Chapter 44 Survivor's Tale

• "After that incident, she became a frequent visitor at the local hospital, offering excuses like 'I fell down the stairs' or 'I didn't see where I was going,'" I mutter again, still struggling to accept the harsh reality, even though I've recounted this story before. "That's the grim reality when you reside in places like Riverdale, Philippines. People are either too terrified or too corrupt to demand the truth, even when a pregnant woman is involved, so they choose to accept whatever story she provides. He eventually dragged my brother into the physical abuse as well, although thankfully not to the extent of sending him to the hospital. But that doesn't mean it hurt my brother any less."
• I take yet another extended pause, my longest one yet, because once I resume, I don't intend to stop until I've shared the entire tale. Failing to do so...well, I can't even begin to fathom the consequences.
• "When my mom reached her sixth month of pregnancy, he came home in the most intoxicated and drugged state I'd ever seen after a night out. I can't comprehend how the bastard didn't overdose with over seven and a half grams of cocaine and nearly a liter of alcohol in his system. Yet, he was lucid enough to bring a random woman home in the middle of the night and have sex with her in his own son's bed. He'd fooled around with others before, but he'd never brought them home until that night," I recount, briefly closing my eyes as I continue, suppressing the bile threatening to rise. "Fortunately, my brother was asleep with my mom that night. It's as if she sensed that it would be the last straw, so she comforted Alex to sleep in her own bed. The following morning, she discovered them both undressed and asleep, cocooned beneath the same blanket that Alex had owned since birth. He had defiled her beneath the same blanket his son would seek refuge under after enduring his father's brutal beatings. The mere thought of it finally drove my mom to the breaking point. So, before Alex could wake up and witness the horrifying sight in his own bed, she packed up the bastard's belongings, transported them to his truck, and woke them both up. After all those years, she summoned the courage to evict him and his female companion together. He left, miraculously," I recount, turning to face Max once more, "but not before delivering a near-fatal beating to her, concluding with one final, devastating kick to her abdomen, which caused her to hemorrhage onto the cold, unfeeling ground."