Page 98 of Exodus

Several seconds later, I heard the distinct open and close of a Zippo. That sound had a sob bursting from my lips. Sean.

It was the sound of ice rattling in a tumbler, one, two, three times, that had me sobbing hysterically behind the wheel. Two distinct sounds they knew I would easily recognize.

They’re okay.

They’re okay.

“Please. Please...talk to me.” When silence rang clear on the other end of the line, somehow, I just knew the damning quiet was because of Tobias. And words would never come.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Please, somebody, talk to me. I’m sorry.” The silence lingered as I tried to search for words until a familiar voice finally spoke.

“Hey, Cecelia, sorry about that.”

“Layla, I, I, I . . .” I sobbed so hard I gagged, rolling down my window and inhaling deeply to try and calm myself.

“Oh, babe,” she sighed, “it’s just a move. You’ll be fine. We’re all fine here.”

We all were anything but.

“All of you?” I asked breathlessly.

“Yes, I swear to you, we’re good. And you will be too.” She continued a clearly rehearsed speech. “And we’re all going to miss you, but we’re glad you’re moving on. It’s a shame we’ll be so far away.”

“Layla—”

“Don’t get upset, honey. I’m sure you’ll make new friends wherever you land. You’re a tough girl. You’ll be on your feet in no time.”

“I can’t do this,” I cried into the line. “I c-c-can’t.”

“No choice, sweetie, you’re growing up, and you have school to finish and this great big life to live. We’ll all be on the sidelines, cheering you on. I’m so glad you left this shit town and are never coming back.”

“I can visit.” The question lingered as harsh whispers were exchanged in the background, but I couldn’t decipher them.

“No reason to, baby...My boys are leaving me today, and I don’t know how long they’ll be gone.”

They’re leaving, and they’ll be untraceable wherever they land. A thousand-pound weight sinks in my stomach.

“And I hope you know, you’re better off there.” It was a warning, and she’d delivered it with the gentleness of a mother’s love. “There’s nothing good going to come out of you coming back here. You don’t want to end up a dried-up old lady working at the plant, anyway. And we only want the best for you.”

“Layla—”

“I gotta run, but I just wanted you to know that I’ll miss you.”

When the line disconnected, I screamed at the loss. Neither Sean nor Tobias wanted to speak to me.

It was all over.

My future had been decided, my ties cut; they didn’t want me to come back. I had no choice in the matter, no say. And I’d lived that reality before.

Thoroughly unhinged, I shattered over and over again at the finality of it all. It was never going to end well, but that parting had ripped some of my humanity away from me.

I moved to Triple Falls a teenager, wanting nothing more than to challenge myself, to give in to my wild side, and create some stories to tell.

By the time I stood in my new apartment in Athens that night, I was a woman who’d been unearthed by deception, lies, lust, and love, whose essence was shrouded by life-changing secrets, full of stories I could never share and never, ever tell. In keeping me safe, in architecting my future, they’d left me to wither and rot with those secrets.

Between the painstaking lengths my boys went to and the first-class ticket my father bought out of hell, all I wanted to do was go back and let the flames consume me. But in protecting me, in all the trouble my presence caused, all they asked in return was for my absence and to keep their secrets.

And I did.

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