Someone picked me up and put me on the bed. They called an ambulance.
My dad was like a madman, raising his fists to hit Zackary.
Zackary howled as he tore his lungs out.
“The police are hitting me. The police are hitting me!”
“Peyton, stop,” one of the policemen said.
And he couldn’t help but kick Zackary twice more.
“Take this bastard back. Kiersten and Lillianna need to go to the hospital.”
Hearing that he had to be taken away, Zackary was unconvinced. “What right do you have to arrest me? It’s a personal thing. My wife is cheating on me. What’s wrong with me teaching her a lesson?”
Zackary finished talking.
My dad wanted to go up and beat him again.
Someone held my dad from behind.
“Calm down, Peyton,” he said. Then he turned his head to Zackary and said, “Hey, you her up like this. You must confess what you’ve done. You’d better be honest.”
“I didn’t commit a crime,” Zackary tilted his head and screamed. “It’s a conflict in my family. You may call it domestic violence. It is not a crime.”
Zackary had done his homework.
I was extremely disappointed.
beat
The policeman said in a cold voice, “Who told you that domestic violence is not against the
law? You may go to jail too. You are going to stay in jail for at least three years.”
2/4
Zackary instantly panicked. “She had an affair. Doesn’t she need to be punished? I just beat
a woman. You can’t lock me up for three years.”
My dad asked him, “You said Lillianna cheated. Who is that man?”
Zackary was arguing with them.
I listened to a few sentences and felt my head getting heavy.
The strength in my body gradually disappeared.
I couldn’t open my eyes gradually.
Someone saw me being like this and ran toward me.
“Take my baby too.”
After those words, I closed my eyes.
When I opened my eyes, I was in a hospital operating room.
Several doctors in scrubs were packing up, and I saw a nurse putting my baby on a tray, and she was going to throw him into a blue plastic bag.
The nurse seemed ready to go and throw it away.
With all my strength, I shouted, “Don’t throw my baby away.”
Everyone looked toward me.
The doctor, who operated on me, said, “Ms. Castillo, your child is gone. We need to dispose of this embryo.”
Although I knew it was gonna happen…
At that moment, I was still surrounded by great despair.
Tears fell.
3/4
I begged them, “I want to take a look at him,
please.”
