Half Of Rhea

The Secrets

The sound of light breathing brought Rhea out of her sleep. Panic stricken, she quickly sat up to gather her bearings. She looked upon a sweet little boy snuggled up in her pillows. The pain resonated through every cell in her body, as the last day’s events came flooding through her consciousness again. Damn it, why did I have to wake up, she sighed at herself and laid back down, glancing at the little person who was breathing on her before. She didn’t know when or how he ended up next to her, but she didn’t care. Thoughts of him breathing in her ear, sent a snake-like feeling down her back. She shuddered in disgust and swallowed the saliva down into her throat, holding back her tears again. It wasn’t ‘him’ so why did she shudder at it? She pulled the blankets tighter around her and hoped she could forget everything. When the fear started to creep into her she sat up, there was no escaping it. A cup of tea for her dry, sore mouth and assessment of her current situation was needed.

 She quickly looked around and relief washed over her, as she realised they were alone in the bedroom. Good. The darkness was all encompassing, she had no idea what the time was, or how long she had been asleep for. She looked around again and remembered she had no phone. Her body felt like it had been hit by a milk tanker and she inched to the side of the bed. Laken remained still, as she landed on the ground with heavy footsteps, unable to move more tentatively due to her injuries. There would be no balancing, no creeping and no light footedness. She was physically incapable.

So like an elephant she stumbled and thumped out into the hallway and turned on the light. It brought welcome relief and she went through the house turning on all the lights and making sure every door and window was shut and locked. The house was spotless, with no signs of a struggle or broken furniture anywhere, Zane must have cleaned up, which surprised her. At this stage he was nowhere to be seen and she needed to make sure there was nobody hiding, ready to pop out at her, her heart and mental well being just couldn’t cope with anything else, at this stage.

The house was empty and she had made her way to the kitchen for a cup of tea. Her body desperately yearned for food and fluids but all she could cope with, was a hot drink. She turned the t.v in the dining room on, and saw that the late night news anchor, was showing the weather for tomorrow. It was past 1030pm then, she had slept for a long time. She sighed and sipped more tea, the liquid was the perfect temperature and her throat and the rest of her body was thanking her for the sustenance. She hadn’t paid attention to much, but out of the darkness and light reflecting off the fridge, she noticed a piece of paper and something that looked similar to her phone sitting upon it.

Rhea walked over to the kitchen bar and picked up her phone. She clicked the volume button and it shone. Oh thank goodness he hadn’t smashed it, she didn’t have the money to replace it but not only that, it had all the pictures and videos of Laken from the day he was born. She quickly flicked through and all her messages and calls had been deleted as well as her f*******: page and i********:. Those things she could download again later, for now she was happy to have her phone back. Rhea then picked up the note that had been folded in half. A hastily scrawled, slightly illegible handwritten page looked up at her. She closed her eyes sighed and then opened, preparing mentally for whatever this had to say.

“Hi Rhea I thort I would write somethin to you. I had to go for a

cuple nights. I put son in by you so he would sleep beta and the dogs

outside in the shed. I read evryfin slade wrote and 2day when

he text asking to meet for a coffee I lost my s**t. You cheated on me

but im willing 2 4give u. I told him to f**k off and he had no busnis hitting

a chick up who alredi had a family and partner. Don’t expect 2hear from

him again. Work on your loyalty 2 me and our family will be ok. Love u”

She screwed the note up and threw it at the rubbish bin. Tears had been falling since she started reading that pathetic excuse for a note. Her eyes were puffy, it hurt when she touched them, God it even hurt to f*****g blink. So Slade had texted and that was why Zane looked at her phone, the events were starting to add up. How unlucky she thought, the puppy tangling everyone up and Laken falling over, had caused her to drop her phone from her pocket, if only she hadn’t kneed him in the balls. It physically hurt to continue crying as she thought about what had happened as a consequence. Tired again she headed out to the shed to get the puppy and bring him inside so he was safe too.

She turned on the outside light and unlocked the backdoor. It automatically locked when the door shut, so she had to put a boot in the opening, just in case a gust of wind slammed it while she was outside. They had lost the key to that door years ago, so she was used to this. The night air had a slight cold wind to it, which was quite refreshing for this time of year. She walked as briskly and confidently as she could towards the shed and unlatched the metal deadbolt. They never padlocked the shed as there wasn’t much in it and the only person who used it was Zane. She could hear yelping inside and hurriedly turned the light on.

As Rhea opened the door, four paws and a tail was all she could distinguish of the little tan brown cuteness, that jumped and licked at her, not realising the excruciating pain he was lovingly bestowing upon her shins. She knelt down and petted him so he would stop jumping. He had grown a lot, even over the short time they had him. He was a gorgeous pup with floppy ears and paws that he hadn’t grown into yet. After they had reunited and she had showered him with enough affection, he had calmed down and ran towards the house. She knew he would have jumped up onto her bed in a few leaps and snuggled into his rightful place with Laken.

Rhea looked around the shed. Things had changed so much she didn’t recognise the space. When was the last time she had come out here? She didn’t know. What was a simple garden shed before, with a bench and a lawnmower, was now a hori looking man cave. There were armchairs and a dirty wooden coffee table, ash and half-filled ash trays littered the top. There were empty cans of energy drinks, a Bluetooth speaker that had been taken apart and paper and rubbish everywhere. Rhea picked up a piece of paper and glanced over what appeared to be rap lyrics. She laughed out loud. Since when had this place been transformed into this mess? She glanced at the wall and there was a picture of a half-naked, skinny, blonde girl on the wall. She rolled her eyes, she was the polar opposite of Rhea's womanly figure, colour and features. That would have upset her before, but now she only wished, that stupid girl would come and take ‘her man’ away.

Rhea kept exploring the space, finding a dirty bong, made out of a mountain dew bottle, hose pipe and a thimble. If she was going to be a snoop now was the time, determination and curiosity swept through her and she decided she can’t remain wantingly oblivious to what Zane was up to. She searched that place all over, found blackened cotton buds, light bulbs that had been taken apart and burnt, but nothing that she recognised. Was all this stuff used for dr*gs? She wasn’t sure. She climbed up onto the chair and stood looking up onto the cinder blocks. There was a small space between the top row and the roof. That’s when she saw it, a black sunglasses case that looked so out of place.

Rhea pushed the chair over to the wall, stood on it once more and felt along the ledge, until her fingers felt the familiar shape. She hurriedly took it down, her heart racing, she desperately wanted to know what was in there. The anxiety of everything made the blood rush to her ears and she looked out the door anticipating a noise or a car to pull up. After nothing happened she opened up the case, inside were approximately 40 tiny, empty plastic bags and a glass pipe. She sighed, even as naïve as she was, she knew for sure what this was used for. Smoking methamphetamine….. She sat on the dirty armchair inhaling deeply. Okay so this explains the intense mood swings, the lack of sleep and the aggression she thought to herself. Finally an answer. She took the case and turned out the light, heading back inside, unsure of what to do or how to handle the situation at this point. Thankfully the dog hadn’t knocked the door and the boot remained in its place, keeping her access open. She locked the door and hid the case up in her kitchen cupboard.

A sense of accomplishment came over her and she returned to the bedroom, checking the house again for any weak security spots and hopping back into bed, she fell asleep snuggled between her two favourite boys, formulating plans.

The next morning they all awoke at the same time, the dog was yawning and whining to go out to the toilet, Laken also needed the toilet and Rhea started the day getting everyone to their respective areas for relief.

“Mama you was asleep when I came home yesterday.” Laken said stuffing marmite toast into his mouth.

“I know baby, I was sick.”

“Yeah that’s what dad said, he made me noodles for tea and put me in by you.”

“I’m glad he did.” She smiled at him, patting his head as he continued drinking his morning milo.

“Its Saturday so no kindy, stay in your jammies and go watch some cartoons when you’ve finished.”

Laken stuffed the remnants of his toast in his mouth and ran off excitedly into the lounge, yahooing and drawing the dog’s attention, who followed him just as excited.

Rhea picked up her phone and was glad she knew Sage’s number, off by heart, because it had been erased from her phone. The number dialled and started ringing….. Rhea held her breath waiting for her mate to answer.

“Good morning friend, now why the hell are you ringing me so frigging early on a Saturday?” she sounded pissed off and slightly amused.

“I need to talk to you mate something bad happened. I can’t tell you on the phone, can you please come see me? Only if you’re free though?” Maybe because she sensed the seriousness in Rhea’s voice or because she hardly ever asked for Sage’s help, there was not even a second before Sage replied.

“Sure my friend I’ll be there in half an hour, I’ll bring the kids to play with Lakey, are you okay?”

“I will be mate, I just need your help with something.”

“Ok chick… See you soon.”

They hung up and that was the first task of the day for Rhea, done. She limped around cleaning up the house. Her injuries were nagging at her, but she just ignored it and pushed through the pain waiting for her friend to show up.

Three kids came bowling through her front door, screaming for Rhea and her son. There were hugs and hello’s and the kids took off into the lounge to hang out and play, while Sage walked into the kitchen following Rhea.

“What happened mate? What’s up?” Sage could tell it was serious and there was no time for joking around or witty remarks.

“He forced himself onto me Sage and then blamed me for it, then left.” There was no other way to put it, Rhea couldn’t sugar coat it and in all honesty she didn’t want to cover for him and what he had done.

“What do you mean Rhea-Rhea?” she asked softly.

“Please don’t make me say it friend.” She whispered and looked down at her feet not wanting to make eye contact.

“Did he r**e you?”

Rhea nodded without looking up. Sage gasped and a string of expletives exploded from her mouth. Some of the words, Rhea had never even heard of before. It was like Sage was speaking a completely different language.

“We need to go to the police Rhea…. Now.” Sage started gathering her keys and phone ready to take action.

“I can’t mate, they won’t believe me….” She sobbed loudly and tried to explain her reasoning…. “He’s white, I’m brown… and you know what it’s like for s****l assault cases in court, also he’s my partner and father of my son, they'll judge ... I'll have to justify... I can't I just can't.”

“None of that, is a good enough excuse RHEA!” Sage slammed her fist on the table and Rhea flinched backwards. She only briefly seen this side of Sage and she had never been on the receiving end of it either.

“Please Sagey, I’m so sore and tired and embarrassed… I just need to forget it happened…” She cried even more.

“Then why the hell did you ask me to come round mate?” she still looked angry and a little disappointed.

“Because I found this…” She went to the kitchen cupboard and pulled down the incriminating case and opened it. She placed it in front of Sage.

“Uh…..ok” Sage replied, she closed her eyes and opened them looking again at Rhea. Rhea put her hands up and pointed again at the case, wanting a bit more of a reaction from her friend.

“Sage look!” she felt stupid now blatantly pointing out the dr*g utensils in between tears and sobs. This wasn’t evoking the shocked expletives that had flown out of her mouth a minute ago. That’s when it dawned on Rhea.

“You already knew….” Her hands flew up to her mouth as she looked at Sage aghast.