Chapter 5

ALLIE

I shook my head in disbelief. What did I just do? I pushed Mrs. Smith because she’s about to hurt me. It was not my intention to hurt her. I just want her to get away from me!

It took me a minute before I ran to the telephone and called 911. Responders came immediately and I rode with them towards the nearest hospital. I called Daniel and I felt his panic through his voice. Minutes later, he arrived at the hospital totally disheveled. 

“Where’s Mom? What happened, Allie?” 

I was shaking. My hands, my whole body was shaking as I stood in front of Daniel. How do I tell him that I pushed her mother and it made her unconscious? 

“I- I am sorry,” I whispered, tears starting to fall from my eyes.

“I pushed her because she’s hurting me,” I said in a small voice. My confession echoed off the corridor. 

“What?” Daniel muttered in disbelief.

“What did you do?” 

I closed my eyes and tried to swat the fear away from my system. I swallowed my saliva and looked straight at Daniel.

“She’s hurting me, I am only protecting myself. I had to push her so I could create distance between us.”

His shocked expression turned to anger. “You did what?”

“I did that to defend myself!” I replied through gritted teeth.

“You hurt my mother because she was hurting you?” His voice started to raise. Other people from the corridor are now looking at us. I tried to hold his arms but he backed away.

“She hurts me, Daniel. Whenever you’re away. She makes me her slave. I do all the chores in the house. She’s telling me what to do. That house, our house became hell the moment she lived there. If I don’t follow her order, she would say negative and painful words toward me. And she hurts me physically! This time, I couldn’t let her hurt me.”

Daniel combed his hair in full rage. “My mother is in the ER because you pushed her, Allie!” he said, now shouting.

“Can you not shout? People are looking!”

His eyes narrowed. “How can I not? What if my mom dies because of what you did?”

I couldn’t form a word in my head. After all what I said, that’s what he was going to say to me? Is he not worried about me? About the child I have inside my belly? I told him his mother is hurting me and all he is worried about is his unconscious mother? What about me? What about what I felt when his mother grabbed and dragged me forcefully? I did wrong, I know. But to put the entire blame on me is not right. Even I couldn’t accept that my husband is blaming me for everything.

I sighed and shook my head.

“Yeah, sure. Blame it all on me, Daniel,” I said in a tired voice and turned my back from him. I walked until I reached the parking lot of the hospital. At that moment, I didn’t know where to go. I suddenly felt so lost. I feel so alone and I don’t even know what to do. I sat on the nearest bench, fished my phone from my pocket and called my friend, Asha.

A few rings and she answered.

“Hello, Allie? Are you okay?”

A total silence went on before I answered.

“Can you pick me up?”

“Are you okay? Where are you?” I hear the concern in her voice. 

I just gave her my location and in less than an hour, she arrived. When she saw me, she removed her seatbelt, went out the car and ran towards me for a hug. The moment I got in her car, tears fell from my eyes. She just comforted me while tapping my left shoulder. Asha remained quiet the whole time. When I finally calmed down, she held my hand and gave me a concerned look.

“Now, tell me what happened.”

So, I told her everything. From being concerned, her expression turned to disappointment and a quick shift to anger. 

“That’s not fair, Allie! How could he blame it all on you?!” she protested.

“I couldn’t believe you tolerated his mother’s attitude towards you. Allie, come on! You used to fight against your bullies in high school and now you’re letting your monster mother-in-law treat you like garbage? Your husband should be ashamed. He should not blame you for that. You just defended yourself.”

I sighed and nodded. I am glad I have a friend like Asha who understands me.

“How do you feel now? Do you want to go home or do you want to go with me to my house?”

Honestly, I consider the latter, but I don’t want to become a bad wife. In the end, I’ve decided to go home. Asha drove me home and made sure I was okay before she left. It’s almost evening but I didn’t expect anyone to be home. I slowly walked towards the stairs and climbed like a sloth. It took so much time before I reached the second floor. I was tired and I felt it in my bones. I haven’t eaten properly the whole day because I was too overwhelmed by my emotions. 

I was about to reach the knob when the door swung open. Daniel is standing in front of me with his cold eyes I’ve never seen before.

“You’re home,” he said coldly.

I expected this already. I shouldn’t be hurting this much. He let me pass through. I was about to go to the bathroom when I heard him speak.

“Have you eaten already?”

I didn’t answer.

“Eat something. It won’t bring anything good for the child inside your belly if you act so stubborn.”

Now, I’m the stubborn one? Since when did I become stubborn? My face heated in anger. I want to punch him in the face and kick his ass. I turned to him and gave him a smug look.

“Fuck off, Daniel.”

His mouth fell open. Surely he didn’t expect that from me.