Page 30 of Rise
“The bed was great,” I tell Jeanie. “I think I just had a bad dream and ended up moving during the night. It’s okay now, really.”
She studies my face for a moment, then takes in the pileof bedding again. “Maybe you should sleep up at the house instead,” she offers.
“No, that won’t be necessary.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, Jeanie. First night in a new place… it happens. I’ll be okay. I promise. And so sorry I’m late. I’ll be at the store in ten minutes tops.”
“All right, darling. Take your time. See you shortly.” With a polite nod, she turns and heads backdown the path toward the store.
I shut the door once she’s no longer in my line of sight and wrap my arms around my shoulders.
I’m safe now.
There’s no danger within these four walls.
The bed here is fine. I silently warn myself that I need to be better at reassuring myself that I’m okay now. I know it’s only been a day since I made my escape. The trauma is still fresh,though.
It only takes a blink of my eyes for me to feel like I’m back there again. The sight of the men’s hands reaching for me, and the sound of them lurking outside my prison door still turns my stomach into knots. I can still taste the disgusting food I had to eat. The smell of my own piss and filth in one corner of that space still makes me want to press my nostrils shut or fight theurge to gag, or both. The way my fingertips would become stuck in the knots all through my hair when I tried to neaten my already unruly mane. And the numbness. Not being able to feel things because my palms regularly went numb from the loss of circulation because of the way they tied me up sometimes.
It all still haunts me.
But it’s behind me now.
It’s over, Natalia, I remindmyself inwardly.At least it is for now.
To survive what I experienced, I have to try to create a clear line of separation between the past and the present.
But more importantly, I can’t let innocent, law-abiding people like Jeanie witness any clues that give anything away. What I just got away from needs to remain a secret.
Because for now, I have tonotbe that girl.
Natalia is the girl those men are searching high and low for.
Not Talia.
I have to be Talia.
Clearing my thoughts with a brief head nod, I decide to start my day on a positive note. Within fifteen minutes, I have a shower, get dressed in a polo shirt, clean underwear, boot cut blue jeans and a roomy pair of canvas loafers from the bag of clothes that Jeanie gave me lastnight. As she’s not expecting me urgently, I take a few extra minutes to make the bed, and then neatly fold the pile of bedding where I slept on the floor before grabbing my room keys to leave.
Except I didn’t expect to open my room door and see it.
My stomach, heart, and jaw all simultaneously drop to the floor at the sight of the wooden trinket box with my mother’s family crestetched into the lid.
My mother’s letters.
But… how?
I left this box with Tammy Lou. She would never betray me by handing it over to anyone.
Unless someone took it from her by force.
Does it mean someone got to her? Is she dead now? If she is, it’s all my fault.
Fuck, I was a fool.
How could I be so fucking stupid?
I should’ve known thatmy life would eventually catch up with me.
I should’ve kept running and never stopped.
TO BE CONTINUED.
