CRIMINAL MIND

CHAPTER 2 TERRIBLE NIGHT

A few weeks later, Rebecca moved into a subdivision with the help of her sister Eva. She first loaned Rebecca money while she was looking for work.

On the other hand, Ricardo continued his bad work. He still gambled after earning a salary in construction, and he was also able to stay in his house with his new partner, Elizabeth, who is a waitress at the bar.

Erin stayed at his father's house full of fear and self-doubt. Every day he asks himself about the intense suffering he feels. He feels that God is punishing him for his innocence.

He often asked himself.

Do I have to live in the world?

Was it a sin for me to be born and to suffer my existence during my childhood days?

These are the words that repeatedly cringe into the mind of Erin S. Sullivan, better known as Rin. In his young mind, he realizes he is in a troubled family where the only one who loves and cares for him is his mother. His father was a drunkard and a womanizer, and whenever he got drunk, he often beat his wife. It got to the point that his mother caught his father with a mistress, so she chose to leave him instead of enduring the deception, but when she tried to take Erin away, her husband argued and was able to hurt her again, which became the way she couldn’t get Erin out of her side.

One night, as it was getting dark and the heavy rain in the sky seemed to be a warning, Erin took water from the well to store a lot of water in a jar. He heard a small voice that seemed to be arguing with his father and his mistress, Elizabeth. She treats him well and considers him a real child of her own, so even when he is not with his mother, he feels a sense of belonging to Elizabeth.  Erin stopped collecting water when he heard that his father seemed to be throwing utensils inside the house at the same time as the thunder and lightning struck, he was alarmed and scared by the bright light so he hurriedly ran inside the house, he was panting heavily when he reaches the front door and he noticed that his father was slapping and mercilessly strangling Elizabeth.

He looked around and noticed that the flower vase on the table was broken, their mirror facing the TV was also broken, and other equipment was scattered on the floor but what is even more shocking and terrifying was when he witnessed Elizabeth struggle, seeking help and begging for her life.

"HELP! HELP…. Elizabeth's eyes were already staring, her windpipe was also losing air and her tongue was almost hanging out from Ricardo's grip on her neck.

Erin was four years old at the time and he was still too weak to stop his father from being violent with his actions. So maybe that further explains why her mother can't even afford to stay in their house because of his father's behavior.

It wasn't like that before, Ricardo used to be able to take home special Pansit every time he came out of work and he wasn't always hot-tempered, he started to get irritable and violent when he learned to gamble and beat without being able to recover of winning big money bets.

"Papa, that's enough," tears began to roll in Erin’s eyes and he could feel his heart beating fast and his forehead was dripped with a lot of sweat due to the intense fear that he might turn to him and physically abuse him too.

And he wasn't mistaken, his father was looking at him with intense burning eyes glaring with rage maybe they had a heated argument with Elizabeth that had already resulted in his father's rage.

Erin stiffened from the stand and he could barely step his feet away in front of his father. His father’s attention was aroused and he could no longer take his eyes off Erin, he let go of Elizabeth's neck until her lifeless body fell to the floor and then he hurriedly approached his son.

Erin sobbed in tears as his father got closer and closer to him. He feels that heaven will judge him and that he will be deprived of life by his father but he does not want to die in his ruthless hands, Erin thinks of his mother, he wants to go home and be with her because that is the only place he feels protection and peace of mind so that even though he was overwhelmed with weakness and terror he slowly retreated, small steps towards the door of the house but when he turned away his father grabbed his foot which caused him to fell to the floor, with the force of its grip his father removed his right shoe, he wiggled and looked for anything he could throw at his father to release his foot until he found the big ball that given to him by his mother, he tried to take it aside and he quickly threw it and grabbed it on his father's head, bouncing s the ball was on the floor and his father frowned in pain and it released his foot, when Erin got a few inches away and he got up quickly and almost stomped to the door, he pulled the doorknob and he got out of the house. .

KRASSSHH

WOOOSSHHH

Heavy rain with thunder and lightning deafening roared from the sky, Erin did nothing else then because if he stayed where he was his father could chase him so even though the rain was very heavy he ran and got wet, he walked towards the main gate and he opened the gate, he was getting cold his wet clothes but he did not send his fear after he came out of the gate he was not able to look back at their old house for fear of being followed by his father, he went to the highway and there were almost no people and he didn't see anyone he could ask for help so he just continued to walk even though he was wearing only one shoe and his right sock was pierced, he endured the wetness of the rain while the occasional lightning continued to rage, heaven witnessed the violence and crime committed by his father and he endured the agony of his heart at such an innocent age that he should have stayed indoors now and told his mother's bedtime story. He could not have imagined that his experience with his father would be such a shock. Here he is, weakening and fighting to save his life from disaster, they can no longer return to their former happy and complete family, he can no longer return to the life he hoped for with a responsible and loving father, all   Erin can think of is get to his mother's house and there he can hide away from his violent father.

After a while and he also moved away from the alley where their house was standing, he escaped the hands of his father and he couldn't follow him because the heavy rain was still pouring and he was very far away from their house.

He had been walking on the highway for almost an hour and he also passed some establishments until he came to a small mini stop where there were empty seats outside the store where he could rest and seat, he even walked there several times and when he got to the seat the mini stop door opened, a middle-aged woman came out carrying a plastic grocery and a small folding umbrella, Erin and the woman looked at each other and Erin realized that the woman was her mother Rebecca, he smiled, he finally found his mother and somehow lost the heavy tremor in his chest. He realized he was safe at those times; he wiped the tears from his puffy eyes and immediately approached his mother.

He wanted to complain and hug her tightly because it was the only safest place to be.

"Mama…" he was about to reach for his mother's hands when he suddenly fainted and his eyesight went dark before he lost consciousness.

     

"Ahhh,"

Erin cried out at the same time he opened his eyes and got up from the bed. His sight hit the ceiling of the house and he changed the environment, he looked around, and quite before his sight the whole household, immediately registered in his mind that he was not in his own house and that it was probably his mother's house.

"Erin,"

"Erin! Erin wake-up, let's eat breakfast." He heard his mother's soft voice in the distance and there his memory returned of the previous night where the cruel fear enveloped his will again.

 The bedroom door opened and his mother immediately opened and greeted him with a sweet smile, there was a slightly wrinkled look in her eyes and her clear and gentle face prevailed which gave a little peace to Erin's mind because that was what testified that he was far from violence, he was far from his father's cruel intention. and when Erin was sure that he was no longer in his own house and that everything he saw was true and not just a dream. he quickly got up and hugged it tightly while tears could not help but drip into his eyes.

"M-Mama, I'm scared of Papa Ricardo. I'm sure he'll kill us like he did Aunt Elizabeth." Erin's voice trembled as he told his mother, that he still couldn't move on from the heinous crimes he had witnessed his father commit.

Mrs. Rebecca frowned after hearing what Erin said, she could not immediately decipher what her son was saying.

"Son, what are you saying? I can't understand you."

Erin controlled his emotions before he spoke again.

"M-Mama I'm telling you the truth, last night I was collecting water from the well to put in the jar, I heard that Papa and Aunt Elizabeth were arguing so I immediately went inside the house because I could hear I already have broken items, when I entered the living room I could see how Papa Ricardo strangled Aunt Elizabeth, he was very angry and it looked like he was going to kill Aunt Elizabeth so I tried to stop him but I saw his eyes glaze over with anger so I was scared and I ran away from our house even though it was raining hard last night. Mama let's leave this place before Papa follows us, I don't want you to be ruined. " Erin continued to sob as his mother hugged him tightly.

At those times he pretended to be a rat that had escaped from the lion's den.

"Shhh, stop crying son, I promise you nothing bad will happen to us, it's far from my house in the alley where your Papa Ricardo is so I assure you that he won't follow us here or disturb us and then don't worry he won't get you from me, I'll protect you from any danger he takes. I won't let him touch or hurt you. " Erin was comforted by his mother and after a while, he calmed down, his mother wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Son, it's best if we eat breakfast first and then come with me to the market to buy fruits and vegetables. Okay?" his mother's lively invitation changed his mind.

Erin agreed and the two of them went to the dining table. Two bowls of hot Arroz were served with steaming hot broth along with a scrambled egg and a cup of milk each. Erin's grief and fear were relieved as he saw his mother Rebecca overjoyed to be with him again.

They ate for a long time because they missed each other they also spent a long time chitchatting but after a while, Mrs. Rebecca ordered Erin to take a bath first while she was washing the dishes. Rebecca, when Erin finished taking a bath, he was given new clothes bought by his mother, Mrs. Rebecca prepared for the day that she would be with Erin so she bought him clothes.

After they had packed their things and groomed themselves, they left the house. Rebecca’s house is located in a small suburb, it used to be the house of her friend who works in the District Municipal office, her friend decided to work abroad so she just sold the house and Rebecca was lucky that she bought it at an affordable price.

The mother and son waited for the tricycle at the corner and when the tricycle stopped, they immediately rode inside to go to the public market in town.