003

"5408 South Mozart. It's just over in the Gage Park area."

Caroline West had been abandoned three days after her birth, by some woman she didn't know, but that would all change today. After months of investigating and digging through hospital documents she had found the woman who was her mother: It had taken forever to sift through all the papers. But that hadn't deterred her -- after all how many pregnant women could leave a hospital without a child and not have it written down somewhere? Three to be precise, well at least on that Halloween night there had only been three. One woman had given birth to a boy, so that excluded her immediately.  The second woman had been forced to give birth to her stillborn daughter and she was alive, so that pushed her off the list too. Finally, it came down to Susanne "Suzy"  Williamson -- She had given birth to a little girl, nothing was known of her, because she had been given away straight after her birth. Her mother hadn't even held her afterwards, she was handed to a nurse who was simply told "I'll decide what to do with her soon." Seventy  two hours later that same woman would disappear, along with two iv's of morphine, leaving a little girl alone with no parents. Caroline shook her head, trying not to picture what the nurse had told her about her birth, looking up, she answered the old lady who had spoken, "Alright, thanks for the help Roxie. I appreciate it." She didn't spare a second glance from the clerk before she turned on her heels and walked away. It was time to find her real mom.

"Stop being such a fvcking wimp. This is what you've been waiting for." She muttered to herself, looking up at the aging little duplex, she needed to do this. Cautiously, she walked up the cracked pathway, afraid that if she was too loud, something would shatter. Possibly even her. Once she hit the doorstep, Caroline stopped to take in a breath, no matter what happened here today, something was going to change with her. Was she going to walk away with a hug and another mother? Or was she going to walk away with another broken heart and dead dreams? The young girl didn't give herself time to think about it before she knocked on the door.

It took a few moments before someone opened the door, but when it swung open the red head was surprised not to find a woman, but a rather large male in front of her, "We're not buying, we don't want to hear it and we sure as hell ain't looking for Jesus, so screw off kid." Before the door could slam completely she shoved her foot in the way. "You're making a mistake...sir. I'm looking for..uhm..Susanne Williamson?" That caught the guys' attention, he slowly raked her over from head to toe. "And who's askin'?"  Slightly afraid of the mountain of a man in front of her, Caroline brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear before she replied, "I'm Caroline West and I think...I think that this woman...that she's my mother."

Barks of laughter filled her ears before anything else was exchanged between the two. "Sh*t girl, why didn't cha just start with that?" The teenager looked up at the man, noting how he was shaking his head at her. "Suzy's probably got about a dozen kids, she's a hellluva of a woman that one. Wouldn't be surprised if you haven't met one of her other kids before." He motioned for her to enter the little entrance hall, which was quite full of junk. Boxes, shoes, broken tennis rackets, and much more lined the little hallway. "She ain't home right now, but she should be comin' along anytime now. At least she better hope she does...name's Bill by the way." Caroline entered the house, not missing the menacing tone with which Bill spoke. She turned around after taking her sneakers off to ask him if maybe she should wait outside but he was already gone.

She followed after him, watching as he entered the kitchen, kicking anything aside that was in his way,"So...Suzy...she's going to be back soon, right? I'm just asking because I have a curfew and if she's going to take a while I can come back later..." Her statement left hanging in the air, she glanced up, peering as the older male opened a beer and shrugged. "The little witch should be, she's running late as it is. Don't worry bout it though, I'll keep you entertained 'til she shows her face. Come along kid and we'll see if you are one of the kids she's got a picture of." Reluctant to follow Bill anywhere Caroline debated it for a second, but her curiosity won out in the end: Did her mom really have a photo of her?

  After following him upstairs and through the house Caroline found herself being led into a medium sized room. Nothing but a dingy looking bed, a few old wooden dressers, dirty clothes and dishes occupied the space. Everything that made a room a room was missing. The red headed teenager was about to make an excuse to leave when the greasy haired man pulled a worn out, old shoe box from under the bed. She didn't think about it before she went and sat next to him on the bed, reaching her hands out for the photos, being held in midair for her.

Quickly shuffling through the photos Caroline searched desperately for one that resembled her as a baby, she barely noticed the rough hand slipping it's way up her leg, "Any of'em look like you girly?" His hand had made it to her knee before she realized what was happening, quickly she threw the pictures at him and stood up. "Don't fcvkiing touch me, you weirdo." With trembling lips and shaking hands Caroline turned around to leave. She had moved maybe two steps before a hand pulled her back, using her hair as it's leverage. "Didn't anyone ever teach you any manners you little bitch? This is my fvcking house and you'll treat me with respect."

 A fist connected with her lips before she could think to scream out for help. another followed soon after, although this time it connected with her left temple. "My fvcking house...goddamn kids...." The words flew out of his mouth in no particular order, he wasn't even talking in complete sentences as he pushed her down to the ground. "I'll show you how to treat a man in his house." Caroline tried to shake her head, hoping to clear some of the fog away and failing at it. With her head pounding she made to sit up, but quickly found herself being picked up anyways. Gasping for air, she thrashed at him:  he had his right hand tightly around her throat and the other one balled up in a fist at his side.

Two more blows...or was it four? followed her brief strangulation. Two were to the head, one to the chest and the final one hit her arm. She had noticed his control slipping on  blow number two, he wasn't even looking at her as his fist connected with her skin the last two times, instead he seemed to be searching the room for something. Caroline groaned out in pain as she hit the bed, her head connecting with the headboard didn't help the situation "Stay there." The red head gritted her teeth, watching his form across the room she quickly reached for something -- anything that she could find.

"First we'll deal with the belt and then I'll show you how to treat a host Miss West." She could almost feel the spit flying out of his mouth hit her face. She whimpered as softly as she could manage, showing any pain would give the man more power than he had, even if currently he held it all. Caroline flinched as he whacked his belt against his thigh, his zipper halfway down already. This couldn't be happening. She tried desperately to will her way out of this situation. He couldn't intend to do what she thought...it would be too cruel, too vicious. Wouldn't it be?

Closing her eyes the teenager gripped at the bed sheet underneath her, she had to wait until he got closer.  He whipped the belt against his hand, closing in on her and the bed. "You're gonna learn a lot tonight bitch." When he loomed over her  and trailed one of his fingers along her arm she jabbed her hand out at his body, not caring where she hit, as long as the knife went into him. Adrenaline coursing through her veins, she jumped over him as he hit the floor. She didn't even look back to see if the damn thing had actually pierced fully through his thick skin.

Caroline crashed through the streets, not giving a care to her surroundings, her feet were carrying her and that was all that mattered. With her head pounding she rounded the corner too fast and slipped. She hit her chin on the pavement, and she could feel the blood begin to pour from the wound it caused. She clamped her mouth shut, cursing at nothing in particular, before standing up and continuing to sprint as far away as she could manage.

Although, she had been running for about half an hour the red head was shocked to find herself still full of energy. But she didn't question it as Felix's house came into view -- the street lights were coming on and all she needed to think about for now was getting into her boyfriends house undetected. If Rebecca saw her in her current state she would probably tell her to get out. Caroline stopped across the street from his house and gave herself a minute to examine everything; Her head was bleeding, her shirt torn, her lip was fat, and she could feel her  right eye continuing to swell shut.

It had taken no more than two minutes in her panicked state to climb up to Lix's window, which had to be a record for her really. He had noticed her rapid knocking almost immediately so the window opening so quickly was no shock, "Please...help me." was all she could sputter out as her feet his bedroom floor.