Emmy was first to wake up. She immediately regretted moving. She groaned with every move. Every inch of her body complained. Once she was able to sit herself up, the first thing she noticed were the splinters, fine splinters. A quick look told her why.
The chairs in Gina’s bedroom appeared to have been ripped apart. Chunks of the wood on the side of Gina’s bed were missing. Half of a cabinet door lay in pieces on the floor. It looked like it was hacked by a blunt axe. The rest of the doors to Gina’s cabinets hung by the hinges.
Another thing that caught her attention and caused her to gasp was that everyone was in different states of undress. Matt was lying on his stomach. His shirt was torn all the way down, the only thing holding it was the stitching on the neckline. His shorts were cut to ribbons. Emmy could see the inside of his thighs.
She too, was missing parts of her clothes. The pajama she had on looked like it had been ripped in different parts. The top element was torn from the sleeve to the hem on the left side and a significant portion of the front, starting from the chest was missing. The bottoms were now like tasseled shorts.
Pieces of their missing clothes lay all over the floor in different parts of the room. Jean was nowhere to be found.
She struggled to get up. Gina was slumped over the side of the bed. Her head hung limply to the side. She was on her stomach, the only visible piece of her shirt remaining were the sleeves. It looked to Emmy like she had been dumped there. The way she lay, her limbs were at odd angles.
She was past questioning. She accepted the events as real and only thought about how to get away from it, from everything. Her knees kept buckling, every sudden move she did made her curse under her breath. Welts and bruises were all over her arms, thighs, calves, and shin. Although she could not see it, she suspected her back had large welts too.
She agonizingly made her way to the cabinets to get clothes for her daughter. Her hips threatened to crack at any time. Emmy’s head throbbed madly, each throb sending waves of pain in her head.
Her voice was hoarse but that did not stop her from calling out to Jean. She dragged her feet instead of taking normal steps, taking care not to step on broken glass. She found one of Gina’s larger shirts and put it on. Then, she went for Gina and clothed her while calling for Jean.
With great effort, she heaved her daughter into the bed and muttered words of thanks when she felt her breathing. Like her, her daughter was full of bruises. Pieces of broken glass and splinters clung to her skin. Cuts decorated the length of her back all the way to the calves. Gina did not wake up while she was being clothed.
Emmy cried for her daughter as she lay her on her back, brushing debris from the surface of the bed away. When she tried to go for Matt, her knees gave out. She fell on the floor. Shards dug into her knees. Emmy crawled towards her husband and tried to put him on his back. She stopped. Matt’s back was peppered with splinters.
“Jean honey? Where are you?” She called out.
Emmy removed the larger splinters from her husbands back, while sobbing. She used the tip of her fingers to find the finer ones. The sight of Matt’s face brought her to tears.
Matt bled from the forehead and nose. Most of the blood had coagulated. He looked like he was wearing a red mask. His welts were of even deeper color than theirs. His right shin and wrist appeared to be swollen.
“Baby. Wake up.” Emmy whispered, shaking him.
It took more than a minute for him to come to and when he did, he had a beaten expression written all over his bloodied face. Seeing Emmy’s face, Matt bolted upright and regretted the sudden movement, much like Emmy did. His groaning muscles forced him to lay back on his back.
He asked for help to be pull him into a sitting position. Although in deep pain, he used his arms to prop himself and lighten the load on his wife. The final arc, bringing his upper torso forward hurt the most. Looking down, almost all the stomach area and most of the chest were bruised.
“Matt, Jean is not here.”
His eyes surveyed the room.
“Where is she?” He asked, more to himself than to Emmy.
“I don’t know. I woke up and she wasn’t here. I kept calling but she would not answer.”
He assessed his physical limits by doing slow stretches while seated. Then he slowly got up and did the same, loosening his muscles. He examined himself and noted the missing shirt. Within minutes, his body heeded his request and his range had improved. He held out a hand to Emmy who was regarding him with curious eyes.
“By the look on your face, I’d say I need to wash my face first.” Matt remarked.
Emmy nodded as she took his hand. Matt hobbled over to Gina’s bathroom, his eyes surveying the damage. There was nothing to be said. They all saw it. The time for theorizing has passed. Still, it did not prevent his hairs from raising as he recalled the events.
“Get yourself cleaned out. We don’t want to freak the kids out any more than what’s already happened.” Matt said to his wife. “I’ll go and find Jean.”
He did not need to go far. It him longer to get there as his hips and the muscles of his thighs protested the most. Matt found Jean on her bed. Her room was a stark contrast to Gina’s. Everything was in order. He walked over to the side of the bed to find her deep in sleep with a hint of a smile on her face.