At the hospital they
eventually wormed the name of her parents out of her. When they arrived, they behaved exactly as if
they cared. Her father shocked and
manly, covering his alarm with a man-of-the-world bluff taciturnity. He fooled everybody. Her mother was truly frightened. Esmé could see it in her eyes. Why
didn’t you help, she thought. Surely you knew about it? The walls aren’t soundproof. Surely you fucking knew?
The hospital made
an appointment with a counsellor. Her
parents took her home.
The day after, her
mother stayed at home instead of going to work.
This was unusual enough that Esmé was filled with hope. Maybe she and her mother could go away together. Away from him. When her mother sat on the edge of the bed,
she seemed to Esmé to have shrunk. She’d
always been a timid woman, but she appeared even more frightened now. Her eyes
darted away from Esmé’s. Her gaze avoided her daughter’s.
“So are you a bit
better now?”
Esmé didn’t know
where she pulled the strength from, but she managed to say, her eyes fixed on
her mother’s face, “You know why?”
In a light
insincere voice, her mother replied, “No dear.
I have no idea.”
“Dad.”
Her mother was
silent.
“You know what he
…. What he does … to me.”
He mother stood up
and went to the window. She hummed a
little to herself. “I’ll go and make us
a nice cup of tea. We’ll all feel better
after that.”
Esmé was too worn
to shout at her. After, she would run
different scenarios through her mind, where she yelled at her mother, forced
her to listen, made her understand what had happened. But at the time, she was too worn to do more
than weep.
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