A Life Less Broken

by Margaret McHeyzer

  “It was you,” I yell and charge at him again.

  I pin him against the wall and keep punching him until I can feel the fight leaving his body.

  “What are you talking about?” he chokes out between punches to the face and abdomen. His face is bloodied. His eye is quickly swelling, and my knuckles have split. They hurt like I’ve broken my hand.

  I don’t care about the pain. I push past it and pummel him repeatedly until I feel someone pulling me off of him.

  I turn to attack the motherfucker tugging me away from Oscar and I see my father’s face. He’s shocked, but I see guilt and something like regret flash through his eyes before he lets me go and backs away with his palms up. He’s terrified. But I don’t think it’s me he’s afraid of.

  I’m petrified that I wouldn’t have stopped if he hadn’t intervened.

  I look over my shoulder at Oscar; he’s slumped on the floor and twisting around, cradling his stomach. After a sharp moment of silence, sounds erupt in the room all at once. I can hear my mother sobbing and crying. My father keeps repeating, “Calm down, Dominic.” And my brother is whimpering.

  My blood is beyond boiling, and my heart’s racing. Anger and fury pump through me, wanting me to tear Oscar apart.

  “We called 911,” my father says in a calmer tone.

  Allyn.

  I see her on the sofa, and my heart breaks. She looks so small and helpless lying still, and I go to her.

  “Sweetheart,” I say but my tone comes out quite hoarse and angry.

  I need to calm myself down.

  I kneel beside her and stroke her hair and kiss her forehead.

  “Sweetheart,” I repeat in a much calmer voice. “You can come back now, I won’t let him hurt you again.” She doesn’t stir. “Open your eyes and look at me. I need you to tell me that you love me.” I keep my eyes steady on her face. Not a damn flicker, not a twitch, nothing. She doesn’t move. “I need you in my life, Allyn. You’re my rare beauty, the precious gem that stole my heart and you can’t ever give it back to me, because I won’t take it. We brought color back into each other’s lives the moment we met. I can’t be without you.” I stroke the soft skin on her face as I hover over her, and keep talking. “You have all of me, Allyn, and you have to come back to me.” I kiss her cheek.

  “Dominic, the ambulance and police should be here soon.” Mom places a hand on my shoulder, and I nod my head, acknowledging her words. “What happened?” she asks, but I ignore her, focusing on Allyn.

  “I only just found you, please don’t go away. I couldn’t breathe without you by my side. I need you with me.” I gently lift my fingers to stroke her face softly and catch sight of my bloody hand.

  I try and wipe the blood on my shirt. Allyn has had enough blood in her life without me adding to it.

  “Dominic,” my mother says as she moves next to me. I look at Mom, who’s got tears trickling down her cheeks. “What happened, son?”

  “He raped her three years ago. And she recognized his voice and collapsed.”

  “Your brother is a lawyer, Dominic. He took an oath to uphold the law. Why would he have done that to Allyn?” she asks.

  I remember something that Lauren told me when I first asked to get me information on Allyn. There were so many girls and only two survived, one of whom took her life shortly after she was found.

  “She’s not the only one, Mom. There were a lot of others. Allyn is the only survivor though.” I look down at Allyn and lift her hand against my face and run her palm along my cheek, comforted by the feel of her soft, pale skin.

  “Wait, this was a few years back if I remember correctly.” Mom’s eyebrows furrow together and she bites her lip in frustration as she looks like she’s trying to remember something.

  “Three years.” I look around the room and don’t see Dad. “Where’s Dad?” I ask Mom.

  “He’s looking after your brother.”

  Every hair follicle stands on end when Mom relates me to Oscar. “He’s no brother of mine.”

  “Dominic, this might all be a misunderstanding. It might not have been him. You can’t come to such a drastic conclusion without even giving him the benefit of explaining.”

  “I don’t have to give him anything. Allyn’s body told me all I need to know. Mom, she heard his voice and lost control of her bladder.”

  “Is she wet?” Mom asks and pulls the covers back.

  “Yeah she is.”

  “I’ve got some new panties, still in the plastic, and some sleep pants that will fit her. I’ll go get them.” Mom rushes out of the room.

  I turn back to Allyn.

  “Come on, sweetheart. We have a lifetime of memories to make, and we can’t do that if you won’t open your eyes.” I drop my voice and whisper in her ear, “I’ll always protect you. You’ll never feel pain again as long as I’m close to you.”

  “Dominic,” Mom says, taking my attention away from my girl.

  “I love you more than my own life,” I whisper as I kiss her on the cheek and run my hand up and down her arm.

  “I’ll get her cleaned up and changed, son. Go and see to your hand.”

  “No, Mom, I’ll take care of her.”

  Mom bites on her lip and turns to leave.

  I undress Allyn, wiping her with the dry part of the skirt I just took off her. I take the panties out of the packaging and slip them on her, then get her legs into the sleep pants and pull them up over her hips. I pick her up and move her to the other sofa, wrapping her up in the blanket. I don’t want her waking and becoming embarrassed when the police and paramedics arrive. She needs to retain as much dignity as she can during this very difficult time for her.

  “Mom,” I call.

  “Do you need help, Dominic?”

  “No it’s done. But I need you to take her clothes and put them in a bag in case the police need them. I don’t think she’ll ever want to see them again. If the police don’t need them, throw them away, or destroy them, I don’t care.”

  “Alright, I’ll wait for them to tell me what to do with them. Look, if your brother…”

  “He’s not my brother. He did this.”

  “If he did, then he’ll be dealt with by the law.”

  I run my bloodied hands through my hair then over my face. “Not if I get to him first.”

  “Dominic,” my father calls from his position next to Oscar.

  I get up and walk out to find my father opening the door to four policemen.

  They flash a glance at Oscar laying bloodied on the floor, then to me. They see my cracked, blood-covered hands. Immediately one draws his gun and yells at me to lie face down on the floor with my arms outstretched and palms facing down.

  I comply with their demands and one approaches and cuffs me.

  “I’m gonna help you up,” he says as he tugs on my arms as I lift myself.

  Another police officer stands in front of me.

  “I’m Officer Sweeney. What happened to him?” he asks me.

  “I beat the shit out of him,” I answer.

  “Looks that way. Now why did you do that?”

  “Because he raped my girlfriend.” Sweeney’s eyebrows rise in surprise.

  The paramedics arrive and see Oscar on the floor, moaning in pain.

  Fucker, I should’ve killed him.

  He turns and gives Sweeney a small nod.

  “Don’t worry about him, get my girlfriend to the hospital. She’s over there.” I jut my chin toward the family room. “She passed out and I can’t wake her up.”

  One of the paramedics goes to her and I’m relieved to know she’s being cared for.

  “Make sure he’s cuffed,” Sweeney instructs one of the other police officers as he’s looking at Oscar.

  “Mom, go with Allyn. If she wakes up before I’m released, tell her I’ll be there the moment I can.”

  “Of course,” she says as she kisses my cheek.

  “Let’s take this back to the station and get it sorted,” Sween
ey says and leads me out the door.

  Sandwiched between two police officers, I’m pushed and pulled out the front door.

  Getting further and further away from my beautiful, courageous Allyn.

  Chapter 28

  Dominic

  “Mr. Shriver, your father is here to see you,” a young female police officer announces as Dad walks in behind her.

  I’ve been sitting in this cold, sterile room for the better part of an hour. The handcuffs are off, but I still feel caged in here.

  No one’s taken my statement yet. I have no idea what’s happening beyond this room. No one has told me anything about Allyn’s condition, or Oscar’s. Not that I care about him.

  “Dad,” I say as I stand and walk toward him. “What’s happened to Allyn?”

  “Thank you.” My father graciously thanks the police officer and she steps out, closing the door behind her.

  “Dad?”

  “Son, we’ve got a few things to talk about.” Dad sits down in the chair opposite to the one I was sitting in. He leans his elbows on the table and hangs his head, as if he’s dreading this conversation.

  I catch another glimpse of some unknown emotion in his eyes, something I’ve never seen him express before. Suddenly, I know what he’s feeling.

  Shame.

  “What’s going on?” I sit down and lean across to Dad to touch his hand.

  “Don’t,” he says, pulling his hand away. His voice loaded with so much remorse and sorrow.

  “Is Allyn alright? Has something happened to her? I swear, if something’s happened I will end him,” I spit through a tightly clenched jaw as I get up and start pacing, unable to remain still. “I will fucking kill him if…if… fuck!” I turn and punch the wall out of anger and frustration. That sick fuck.

  “Calm down, Dominic. It’s nothing like that. I talked to your mother before I came in here. We got her a private room at the hospital, and Allyn’s comfortable, but she’s not awake yet. Your mother and I are taking care of all her medical costs.”

  My fist already hurts from laying into Oscar, but now, thanks to my outburst, the pain has intensified. I think I may have broken a knuckle. But I don’t care about that; I just have a raw and uncontrollable need to hurt the man who’s hurt Allyn.

  Then I reconsider my father’s words. “Hang on. Why did you set her up in a private room?” I ask, curious. They only met Allyn tonight. They aren’t any more responsible for Oscar’s actions then I am. Why are they suddenly so concerned about her?

  Unless…

  Dad’s ashamed.

  My parents have accepted her medical expenses.

  My father has something to tell me.

  Their reaction when I beat Oscar, and told them what he did to Allyn was, for the lack of a better word, calm. Accepting.

  I flop back down in the chair, and pray to every God ever known to man that I’m simply overthinking this and that they didn’t know about Oscar. About what he did to the woman I brought to their home.

  Because if they did, they’re just as responsible as he is. Worse. They should be arrested too. Why, if they knew, did they do nothing about it?

  “Dad?” I ask in a quiet voice, not wanting to ask, but needing to know.

  Dad looks across at me and quickly looks away, unable to hold my gaze. That fleeting look of guilt I saw earlier is plastered on his face. It can no longer be hidden.

  His shoulders slump and his brows knit together as he takes a deep breath.

  “Please tell me you and Mom didn’t know about this,” I plead with him. Please let me be imagining this shit.

  Dad says nothing.

  Not a goddamn fucking word.

  He’s hiding his face but his body language is radiating shame and guilt.

  “Dad, I need to know,” I say more forcefully but silently hoping it’s not true.

  He nods his head once, the smallest of nods. No, that’s not good enough. I need to hear the words.

  “Dad, tell me the truth,” I say still praying that I’ve got it wrong.

  “When your brother…”

  “He’s not my brother,” I cut him off.

  He sighs. “When Oscar was in his last year of high school and you were in the first year of college, Oscar came home saying that a girl at school was accusing him of rape. He said that she was going to go to the police and tell them about it unless he turned himself in.”

  What? Why didn’t she go to the police? Why was she warning him of what she was going to do? That makes no sense at all.

  “So we got in contact with the girl and paid her off. Quite handsomely, too.”

  “So she just wanted money?” I shake my head in disbelief that anyone could be so callous, to trade all that pain just for money.

  “It appeared so at the time.”

  My eyes fly to Dad. He’s still not looking at me. He’s staring at a spot on the table that only he can see.

  “What does that mean?” My knee is bouncing and I’m chewing on the inside of my cheek, restraining my every unbearable urge to get up and pound into Dad.

  “Oscar denied even being sexually active with her, until she wound up pregnant. That’s when she came back for money.”

  “I don’t believe a sixteen-or seventeen-year-old girl would have the intelligence to scheme something like that,” I say. Truly, this shit is unbelievable.

  “Her parents found out about the baby. When she told them what happened, the father came to the house ready to turn Oscar in. I bought their silence.”

  “Just like that?” I ask shaking my head.

  “Yes, just like that.”

  “But that could’ve been just a stupid decision not use a condom while they were having sex. That didn’t prove that Oscar raped her,” I say trying against my own better judgment to find justification for something that had none. Something convinced my parents that the girl’s accusations were true, and I need to know what that was.

  “You’re right, it doesn’t. But when I sat down with Oscar and talked to him about it, he admitted he’d lied to me and that they did have sex. And that the sex was very rough and that the girl liked to be smacked around.”

  My mind is going around and around in confusion. None of this makes any sense.

  “How did I not know about this?” My hands go up in exasperation.

  “Because you were away at college, and we protected you. We didn’t want you involved in something so…” he stops talking to think of an appropriate word. “Inconsequential.”

  “A girl claiming she’s raped is not something that should be bought off or swept under the rug. Your son was accused of something not only illegal, but also disgusting and immoral. And you totally disregarded it?”

  Dad looks around the room, still not meeting my angry glare.

  Shit.

  There’s more.

  I can tell by his body language that it’s more than just this one event.

  “What else?” I ask coldly.

  “It sort of happened again in college.”

  “Sort of? What does sort of mean?”

  “Well, in his third year of college, I got a call from a police officer who wanted to meet with me in a public place to talk about Oscar. When we met that day, he told me that he had taken a report from a girl who wanted to press charges against Oscar for raping her.

  “She said that they were at a party and Oscar slipped her a date rape drug, that he took her back to his apartment, raped her, and allowed a friend to rape her. She said she was in and out of consciousness but remembers Oscar and some other guy she couldn’t describe. When she woke up, she was lying in an alley, partially clothed. She went home and showered and a few days later a friend showed her some photos she’d taken on her phone. There was one of her and Oscar, and it jogged her memory enough that she remembered part of what happened.

  “She went to the police and the case was being handled by this police officer, Michael I think his name was. Anyway, the cop recognized Oscar’s surname, knew
he came from money, and basically, for seven figures, the case disappeared.”

  What the fuck did I just hear?

  Is this a fucking joke?

  “What happened to the girl?”

  “I never asked, Dominic. I just said that I never wanted to hear about it again.”

  Who are these people that call themselves my family?

  “Did you ask Oscar about it?” I ask in total disbelief. Really, I’m astonished.

  “I did.” He nods his head but goes on to say, “And he said she liked it rough, too.”

  My mouth falls open, as Dad swipes at a tear.

  “Why did you protect him?”

  “I protected all of us.”

  “No fucking way. I don’t need protection; I’ve never done anything wrong. Does Mom know?”

  Please say no.

  “Of course. Your mother was the one who told me both times to pay them whatever they were asking.”

  Well this shit’s just gotten unbelievable.

  “How can you sit there and shed a fucking tear when you knew all along what he was capable of? You knew what he did to those girls, and you paid them off for silence.” I stand up and ball my already aching hand into fists. I’m so fucking pissed off, so tense that I can feel the muscles in my arms vibrating with sheer, fucking fury.

  “We did it to protect you.”

  “Bullshit! You did it to protect yourselves. You think that because the name Shriver is attached to bonds and stocks all over the world that it gives your son the right to do what he wants with girls? How many has he killed because you were trying to ‘protect’ us?”

  “Son,” he starts saying.

  “Don’t call me that. I’m no longer related to you. This so-called family is completely devoid of any sense of decency and I don’t want to be associated with any of you. How do you aim on fixing this one? Because guess what, John? I fully intend to get up in that witness stand and tell the judge and the jury everything you just said, along with everything I know about that weak, pathetic excuse for a son you have. And don’t think I’m doing this for Allyn. I’m doing this for every victim that he raped and broke for his own demonic enjoyment before he killed them. And I’m doing this because it’s the right thing to do – something you’re apparently incapable of.”