When she was able to crawl to a phone, the first call Kara made was to 911, and the second was to Therese’s mother Mary. Kara was still hidden in her closet, worried her dad would notice she had regained consciousness and would hit her again. The phone felt wet, and Kara knew it was blood, her own blood, but still hid in the closet. The 911 operator had asked her to stay on the line, but Kara wanted her other mother, the nice sober one, so she called Mary.
Kara grabbed her knees and shook as she heard the police kick the door down and yelling, then she heard a struggle, and knew they had taken down her dad. New sirens joined the noise and Kara knew it was a firetruck, but she was still scared to open the door, so she shook and bled in the darkness, and jumped back against the wall when the closet door was opened, afraid somehow it might be her dad. Her leg hurt like hell every which way she moved it.
“I found her, get me EMS over here when they get there.” said the officer loudly to the others in the front room. The officer squatted to be closer Kara to check her injuries and bring his eye level closer to hers.
“Hey Kara, hey you still awake?” asked the officer. Kara opened her eyes in fear, she didn’t really like the police after they kept her from going to the hospital with Therese when she fell from the tree, which she eventually accepted was the right thing for them to do, but it still angered her in a weird child memory way. Kara’s eyes adjusted and she squinted at first as the light was in the room and she had been hiding in the dark.
“Fuck, Officer P, they couldn't send anyone else?” asked Kara. She had a love-hate relationship with the officer, he was always trying to help her and she was trying hard to screw her life up.
“Overtime. How bad are you?” asked the officer, assessing her wounds and hoping the medics would be there soon.
“I hurt all over, he hit me hard. How’s my mom?” answered Kara.
“I really don’t know, the other guys are out there, I came looking for you.” said the officer.
“Well, you always seem able to find me when I fuck up.” said Kara.
“This is one thing that is not your fault.” said the officer.
Mary, Therese’s mother, walked into the room before EMS arrived. “Kara.” said Mary, as she walked into the room, and to not startle the officer. As the officer turned, Mary said “Good evening, Officer P, is she OK?” asked Mary who was well known to all the officers because of both Kara and Therese.
“Luckily, she’s the toughest problem I have to deal with.” said the officer in a friendly way. The fire department arrived and quickly began assessing Kara. Several trucks had arrived for the three people who were injured. The firefighters began shining lights in Kara’s eyes and asking her questions, and she couldn’t see Mary or the police officer.
“Officer P!” shouted Kara.
“I’m here.” said the officer.
“Don’t leave me yet.” pleaded Kara.
“I won’t, I promise.” said the officer, who was walking to the back of the room with Mary.
“How’s Therese?” asked the officer. Kara and Therese were both concerns of his, Kara had become delinquent, and Therese had become ill, but he hoped to see them both come out ahead one day.
“They keep trying new medications, it cuts down on the outbursts, and reduces the voices, but it reduces my daughter too.” said Mary, shrugging.
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“Well, these girls are lucky to have you, you’re a good mom. I think you’ll need to take this one in for a while, whether her mom presses charges or not for her own abuse this time, her dad’s going to jail for what he did to Kara, and for being a dumb ass and trying to fight us too.” said the officer.
“Kara is always welcome at my house. The girls don’t spend time together anymore, Therese’s illness has been hard for both of them, but it is always Kara’s home too.” said Mary. The firefighters called for an ambulance on their radio for Kara.
“Mom?” called Kara.
“The other guys, they’re working on her, she’s going to make it, but they are going to take her to another hospital, she’s just a little worse.” said a firefighter trying to explain things to Kara.
“No, not her, Mom!” cried out Kara.
“Yes, dear.” said Mary as she walked closer to Kara.
“Will you go with me, I don’t want to be alone, I’m scared.” Said Kara, making a very rare admission to fear.
“Of course, I promised you a long time ago I will always be there for you, and I will.” said Mary.
“Thank you, Mom, I love you.” said Kara.
“I love you too, you’ll be fine, I promise, and you can come stay with us as long as you want, when we get out of the hospital.” said Mary, who was sad to see Kara in pain, and also sad the day Space-Girl Kara had told her would happen, did happen. Mary hated temporal timeline matters, and she wished she would have just torn Kara’s father’s head off that morning.
The ambulance crew arrived soon, and they used a backboard to lift Kara up and onto the gurney. Kara hated this, not because it hurt, but she realized how Therese must have felt when she was strapped down, and Kara had abandoned her best friend. Kara hated herself, but it had become so difficult to cope with Therese’s behavior, the shouting, the yelling at people and yelling at people that were not there, and this anger had manifested into Kara’s behaviors as an outlet for her own feelings.
“This lady, she is Mary, she needs to ride with Kara.” said Officer P to the ambulance crew.
“No problem, Ma’am.” the ambulance crew said, not asking any questions to that regard, the less they knew, the less they knew.
“Is asshole gone yet? I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of him seeing me like this.” said Kara, regaining some of her defiance.
“Let me go check.” said the officer, walking out of the room to check.
“Thank you for coming.” said Kara to Mary, as Kara lay strapped down with a cervical collar, unable to move her head, or look around.
“I’m sorry this has happened, please forgive me for not intervening.” Said Mary, squeezing Kara’s hand.
“You couldn’t stop this from happening. One thing I learned from watching Space-Girl Michelle with Therese is, what happens, well it happens, and we do our best to survive it.” said Kara, making a rare admission that the nerd inside her still thrived.
“They are taking him now, the guys will hit a siren when they clear the street to let you know.” Said the officer, in perfect timing as a police siren momentarily blared.
“Hey Office P, thanks again for never giving up on me. I hope one day I can make you guys proud again.” said Kara.
“I’ll look after you girls until you get to high school, then you are on your own. I can’t stand the principal there, he was a jackass when I went there.” said the officer.
“Weaver? Yah, he is a total jackass, I hated him too.” said one of the medics.
“Great, now I have a time restriction on getting my shit together, thanks for the love, officer.” said Kara as she was rolled through the house and to the ambulance.
“Thank you.” Mary said to the police officer.
“It’s my pleasure, you remember, I’m the one who found them at the park playing, when they ran away. I guess somehow, I’m pulled into all this too.” said the officer.
“God puts people where He needs them.” said Mary.
“Yes, yes He does.” said the officer.
Mary turned and walked quickly through the house, and climbed into the ambulance. The crew offered her a hand up, but admired Mary’s strength as she simply stepped up into the ambulance. “Can I really stay with you guys?” Kara asked Mary.
“I promise you, and if I know Rodger, he will be on the phone to every lawyer in town tomorrow, we’ll have you this summer, even if it means I have to put up with that Space-Girl show all day.” said Mary.
“You really think Therese will want me there?” asked Kara.
“People are always happy when their friends come back. It’s been rough, but she walks tall.” said Mary, making her own rare Space-Girl reference.
“You really don’t like that show do you?” asked Kara.
“The galaxy needs Space-Girls, but that doesn’t mean any mother is eager to have their daughter run off and join them.” said Mary, looking down and smiling at Kara as she held her hand. Mary just wanted to tell Kara how everything will eventually be fine.