“Don’t bescared, Jules. Come on,” says Abby, cheerfully.
“We shouldn’tbe here, Abby. Let’s go back to the room.”
“It’s too latenow, Jules. We have to keep going.”
The wornlinoleum is cold on our bare feet. Abby leads me around the tablethen stops. She points to the fridge at the corner of the kitchen.“She’s over there.”
“Who’s overthere, Abby? I can’t see anyone.”
“Mommy is,silly. She’s on the other side of the fridge,” Abby says, pullingon my arm. “Come on.”
Then, I see aslow puddle of deep red seep from under the fridge, oozing towardus. I feel an icy chill crawl up the inside of my bones. I grab mylittle sister’s hand tightly and back up, “Let’s go. I told you, weshouldn’t be in here.”
“Stop it,Jules, she says, jerking her hand free. She moves forward and stepsin the puddle. “Mommy told me that she needs to tell you somethingimportant. We have to hurry. We don’t have long,” she says withurgency.
I know there’sno point in trying to talk her out of it. She’s too much like Dad,once she gets her mind set on something, she can’t be moved.Reluctantly, I step into the puddle and follow her.
I watch as shereaches the far side of the fridge and disappears from sight. A fewseconds later, I hear her let out a playful giggle. Poking her headout from the other side of the refrigerator, she waves me over. Thefirst thing I see are my mom’s feet, then her legs. Her whiteflowery dress is soaked in red liquid. The back of her hands areresting on the floor, revealing huge cuts on the insides of eachpalm. Blood is gushing from each gash. Abby is crouching downbeside her, whispering in her ear and giggling. I walk over to mymother and bend down. When Abby moves out of the way to let me getcloser, I see a needle sticking out of Mom’s arm. I grab Abbyunderneath her arms and pull her up. Her feet hit the floor hard,so she’s angry. “Listen to Mommy, Jules. Listen to what she’ssaying.”
“She didn’t sayanything, Abby. It’s time to go.”
“What do youmean? Abby looks up at me confused. “Can’t you hear her?”
“No, I can’t.What did she say?”
“She said thatyou mustn’t trust him, no matter what he says. Then she told youthat she loves you and we’ll be waiting for you. That’s what shesaid, Jules. She also said that she loves you very much. I love youvery much too, and I’m going to miss you.”
“What do youmean, you’ll miss me?”
Abby drops tothe floor and wraps her arms around our mother. “I have to go withmommy, and you have to stay here,” she says, starting to sob.
“Abby, comewith me right now.” I grab one of her arms and pull as hard as Ican, but she doesn’t budge.
I look down atmy feet and notice the red fluid rapidly increasing. “Abby, pleasesweetie, you’ve got to come with me,” I cry, still pulling onher.
The liquidcontinues to rise. All I can think of is saving my little sister.With everything I have, I try to release Abby’s grip on my mother.My efforts are useless. I become so exhausted, I fall to the floorbeside them. Putting my face in my hands, I begin to sob. Suddenly,I feel a cold hand grab my arm.
Chapter Four
The squelch ofmy alarm shocks me out of my nightmare and sits me straight up. Ifeel overwhelmed with sadness. My face is soaking wet from cryingand my hands are shaking. My heart is beating so hard, it feelslike it’s going to burst out of my chest. Another fucked up dream.I’ve spent so much time and money on therapists, and for what? Istill suffer from night terrors. I take deep breaths to calmmyself, then have a quick shower before heading out.
* * *
What amiserable day—pissing rain and cold. Riding my bike to work, I feellike I’m driving through a car wash. Fall in the lower mainland isbeautiful, but there are non-stop showers. As they say, no matterwhat the season, you don’t tan in Vancouver, you rust.
As soon as Iwalk into the shop, I grab my work sheet from the receptionist,Betty, and throw my bag into a locker. After I put on my coveralls,I walk into the garage and start working on a Subaru that needs tierods. As soon as I get the first wheel off, Rae junior, my boss,walks in. I stop what I’m doing and look up. He’s wearingbaggy-assed jeans and an oversized Crooks and Castle t-shirt. Hishair is tightly cornrowed with tiny white beads hanging from theends—a wannabe gangster. “Jules, we’re not doing enough businesslately, so I’ve got to cut your hours.”
“What? Are youserious? With how little you pay me an hour, I barely have enoughto get by as it is. I’ll be screwed.”
“Sorry, I’mjust the messenger. It’s my father’s shop, and this is what hewants.”
Fuck. Now what?I’ll never find another mechanic job in the city. Employment ratesare down and if a position does open up, they’ll likely give it toa man over me. The only reason I got this job is because I boughtmy bike from Rae senior. At the time, he was looking for a mechanicand he gave me a shot. That was five years ago.
The rest of themorning I spend trying to focus on the task in front of me whileworrying about how I’m going to make ends meet. At lunch, I sit inthe office with Betty and drink coffee. She tells me that Raejunior is hiring another mechanic, a friend of his. What a fuckinglittle liar! “This is bullshit!” I say. “I can’t stand thatdishonest little a-hole.”
“It won’t helpto tell him that, In fact, if you piss him off, he’ll probably messwith your pay,” she says.
She’s right.Besides being a bullshitter, he’s vengeful. I’ve seen him screwover past employees. It’s probably best I listen to
