Chapter Twenty-One

Sam finally managed to get up off the floor. Every part of her ached. All she wanted was to have a nice long bath, she just needed to wash every last remnant of Steve off her. Just thinking of him made her skin crawl. It was almost as if she could still feel his touch on her skin, still feel his body pressed against hers. She felt dirty and wanted nothing more than to scrub until she couldn't feel him on her anymore.

It was when she was fixing up her clothes that she heard him; it was just a little sob coming from the corner nearest the door. Looking over she saw Alex huddled there, his knees pulled up into his chest, his hands over his ears, his eyes shut tight.

"Alex?"

She knew it was him, she'd know him anywhere, but seeing him like that, looking so terrified, she couldn't help but wish it she was imagining it. That her son was safely tucked up in his bed. That the possibility of him having been there the whole time was non existent. He couldn't have been there, he just couldn't. She hated thinking about it, but all the evidence pointed in that direction.

Rushing over and kneeling down in front of her son, she kept yelling his name. Panic setting in the more oblivious he was to her cries, the more lost in his own nightmare he seemed to be.

The sound of his mother screaming had woken him up. At first he thought that he was still dreaming. But the screams didn't stop, and she sounded in pain, like she needed help. Whatever was happening, she kept yelling, begging at the person to stop.

Alex hopped out of his bed and tip-toed up the hall. The nearer he got to her room the louder her screams got. His heart started beating faster as he realised that someone was attacking his mom. Every instinct told him to go to her, to help her somehow.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw. He couldn't see the man's face at first, he just saw his body on top of his mother's, trapping her, stopping her from escaping.

He was about to run over, try to get the man to stop; he just wanted his mom to be safe. She was pregnant; he had to save his sister as well as his mother. Just as he opened his mouth to yell the words got caught in his mouth. He felt himself slowly back up into the corner as the sight of his father's face became clear.

It was his dad that was doing this to her. The man he respected and loved so much, was the one responsible for her screams, the one who laughed and pushed his mother harder the more she protested.

His knees gave way beneath him and he found himself on the floor, his eyes still glued to the nightmare playing out in front of him.

Hugging his knees tightly to his chest he closed his eyes shut. It didn't block out the sounds, he could still hear his mother's cries. He covered his ears, but that didn't keep the sound out completely. It didn't help, nothing did. Her pleading rang around in his head; the image of what he had just seen was imprinted in his mind.

"ALEX!"

Sam kept yelling at her son, trying to get him to hear her, trying to get him to come out of his trance like state. She tried gently shaking him, everything she could think of but nothing worked, he seemed to have managed to block the outside world out completely.

Every now and then he'd murmur the word 'no' over and over, and shake his head like he was trying to force something out of his mind. Sam kept trying to get his attention by yelling his name, her voice getting higher pitched the longer he was unaware of her attempts.

Every thought was banished from her mind. Right there and then the only thing that mattered to her was making Alex better. She knew this was one problem that wouldn't be fixed easily. No amount of computer games or treats could make this go away.

Tears started falling slowly down her cheeks when she thought of how her son might be lost for good, how he may never be the same again. And deep down she thought that she only had herself to blame.

Alex's thoughts were interrupted voice calling his name, a hand that was gently trying to remove his hands from their position over his ears. He opened his eyes slowly; afraid of what he would see, afraid that it was his father in front of him. He lowered his hands, he could feel them shaking as he rested them on his knees.

It was his mother's face that he saw in front of him, his vision was slightly blurry but he knew it was her. His first thought was that it was all just a nightmare, a dream, that none of it was real. But as his vision became clear, he began to see the truth.

Her clothes were slightly torn, her cheeks were tear-stained, her lip was swollen and bleeding, and her there was a bruise forming on her wrist. It was all true, everything he had seen. He just didn't know what to think anymore.

A flood of relief washed over Sam when Alex finally opened his eyes. He stopped his quiet mutterings and was silent, his eyes focused solely on her. There was a look in them that hadn't been there before, darkness to them that Sam wished she could just wash away.

They stayed sitting in front of each other in silence for a few moments. Neither one was able to find anything to say, they was nothing they could say to make everything better, to erase what had just happened.

Alex was the one to break the silence.

"I'm sorry mom."

Sam stared at her, more tears forming in her eyes. None of this was his fault; she didn't even know exactly what he was apologising for.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, you did nothing wrong. I'm sorry for putting you through this."

Alex watched his mother's face carefully, his lips quivering. He really wanted to be strong for her, be there for her, but his young mind wasn't able to deal with everything that he had seen. Flinging his arms around her neck he clung to her as he started to sob uncontrollably.

Sam just held him, holding him to her tightly, all the while comforting and soothing him. Gently rocking him and telling him that everything was going to be alright.