Voyage of the Defiance

Chapter 2

2

The muffled sounds of voices outside the room jerked Makayla awake. She groaned as she sat up on the hard cushion of the chair. Pushing the blanket down, she frowned as she shoved her hair out of her face. She blinked several times trying to clear the fog from her brain.

Her fingers touched the blanket as she tried to remember where she was, and why she was sleeping in a chair. Her eyes jerked up to the sleeping figure. Pushing the blanket aside, she stiffly rose and stretched before slowly walking over to the bed.

She reached over the railing and gently cupped the hand of the woman lying so peacefully on the pristine white sheets. Tears burned her eyes again when she saw the strap around the fragile wrist. The fingers in her hand barely moved, but it was enough for Makayla to know her mom was still alive.

“Ma… kay… la,” Teresa Summerlin whispered in a voice that sounded raw and strained as she slowly opened her eyes.

“Hey, mom,” Makayla whispered, giving her mom a tired smile. “You don’t look so good.”

Tears glittered in Teresa’s eyes as she stared up at her daughter. “I… don’t feel… so good,” she forced out.

Makayla bit her lip and lowered her head so her mom couldn’t see the pain in her eyes. She stared at their joined hands. Her mother’s addiction to prescription drugs had started when Makayla was nine. At first, it had been antidepressants. That changed to pain medication after a car accident three years ago. Since then, her mom’s addiction had grown as she tried to escape from life.

It was strange that Makayla saw it, but her mom didn’t. Six months ago, Rob had come into the picture. Makayla tried to warn her mom that she was making a mistake. There had been something about the guy that gave her the creeps. The feeling had been justified when the physical violence started soon after the mental abuse stopped working, mostly because of the drugs. Her mom had just stopped caring what Rob said.

“I need… my medicine,” her mom whispered, licking her dry lips.

Makayla shook her head. “They took everything,” she said with a frown, glancing at the door when the sound of the voices on the other side rose. Her lips tightened when she recognized Rob’s familiar voice. “I don’t want him near you. You’ve got to tell him to go away.”

Teresa shifted anxiously in the bed. Her fingers tightened on Makayla’s as a sense of desperation began to burn in her eyes. Makayla recognized the look. Her mom needed her ‘fix’.

“I can’t, Makayla,” Teresa mumbled in a hoarse voice. “I need him.”

“No, you don’t,” Makayla replied in a tone edged with anger. “We can make it without him. He’s bad news. I told you that from the very beginning. You’ve got to tell him to take a hike.”

Tears glittered in her mom’s eyes. Makayla fought against the feeling of helplessness. It was the same thing over and over. All her mom cared about anymore was escaping from the world. The anger boiled over when the door to the room swung open and Rob stepped inside.

Makayla pulled her fingers out of her mom’s hand and stepped around the bed. This time, she wasn’t going to stand back. Positioning herself between the bed and Rob, she glared at him.

“Get out!” Makayla snapped. “Get out! Now! We don’t want you here. We don’t need you.”

Rob’s mouth twisted into the ugly, smug smile that Makayla had grown to hate. It was as if he knew that if it came down to Teresa choosing between him and the next fix or Makayla, that she would choose the drugs. Bitter acid turned in Makayla’s stomach. Her biggest fear was that he was right.

“Makayla,” her mom weakly called out behind her. “Don’t….”

“Yeah, don’t, little girl,” Rob replied sarcastically. “What’d you do this time, Teresa?”

Makayla’s temper exploded. Stepping forward, she lifted her hands and pushed Rob backwards when he took a step toward her mom. Fury burned through her when she saw a small, plastic packet fall to the floor of the room.

“You son-of-a…,” Makayla started to growl, glaring up into the slightly glazed brown eyes. “She’s in the freaking hospital and you’re bringing her drugs! She almost died and you’re bringing her more?”

“Shut up,” Rob warned, glancing over his shoulder at the door. “She needs them. She needs me.”

“No, she doesn’t!” Makayla yelled. “She needs me! She needs to get off this crud before it kills her.”

“Makayla,” Teresa whimpered, pulling at the straps on her arms. “Rob’s right. I need them. I can’t… I can’t….”

Makayla turned and drew in a shuddering breath as she stared at her mother through her unshed tears. Her throat worked up and down as she tried to get her emotions under control. Something told her that if she lost this fight, she would lose not only the war, but her mom.

“No,” she whispered, her face twisting in grief as she stared down at the pale figure in the bed. “I won’t lose you. We can do this, mom. We can beat this together.”

Makayla watched as her mom’s stricken face turned to look at Rob before returning to gaze at Makayla with an expression of sorrow. Unable to accept that her mom was choosing Rob and the drugs over her, Makayla turned away from her mom’s tear-stained face.

Her eyes flickered to the floor where the packet of ill-gotten prescription medication lay. She started to reach for them when she heard Rob mumble a curse. Knowing that he didn’t want anyone else to know about them, her eyes glittered in determination as she grabbed them.

A low cry of fury escaped her when Rob wrapped his hand around her wrist and squeezed it as he tried to take the small packet away from her. Revulsion swept through her and she swung out, striking him in the nose. Makayla vaguely heard her mom’s high pitched cry as she and Rob struggled.

Makayla grunted when Rob struck her across the face. She stumbled back against the bed at the same time as the door opened and several people rushed in. One of them, an older man, grabbed Rob and punched him in the jaw, sending her mom’s lanky boyfriend back against the bathroom door where he slid to the floor.

“What’s going on?” A hospital security guard demanded, stepping between the older man and Rob.

Makayla shot Rob a nasty look as she touched her burning cheek. He sat on the floor with his head tilted backwards against the door. A slow trickle of blood seeped from his nose and lip.

“He was trying to give my mom a fix,” Makayla said, holding out the small bag in the palm of her hand.

“You sorry piece of…,” the older man muttered under his breath, taking a step toward where Rob sat on the floor.

“Enough,” the guard interrupted as he pulled a radio from his waist and spoke into it.

“Let me take a look at you,” one of the nurses said, laying her hand on Makayla’s arm.

“I’m fine,” Makayla muttered in a thick voice.

She shrugged the woman’s hand off and turned to where her mom was lying on the bed crying. Her eyes glittered with fury and hurt. Stepping up next to the bed, she held the small plastic bag up so that her mom could see it.

“This is what you want,” she said bitterly. “I’m done. You made your choice, and it wasn’t me. This isn’t what I want in my life.”

Her fingers closed around the bag and for a minute she stared back at her mom’s desperate eyes. They were glued to her hand, not her face. It was the last straw. She had done everything she could and she obviously wasn’t good enough for her mom.

Her fingers opened and she watched almost in slow motion as the packet fell to the bed, just out of her mom’s reach. Turning on her heel, she walked over to pick up her backpack lying next to the chair she had slept in. She bent and picked it up, sliding it over one shoulder as she brushed her hair away from her heated cheek. She ignored those watching her with concern as she stepped around them and out of the room.