~ CATHERINE ~
My parents weren’t home when I arrived back from Boyd’s Beach—where Christopher was meant to have met me. I should’ve been winging my way to Mount Maunganui with him, instead of walking up my staircase, worrying over why he hadn’t shown.
Itching to call him, I went straight for the phone, positive he wouldn’t have stood me up by choice. I grabbed the phone off the breakfast bar, hesitating for a second, worried that his grandfather would answer again. But I needed to know that he was all right, because those bruises... God! The not knowing was terrifying me.
Unable to handle it anymore, I dialled his number, willing him to pick up. The phone clicked through, a female voice coming over the line.
“Mrs. Laboure?” I asked, relieved that at least it wasn’t Christopher’s grandfather.
“Yes? Who is this?”
“Is Christopher all right?”
“Who is this?” she asked more firmly.
“His girlfriend. Is he all right?”
“He’s fine and will be even better if you stop harassing my famiglia. Please don’t call again.” She hung up.
I instantly redialled.
She picked up. “I told you—”
I cut her off, “How do you feel when you see bruises on your son’s face?”
“How dare—”
“No, how dare you!” I yelled. “You’re just as bad as your husband for letting him beat Chris up! No, you’re worse, because mothers are meant to protect their children with their lives, but what do you do, you let him get hurt over and over again. How can you live with yourself? How can you even contemplate calling yourself a mother? You make me sick.”
I exhaled, allowing myself to breathe, the hateful words leaving me shaking. A sob came from the other side, my words obviously having struck a nerve.
I went in for the kill, “He says he can’t forgive you for standing by, letting him get hurt. For staying with men who threaten him not only physically, but mentally, your own father wanting to possess his body. You aren’t an angel, you’re a demon. You chose to be one when you allowed your own son to get abused and used by men who were meant to protect him. So, the next time you see Chris, look at him, really look at him, at all that hurt on his face, all those bruises, and just know that you helped put them there.”
“I didn’t, I didn’t,” she sobbed. “I love my son.”
“Then prove it. Where is he?”
“Locked in the study. But he’s fine. He’s not hurt.”
“Maybe not physically, but you’ve destroyed his heart, his soul. Do you want that for him?”
“No,” she sobbed. “I truly love him, but I can’t let him run off with you. He needs to stay with famiglia. Separated we become weak, vulnerable to the demons.”
“You already have demons in your house, your father and husband are demons.”
“No, they’re not!”
“I’ve heard you’re a scholar. Don’t tell me you don’t know what they are? But then again, you’re a demon too.”
“No, I’m not!”
“Then prove it by helping Chris. All he wants is to be safe, which he isn’t with your family, and most certainly not with his father. He comes to school beaten and broken, all because you keep choosing your husband over your own son. Why do you do that? Why?”
“I... I love my husband, I can’t leave him.”
“So you love your son’s abuser more than your own son?”
“Don’t call my husband that!”
“How else can I say it? Even my form teacher noticed something’s wrong with Chris’ situation. And his auntie, she wants to take Chris off you. She knows what your husband’s doing, and what you’re not doing. How can you face his teachers, his auntie and uncle, even Stephen, knowing what they’re thinking about you?”
She let out another sob.
“Let him go. We’ll leave together. I’ll take the Stella Maris rosary with me, so your father won’t feel its effects anymore. You’ll be able to stay in Agnaru like he wants.”
“But I want Chris with me.”
“So, you’d rather force your son to live in an abusive household, than allow him to be safe with me?”
“How do I know he’ll be safe with you? I don’t know you. You could harm him.”
“I would never harm Chris, I love him. And the only way you’re going to be able to stop Chris from being with me is if you imprison him. Because that’s what it’ll take. He told me he hates you and the rest of your family, hates what you’ve all done to him. While he told me, he loves me.”
Another sob came over the line. I knew I was hurting her with my words, but I didn’t care, because she was hurting Christopher.
I continued, “Do you know why he loves me? Because I treat him with love and respect. How do you treat him?”
She didn’t reply.
“Help him. Please let him come to me. At least he’ll be safe.”
“I still don’t trust you.”
“Then trust him. Let him make up his own mind.”
“You could’ve bewitched him.”
“I’m not a demon, otherwise I would’ve come after you all by now. I just want your father to leave me alone. He’s bad, so is your husband, even Sister Cecile was bad. Are you bad too?”
She didn’t reply.
“Tell Chris to phone me. I’ll be waiting.” I hung up, praying she loved her son as much as she claimed.