Page 38 of Catch My Fall

“And away from your family,” he snaps with a shake of his head.

I roll my eyes. “I knew you’d be like this.”

“Because it’s a stupid idea, Si. You need your friends and your family around you, to support you.”

“You have no idea what I need, Gage, because you weren’t the one who was raped, repeatedly. I was.”

His mouth snaps shut.

“Maybe it’s not such a bad idea, bro,” Rafe adds, trying to dampen the atmosphere in the room.

“Please try to see it from my perspective. I’m not getting any better by staying here, in fact I’m getting worse. I need a change of scenery, somewhere I can try to get my head straight and be normal again, please don’t deny me that.”

“I just want what’s best for you.”

“Do you really want to go there?” I could say more, especially in regards to what he considers is best for me, but I’m not in the mood to fight. “There’s only one person who knows what’s best for me, and that’s me. You don’t have to worry, I’ll be fine. Alec won’t let anything happen to me.”

He frowns. “Alec’s going?”

Why is he so surprised? “Of course he is. You made him my shadow, right? Why wouldn’t he be coming? Besides, it’s his place in Maine we’re going to.”

He thinks on it for a moment before finally nodding. “Alright, if it’s what you really want.”

I lift my chin. “It is.”

“Then I’m not going to stand in your way. I just want you to be happy, and if that’s not here then… I’ve just got to deal with it.”

“I’m gonna go say goodbye to Ivy real quick.”

“I’ll carry your bags outside,” Gage says.

Rafe jumps up and grabs one of my bags. “I’ll help.”

The two of them take my bags through the foyer and out the front door as I make my way upstairs towards my niece’s room.

She’s sat cross-legged in the middle of her bed, her eyes lighting up when she sees me. “Auntie Si!”

“Hey, munchkin. You okay?”

“Uh-huh! You come to play with me?” she asks and my heart squeezes.

“Not today, sweetheart. You see, I’m going away for a little while and I wanted to say goodbye.”

Her lips turn down as her chin begins to wobble. “You’re leaving? But you just got back.”

“I know, I’m so sorry, Ives. The thing is, I’m not very well right now and I need to go away so I can get better,” I explain.

A tear slides down her cheek. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too, so much. But we can Face Time all the time, okay?”

“Okay,” she says sadly.

“Here,” I unclasp my necklace and place it around Ivy’s neck, “this was left to me by my mom when she died. Will you keep it safe for me until I get back? By you having it, we’ll never really be apart.”

It’s a small amethyst pendant surrounded by tiny diamonds. It was a gift to my mom from my dad for one of her birthdays not long after they met. She never took it off.

Ivy nods eagerly. “I’ll look after it real good, pinky swear!”

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