"Go to your room Ryila!" Father shouted at me. I obeyed him and started to my room.
"No Ryila, stay here." I stopped in my tracks and turned around, but didn't walk back. I nervously shifted from foot to foot. Father's face lit up bright red with anger. "Just because I'm a girl Jack," It'd been a long time since I'd heard someone say my dad's name. "Doesn't mean I'm not afraid to report you, Give the girl some slack, all she wants is to see her mom!" Mrs. Weber screamed furiously into Father's face. Her brown eyes seemed to pop out of her face.
"Ryila doesn't need to get attached to her! She's in a coma and will never come out; I say we just pull her out of the life support." He snapped back like a flimsy rubber band, ready to break under pressure.
"You should do it for Ryila, if you even like her!"
"Why wouldn't I like my own daughter?!" Father looked like he was about to pop. His ballon string would snag and wack Mrs. Weber on her pointy nose.
"Well, apparently you haven't called her by her real name ever since you wife went into the comma."
"It brings back to many memories! It's very bad for your heart, might as well just forget about her!"
"You disgust me Jack; I'm going to call services care tonight! You'll be lucky if they don't pick her up before the morning." Mrs. Weber turned to leave forgetting about me. I stood straight up, worry filled every ounce of my body.
"Mrs. Weber, I want to stay with my Mama!"
"Poor dear, don't worry, they'll put your Mama in the hospital and you can see her whenever you want."
"No, I want to stay here with my Mama, this is where we belong." I planted my feet in the ground and moved them back and forth as if anchoring myself to the house.
Mrs. Weber got down on her knees, "Ryila, this isn't a nice place for you, you deserve more than this." I nodded at her. She turned and left. I knew I'd go to bed to night and just worry and worry about being taken from my home.
As soon as the door closed, Dad started screaming at me, "Get to your room, I told you never to tell people about your mom! I told you they would accuse me for it all! Now get in your room and stay there for the night, and you won't be seeing you mom until those grades get up and an additional week!" His eyes dug into mine and I was held into the carpet until he looked away.
"Father, I'm sorry!"
"Sorry won't cut it, get to your room!" I dodged the coffee table as I ran and nocked over a diet coke that was sitting on it. "Stupid child!" Steam was practically floating out of Father's ears.
I continued to my room, not wanting to deal with the brown liquid spilled all over the white bits of fuzz. "Don't die Mama, don't die." I always worried Mama would die while her door was locked, and nobody would know. I peered into the room to say goodbye to her before my punishment started. I walked up to the bed and laid my hand on her's. "Mama, Father has punished me, I'm sorry I didn't keep my grades up, I promise I will be back as soon as I can." I felt as stupid as a weasle telling my Mama who was in a long sleep I couldn't get 'As'.
"RYILA, GET IN YOUR ROOM!" Father's voice boomed inside my ears. I ran out of the room and across the hall into mine. I heard dad come to the door and stick the key in the hole and turn it. I was locked in. Then he moved to Mom's door and locked it too. I waited for hours, just sitting on my bed with my legs crossed. At about 8:30 the door bell rang.
I heard a woman's voice and Father discussing. "You can't take her!"
"I'm sorry, but I have to, then we'll have a day in court to decide it all." I stood from my bed and saw the indent my behind had made from sitting so long. Axiously, I danced from toe to toe.
"We don't need to have a day in court; I'm taking perfectly good care of her!" At that lie I felt my long blond hair stand up on end.
"We got a complaint, and it's my job to make sure each and every kid is happy where they are." I could imagin the socail worker standing there biting her nails in the door way. She was probably terified at the sight of Father lumbering over her gazing down upon her frizzy orange hair wanting nothing but revenge.
"She's perfectly happy!"
"I'm not happy!" I wailed and cried to the top of my lungs, "I want out of this room and I want to see my Mama!" I felt liquid sliding down my face. My cheeks felt hot and my toung hurt as I bit it.
"The child is not happy! Now go unlock that door and bring her out here. She gets to pick who she wants to go with." For her size, Cindy had a loud voice that could get about anything it wanted.
I heard Father's footsteps come down the hall way. The key raddled in the door. I watched as the door knob twisted and the wood swung open. I ran from the room past my Father straight to the lady. "Take me with you!" I stood at her feet and begged. I could just about see my pethetic little puppy dog face in my mind. "Take me with you! And take my Mama too!"
"Is your Mama mean too?"
"No, Mama's in a coma, but she can't stay here, please don't make her stay here!" I invisioned my Mama lieing on the bed with the covers pulled up to her chin, dead, but nobody would know because Father refused to look at Mama.
She pulled out her cell phone. "I'll call an ambulance to come pick her up so she can stay in the hospital."
Moments later the ambulance sirens waild as it left the driveway with Mama. Cindy and I were on our way to, Cindy was driving to her house.
The car stank of something awful and their were a few green potato chips laying on the floor. I plucked one up of the ground and sniffed it, "Ewe," I dropped it. It smelled like something from a dumpster of rotting food. The rest of the ride I sat sielent and pluged my nose and waited for the sight of Cindy's house.
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"Make yourself at home." Cindy, the social worker showed me around her house.
"Where's my room?" I asked.
"Sorry, I don't have a guest room so we'll just pull out the couch and you can sleep there." She pointed towards the living room with a small metal couch that looked very hard and uncomfortable. I followed her into the kitchen, which had blue tile floors.
"Cindy, can I have something to eat?" My stomach gurgled and talked, complaining for something to eat. I stood occwardly in the doorway wondering what to do.
"Sure, what do you want?" Cindy pointed at a chair across from the counter. I walked in the small room and sat as directed.
"Do you have cereal?"
"Yeah,'' she pulled a bowl and some Lucky Charms; "You do like Lucky Charms, right?"
"Yeah," I nodded my head and porred some of the bits of cereal and marshmellows into the red bowl which had a straw sticking out of the top. After I ate, Cindy pulled out the couch into a bed and put some blankets down. I slept until nine the next morning and panicked when I woke up. "Where am I, I'm late for school, Father is going to kill me!" I stood up and started running around frantically looking for my clothes.
"Whoa, Ryila, you're not going to school today!" Cindy stopped my mad search and held me firmly by the shoulders. "We have to go to court today. Sit down," She led me to the table and pulled out a chair to sit down. "You might want to know what's going on today.''
"Mm-hmm," I nodded.
"You're going to go talk to the judge and tell her everything about your dad. I suspect she'll send you to foster care until your mom either dies or wakes up. If she dies, we'll have another court day, and if she wakes up, you'll go with her.
"Father said Mama would never wake up."
"Ryila, I'm sure your Father loves you very much, he just doesn't show it all the time. He just doesn't want you to get your hopes up."
"No, Father said he hated me. He said I wasn't perfect and was too much like Mama. To him she's already gone."
"Ryila, your Mama will never be gone.''
"Father says people are gone when they die, but Mama used to talk about a big garden with trees and flowers and vegetables!"
"That sounds like a very happy place."
"Mama called it Heaven, she said God works there and watches us all the time to make sure we don't get ourselves into trouble."
"You should always believe what your Mama told your Ryila."
"I will."
"Good, now go get some clothes on and let's go." I raced to the family room where my bag of clothes lay of the floor. I put on my worst clothes, just to irritate Father. "Ryila, let's go!" Cindy called impatiently. I skipped out the door knowing I wouldn't be told otherwise for doing so.
When we were in the car I asked, "Do you think my Mama can hear me when she's in her long sleep?"
"Ryila, when I turned seventeen, my older brother had a stroke and went into a long comma. I talked to him every day, and I always felt like he could hear me. When he finally woke up one day, I asked him about it, he just nodded his head and thanked me for my company.
"Oh," I had wished and prayed for two years that Mama would wake up, but she never did. Cindy was really lucky her brother woke up.
When we reached the town hall, Cindy dragged me inside, I feared going in to talk to the judge and hear her pound her hammer and send me home with my Father. Eventually Cindy told me that is exactly what she would do if I didn't go in at all. We walked in the huge building and took our seats on wooden pews. Father sat across from us. He glared at me and whispered I'd better come home with him or else.
I was terrified when the judge brought out the bible and made us swear to speak the truth. Father said I must come home with him, and I couldn't very well do that unless I lied.
"Ryila, please come to the chair." Father had his own lawyer which surprised me since he was one. I sat in a big chair in front of a whole bunch of people. "Ryila, what did your father call you when your Mother died?"
"She's not dead."
"Ryila, answer the question."
"Kimberly."
"But Kimberly is not a bad name."
"No, but it wasn't the name my Mama gave me."
"Why is that such an issue?"
"Because I love her, and if Father loved her too, than he would call me the name she gave to me."
"Ryila, what did your Father do to you?"
Father sent mean glances my way. "Nothing," I snapped quickly.
The judge pounded her hammer, "Ryila, don't be afraid of your Father, he can't hurt you, we have police here."
"But Father said I'd better come home with him tonight or else, so I better just leave.''
"Ryila, tell the man what your Father did to you."
"Father hit me when I got a bad grade. Then he would lock me and Mama's doors and not allow me to see her. He didn't let me out of my room even if I begged and didn't feed me dinner. Every morning Father made me apply my makeup, wear my best clothes and jewelry, and make sure every strand of hair wasn't tangled to another.''
"What did your Father do to you if you didn't do what you were told?"
"Usually he locked up Mama's room for a day or two and didn't allow me to eat dinner with him. If we were running late, he would smack me upside the head and order me to do it or he'd call the school and tell them I wasn't coming to school that day."
"Why wasn't going to school so bad?"
"If I didn't go to school, I just had to sit in my room all day."
It went on like this for quite some time when finally the judge called a fifteen minute recess. Father came up to me during that time, "If you don't come home with me today Ryila, I will find you and cut off your limbs. You'll have a long painful death."
"Cindy!" I ran away from Father and told Cindy exactly what he said. Cindy told me she'd make sure I was protected. After fifteen minutes, everyone sat back down and listened for the judge's decision.
"Jack, you are charged with child abuse and will be placed under arrest." She turned to me as the police surrounded my Father. He yelled out as they hand cuffed him. He struggled as the police pulled him out the door and I winced. I sat and prayed in the silence that they wouldn't take Mama's life support away. "Ryila, you will be placed in foster care until your Mother wakes up or dies. If your Mother dies, you will immediately be put up for an adoption. If your Mother awakes, she may take you when she is well, or decide to place you up for adoption." I sighed a sigh of relieve as the judge pounded the hammer and left.
"This is good news Ryila, this is good news.
Also, gonna promote myself for two seconds, read and review my NIP "water under the bridge" if you'd like 
