. I opened the door, when did I start calling her mom? I didn't have the chance to answer that as a magazine rack fell to the floor.
"Oops!" Miriam said as she wobbled away from the mess. She approached the counter, practically dropping its over the table. The older fat man, glared at her as she made another rack wobble. "Will this be all?" He asked as he started ringing up the contents. I saw that she had a six pack of beer, half a gallon of chocolate milk, a bag of skittles, a large bag of m&ms, pepto, and a pack of already opened donuts. "What?" Miriam asked. The man glared at her. "He said if that's all mom." "Oh, of course!" "Your total is thirty five with firfty three cents." "Oh, a slushy-hiccup- and is that Indian -hiccup- statue for sale too?" The man stared at her, "What Indian statue?" "What?-hiccup-Doesn't matter and a pack of camels." The man glared at her, "Will that be all?" He asked again, "Yeah, ah no. Wait! Helga do you want something?-hiccup-" "No, mom. Maybe you should take out the beer, you had enough." Miriam glared at me, she turned to the cashier. "Do you have better alcohol?" The man seemed to agree with me. "Has she been drinking?" "Yeah." I said quietly. Her eyes were red and puffy. Her face red, with a bruise starting to form on her jawbone, her hair a mess. "Figures." He muttered as he rang up the balance. "Nope, just beer. Forty with twelve cents." Miriam fondled with her bag. "Hey you didn't add the beer!" "Mom you had enough, lets go!" "Quiet, Helga! I bought you the chips." "Fifty two with twelve cents." The cashier said again. Miriam smiled at him. "Thank you." She said dropping a hundred. "Helga go get the beer. You know what I like." I glared at her. "No." She turned towards me, "Stop acting like a baby, go get the beer. Stop and listen to me or you wont get your birthday cake." I glared at her as I ran towards the back grabbing the case of beer and walking towards her.
"Thanks honey, now go to the car." I did as I was told and walked to the car, not sure what had happened there. I sat in the car, beer case at my feet. I looked up to see Miriam yelling at the cashier. A few seconds later she flicked him off and walked towards the door, tripping and knocking down another rack. She walked out of the store, throwing the pepto back at the entrance splattering it with pink. Mom once again fumbled with her feet as she dumped the groceries in the back seat. "Seat belt." She said as she revved the engine and sped out of the station towards the highway, swerving the car dramatically. A minute or so later, she turned the station back to the christian music and lowered the volume. "You did a great job, honey." She said as she quickly gave me a smile. "Mom where are we going?" It was quiet for a few seconds, "To start a new life. Do you want to eat something, there's milk and some donuts in the backseat." "Okay." I said weakly as I rotated my body and grabbed the milk and the donuts. I offered her some. "No. Thanks." I took a gulp out of it and quietly ate the donuts. "Napkins in the glove compartment." I opened it once again. "Thanks." I said as I cleaned my sticky fingers.
"I bought an apartment, and a car. In a nice neighborhood. The school is only a few blocks away from the complex. There's a lot of things to do there. With time I'm sure you'll like it." I nodded. "Where?" "New Sindo. North Carolina. Small-ish town." "How long until we get there?" "Hmm. Can't say. I made the trip there in two days, but there's no rush. I know! Lets make it a road trip!" "Ok." I said quietly. "Mom, how, uh, how did you buy the apartment and the car?" "I took his money." "Oh." I said quietly. "You did what! He's gonna kill us. He's going to chase us and find us. Oh God, you made it worse." "Relax honey. I got it all covered." She smiled and continued humming with the songs. "Honey, things are going to start changing. Big time. And don't take the Lord's name in vain. Understood." "Yeah, I mean, yes." She smiled. "You can take a nap. I'll wake you up when we get to the next stop." I only manage to nod, suddenly feeling my eyes heavy with sleep.
When I woke up next we were parked next to a cliff, Miriam pacing in front every so often looking around. "Mom." She rushed towards me. "I was trying to let you sleep for a few more minutes." She gave me a hug. "What are we doing here?" I asked. "Step two. And the most difficult. We have to make it perfect or it wont work." I nodded. "Mom, what exactly are we doing here?" I asked. She knelled down. "If I don;t do this he will always look for us. He will chase us to get the money and he will catch us and he will make it worse. Trust me honey, leaving your friends behind and not knowing if you will ever be able to see them is hard. But it wont be forever. I promise. But for now we will fake our own deaths. Were going far away from Hillwood and we're going to live happy there and maybe one day when its all over you can come back to see your friends. But for now we are disappearing. Okay?" I nodded. "Mom what about Olga?" "Olga. Olga is no more, she now goes by Giulia, with a G, I will go by Gwendolyn. Olga was lost in the wild rainforest. News of our death and her missing will reach him soon. Now its getting late, I need to fake this and you can think of a name later." She walked around the back of the car to the trunk and pulled two small suitcases out of the back. She then walked to the back seats and spilled the bag of m&ms, stuffing the skittles into her trench coat. She then walked to the foliage setting the suitcases on the ground and taking off her coat. I walked towards her and opened the smaller of the suitcases putting my notebook and locket inside. I turned back and saw her opening the beer cans and spilling the contents on the trees at the other side. She threw a few of them around the truck. I started doing the same. "Don't spill the beer all in one place, scatter it around so it can dry quickly. And spill some in the back seat. Leave the other case open." I did as I was told. I saw her purse. "Mom, your purse?" She walked to me and opened it. "She looked for her wallet, stuffed with pictures, a few credit cards and some money. She closed sighed and dropped it in the car. "I don't need that. We can take new pictures anyways." She hugged me and then walked again to the trunk where she got more vodka bottles and a few whiskey bottles. "Make sure all the windows are up and locked on all but the drivers side. Then go stand by the suitcases." She broke one of the bottles in front of the car and then grabbed the perfume and broke it open. She walked around the car, expecting her work and then walked around and found a nice sized rock. With some quick maneuvering at the gears she set the rock on the accelerator and jumped out of the car. The car went straight and then disappeared down the cliff. Metal moaning and twisting, windows shattering, a car engulfed in flames and then a loud bang. "Helga and Miriam Pataki just died." I said as I walked towards Miriam, the flames from below flickering on her face. She gave me a small sad smile. We looked down at the destroyed car. No one could survive that, no one.
"Gabbee" Mom turns to me. "Gabby?" "Yeah, I wanna go with the G theme, Giulia, Gwendolyn, Gabbee. I want my name to be Gabbee, with two e's at the end." Miriam, I mean Gwendolyn smiled at me. "Happy Birthday Gabbee!" She said as she threw her arms around me. And for the first time in a long time I hugged my mother back too. "Thanks, mom!"