I sped off down the road, my mind going a mile a minute. My plan was to go back to his place, clean myself up, grab my shit, and stay at the motel for the night.

I pulled down the gravel road as my phone started blowing up with text after text from Abel.

Abel: Babe. Go home. I will be there soon.

Abel: Please call me. We need to talk.

Abel: I am so sorry.

Abel: Crickett, I love you. Please call me.

I threw my phone onto the passenger seat and pulled a U-turn. If Abel was on his way to the house, there was no way I was going to be there when he showed up.

I tried to not think about the blood that was drying on my arms, clothes, legs, and neck, but when I looked down to see my chest covered in that man’s blood, it running down my V-neck all the way to the top of my shorts, I started to go into a panic. I tried taking long, slow breaths, but to no avail.

My body was shaking, my breathing was out of control, and my mind was a jumbled mess.

My phone started blaring and I pulled off to the side of the road to see who it was.

I was surprised at how disappointed I was to not see Abel’s or Rave’s number coming up. I let the unknown number go to voicemail and leave a message.

I slid my phone open and the message started playing. “Hi, Crickett. This is Cindy, your mom’s neighbor. She asked me not to call anyone but I think you really need to get to the hospital quickly. She was mugged. I’m not too sure what really happened, but I found her this morning in really rough shape. The doctors won’t give me any information since I am not family and I have to go to work now, but call me if you get an update. She’s at Jackson on Fifth. I don’t know if they put her in a room or not.”

I went into autopilot. In just over twelve hours I could be at my mother’s bedside. My tank was full, my adrenaline was pumping, and the radio was blasting. I drove for just over three hours before I stopped at a quiet rest stop. Grabbing the hoodie from the back seat and throwing it over my bloodstained body, I rushed into the bathroom without anyone noticing the dark red that was splattered down my leg.

I locked myself in the handicapped stall and scrubbed my skin raw, threw out my white V-neck and soaked bra, and threw back on my hoodie. My black shorts didn’t show the stains too badly, thankfully. It took everything in my power not to picture the wide eyes of the dead man lying at my feet. Even though he’d had no problems with threatening my life, it didn’t change the fact that I felt bad that his had been ended. He was someone’s son, probably someone’s lover or even a father.

After filling up and grabbing a Red Bull, I was back on my mission. After ignoring over twenty calls from Rave and Abel, stopping a few more times for gas, and chugging a handful of energy drinks, I was finally pulling into the parking lot at the hospital.

The security guard was sitting behind the desk. She made a copy of my license, gave me my visitor’s pass, and explained the maze I was going to have to go through to get to my mother’s room.

Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. I couldn’t believe I was back in my hometown, about to see my mother battered and bruised from another mugging. The guilt of running out on her was overwhelming as I gasped for breath and pushed open the hospital room door.

Right as I was about to take my first step into the room a nurse stopped me. “Ma’am, only family can go in there, and it’s not visiting hours for this floor.”

I cleared my throat, turning to the older lady who was standing there with a vial of medication and syringe in hand. “She’s my mother,” I muttered.

With a kind smile, she nodded. “Have you spoken to the doctor yet?”

I shook my head. “I was out of town. I got the news from a neighbor and drove more than twelve hours straight through to get here.”

“Let me give your mother her pain meds and then I will page the doctor for you. I am sure he is going to want to talk with you about her condition.”

I followed the nurse in to see my mother lying helpless in the bed. Her face was so swollen and bruised that I barely recognized her. She was hooked up to monitors and IVs, and her right leg was in a cast from the knee down.

I gasped for air as I rushed to her bedside. “What the hell happened?” I pleaded, but my words fell on deaf ears. The nurse had already left and my mom was passed out.

It only took a few minutes for the doctor to come into the room, but it had felt like years.

“Miss Hayes, may we speak in the hall?”

I followed the doctor out of the room. “Doctor, do you know what happened to her?”

He looked over her chart with a furrowed brow. “Your mother’s neighbor found her like this. Your mother said she was raped and mugged but could not give the name of her attacker. She has a few broken ribs and they almost broke her jaw. Her right leg looked to have been stomped on with a steel toe boot; her tibia and fibula are shattered. She’s lucky to be alive.”

I felt weak. My knees were about to give out. I leaned back on the wall. “I just can’t believe this. Is she going to be all right?”

He nodded, trying to smile. “She’s doing better. She’s stable now. We have her on some pretty heavy pain meds right now to help her rest. She should hopefully be able to go home tomorrow if nothing changes.”

“Thank you doctor.”

Exhaustion started to take its toll while I sat in the arm chair in the corner of the room, watching my mother take shallow, labored breaths. The next thing I knew, it was the middle of the night and a blaring alarm was going off. I shot up out of the chair and ran over to my mother’s side as the night nurse came rushing through the door.

The nurse pushed some buttons, fixed a few things. My mom groaned as the nurse put the oxygen tube back in her nose. “Your oxygen levels started dropping. You need to keep this on.”

Through slits, my mom glanced at me. “What are you doing here?” she muttered, but before I could answer she was falling back into her drug fueled daze.

The nurse patted my shoulder. “She’ll be more with it tomorrow. Try to get a little more rest.”

Hot coals felt like they were embedded in my lower back as I tried to make the best out of the uncomfortable chair. After I flipped through the limited channels for a while, thumbed through a few magazines, and did a crossword puzzle, my eyelids finally started to get heavy.

The sound of coughing brought me out of a light sleep. I shot up from the chair to find my mother staring wide-eyed at me.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in.” She rolled her eyes, trying to sit up more in her bed.

I ambled over to her bedside, trying to rub out a kink in my shoulder and neck. “I came as soon as I heard you were hurt, Ma.”

“Don’t even feel the need to tell your momma that you’re leaving but you feel like you have to come here and play hero? My dear, you’re not needed here.” Her bloodshot eyes were boring into my soul.

“I’m sorry I ran out on you like that. I just couldn’t get stuck in the quicksand of that life forever.”

She hit the call button for the nurse before glaring at me. “Don’t get self-righteous on me, Crit. We don’t have to do this. You made your choice. Run back off to wherever you came from. I can take care of myself.” Her words were mumbled from her jaw being so sore.

“Obviously.” I twirled my finger around the room. “You can totally take care of yourself, Ma.”

The nurse came in. “Morning, Helen. How are you feeling today?”

“Like I got hit by a truck.”