Free The Wicked Garden by Lenora Henson

she would gladly consign to that unholy, unhappy place.
     
    ∞
     
    Irvine, 2010s
    “Goddess, guide me.”
    Gretchel was in the back yard, her arms stretched toward the blue moon.
    She had married Troy because she felt that she deserved him. She felt that she needed to be punished. She let him take away her power, and then she had sacrificed her children to her own guilt and shame. No more.
    Gretchel held Troy in her mind, and then, chanting words she had learned from Miss Poni, she banished him.
     
    Where you come from, I care not
    Where you go, best you be gone
    Leave me now and let it be
    The bond is cut, so by this done.
     
                  She let her words sink into the snow at her feet. She let them rise up to the stars. Then she turned back toward the house and went inside to face whatever future she may have wrought.

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
    Irvine, 2010s
    It was just past one in the morning. Gretchel looked out the window when she heard a car roll into the driveway. She was surprised to see that it was Ame’s. Gretchel’s hand clutched the curtain as her mind flashed to the shotgun still hidden under her daughter’s bed. Then she saw another set of headlights. It was Troy. Gretchel ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. She pulled Ame away from the refrigerator.
    “Stop it,” Ame protested.
    Gretchel looked into her daughter’s bloodshot eyes. Ame was either drunk or stoned. Given that Ame had gone straight for the guacamole and chips as soon as she got home, Gretchel was pretty sure it was the latter.
    “You’re out past curfew. Your father just got home. Go to your room and get into bed, now !” Gretchel hissed as she dragged her daughter up the stairs. Gretchel had just shut the door of Ame’s bedroom behind her as Troy reached to open it.
    “Drunk again, Giant?” Troy was talking to Ame, but Gretchel could tell that he was the one who had had a few too many. Again.
    “No. She’s not drunk. You are, and don’t you dare lay a finger on my daughter.”
    Troy turned toward his wife, seemingly surprised to hear her voice, and knocked her onto Ame’s bed with a fierce backhand. “That’s for contradicting me. I’ll pay you back for embarrassing me tonight later.”
    Then he looked to Ame. “You were out past curfew.” He rubbed his chin, savoring her punishment. “Say goodbye to your horse tomorrow.”
    “You can’t do that!” Ame screeched.
    “The hell I can’t,” Troy yelled. “Everything you have belongs to me. Tomorrow, I look for a buyer.” He paused. “On second thought, I think I’ll just shoot her in the head.”
    Gretchel lay on the bed, holding her jaw. Troy rarely hit her in the face. Facial injuries showed. Gretchel sat up, and looked into Ame’s eyes. They were blazing. With an impossible shock of recognition, Gretchel knew that they looked just like her own when she was at her wildest. She wasn’t surprised when Ame launched herself at Troy, jumping on his back, trying to choke him with her arm.
    “Ame, no !” Gretchel tried to intervene, but an elbow caught her in the head. Zach rushed into the room. He, too, tried to restrain his sister.
    Troy finally swung Ame around and off him. She landed on the floor with an impact that shook the house. He jumped on top of her and pummeled her repeatedly in the stomach. Gretchel felt a surge of energy rip through her center. She reared back and kicked Troy in the face. He pushed himself against the wall, touched the blood that gushed from his lip, and stood up.
    “That was a big mistake, Gretch,” he said.
    “Not in front of Ben,” she whispered. Troy looked to the doorway. If he was concerned about having a witness, he didn’t show it. He got up, slowly walked to his wife, punched her hard in the gut, and pushed her back onto the bed. His cold gaze took in both boys. “Go. Now. Get out of this house.”
    “You’re going to kill them! They didn’t do anything wrong!” Zach cried, tears of sheer terror