- 2.
God, or someone, must have heard me
because I woke up here with all that hate.
I cranked the wheel to the right, just looped
around the block. There’s this coffee shop
with a big window on the second floor,
perfect view of that alley entrance.
Ashley was still arguing with those punks.
They were all over her, and she was crying,
too scared to fight back.
Then my phone started ringing — it was
Ashley.
I waited till the last second to answer.
“Hello?”
L
They hung up immediately. Some redhead
grabbed Ashley’s phone and started swearing.
I was too far away to hear exactly what he was saying, but it was nasty.
Maybe two minutes later, Ashley walked right
into the alley with those guys.
I finished my coffee, real slow, then went
downstairs.
I got to the school, acted all worried, asked
the security guard.
Then I called Ashley’s teacher, Mrs. Davis.
She’s this thirty–something woman, and she’s
all about money.
Ashley always brags about how rich her mom
is, and she made me dress up when I came to
school, so Ashley is the school’s darling.
All the kids follow her around, and the teacher
kisses her butt, even though she’s always at
the bottom of the class.
So Mrs. Davis practically ran out to meet me.
“Oh, Ashley’s Mom, I’m so sorry to keep you
waiting, do you know where Ashley is?”
I acted super worried. “No, I can’t get through
to her. I’m so worried.”
“Did she seem upset today?”
Mrs. Davis hemmed and hawed, didn’t say a
Г
I was ready to explode, and my husband,
Mark, showed up just then.
He started yelling before he even got to me.
“What kind of mother are you? You can’t even pick up your daughter? You’re useless.
“Call her! What if something happens to her?”
I looked at him, real calm. Because I was
feeding him, he usually didn’t talk to me that
way. He only does that with Ashley.
How obvious can you get? Last time, I was
totally blind.
Mark saw my face and got nervous, realized
he’d gone too far.
く
He tried to backpedal. “I’m just so scared,
baby. Don’t be mad. Let’s just find Ashley.”
Mrs. Davis chimed in, too.
I got all frantic again, and turned to Mrs.
Davis. “Do you have Ashley’s friends‘
numbers? Can you call them, see if they know
anything?”
Mrs. Davis practically jumped at the chance
to help.
She called around, then asked if some of the
kids would help search.
She’s not subtle. She was thinking exactly
what I was, and gave me a step up.
I gave her a grateful look, as she gave me the
L
names and numbers of some people that I
could call.
Soon enough, a bunch of kids and teachers
were searching. Everyone broke into groups,
searched everywhere, and it was all for
nothing.
Ashley’s phone was still off.
Mark was losing it.
I pulled out my phone and called the cops. I’d
wanted to do that in the first place, but Mark
stopped me.
I saw a flicker of something in his eyes.
Looks like there’s a lot I didn’t know about
Ashley.
く
But now Mark probably realizes Ashley is
really in trouble, so he didn’t say a thing.
Usually, the police don’t take missing persons
reports until 24 hours have passed, but I
mentioned she was the daughter of a big
business man, so they showed up in minutes.
I’d already done a few fake sobs.
I cried for being too stupid to see the truth
before, for letting those wolves into my life,
for messing everything up.
But I’d learned to hide my feelings, how to
act.
I was the perfect mother, begging the police,
“Please, you have to find her, please!”
.
L
I even ran up to people on the street, showing
them Ashley’s picture on my phone.
Any mom would have done the same thing.
Nobody could say I didn’t love Ashley.
I loved her to death.
More and more people were helping.
Meanwhile, on a side street, that alley near
the garbage dump, nobody wanted to go near
- it. That’s why they missed it the first few
times.
But then this kid, who has a crush on Ashley,
decided to take a look, and he heard
screaming.
The alley was so deep, the sound was faint.
<
And Ashley was already exhausted, barely
able to make a sound.
The kid freaked out, didn’t go in, just told
everyone.
Soon enough, everyone was at the alley
entrance, police in the lead.
They found Ashley at the end, naked, bruised
all over, barely alive.
The alley ended at a low wall. The thugs must
have heard them coming and left Ashley
there, for everyone to see her shame.
Mark was the first to break. He ran over and
grabbed Ashley, held her close.
He saw the injuries, what they’d done to her,
and his jaw tightened, his eyes red.
I ran over, shaking, and hugged her too.
“Ashley, Ashley. Please, wake up!”
“Call 911, hurry!”
I took off my jacket to cover Ashley, and the
paramedics got there right away.
Ashley got rushed into surgery.
Because they found her so fast, her insides
weren’t as bad as mine had been.
The worst part was her bowels were pulled
out and needed to be cut, and had got
infected, and even though they saved her
uterus, she’d probably never have kids.
L
Compared to what I went through, it was
nothing.
I lost a kidney, my uterus, and my baby, not to
mention a lifetime of disability.
Ashley hadn’t cared about what happened to
- me. What would she feel now that it
happened to her?
I didn’t feel happy, only a bottomless pit of
hate.
Mark was a mess outside the operating room.
He looked at me like I was the enemy.
“Why didn’t you pick up Ashley sooner? If
you’d been there, none of this would have
happened. She’s only 18 years old, what’s she
going to do now?”
“You’re a terrible mother!”
I glared at him. “So you’re saying this is my
fault?”
“You were the one always offering to pick her
- up. I called you today to say I had something
else, and you rushed right over?”
Mark turned white.
I scoffed. “By that logic, it’s all your fault.
What could be more important than Ashley’s
safety?”
“School gets out at 3:00, but you didn’t even
call me until 3:30. So how can you act like
this is my fault? If anything bad happens to
Ashley, I’ll never forgive you!”
L
I felt nothing but hate and anger.
And I bet there was a reason why Mark
couldn’t pick her up that day. Something fishy
was going on.
And Ashley? She seemed like she knew those
thugs.
