Page 21 of Wings of a Butterfly

She was always the go-to for motherly stuff. I guess having to raise your siblings all by yourself will do that to you. Makes you grow up a bit faster than the rest of the people your age.

“Sky, I don’t know what happened to you, but if you need anyone to talk to, you know I’m here for you,” she says in a soothing voice. “And if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine too. I’m here for whatever you need.” Rubbing my arm up and down.

I lean in to her, just wanting to be held with love. The waterworks haven’t stopped.

Will she look at me differently? Who am I kidding? She already is, and before I can think about it any longer, I croak out, “I killed him.”

She’s stunned into silence. She doesn’t say anything for a long time. The rubbing on my arm even takes a pause before she continues again. “He deserved whatever you did to him. You don’t need to feel bad about it.”

“Nicci.” I pause before whispering, “He isn’t the only person I killed.” The worry in her eyes speaks volumes. “He had a woman in his house that he was torturing. She looked like death and she begged me to kill her. I couldn’t just leave her like that, Nicci.”

She pauses a moment, debating if she should say what she’s thinking. “I do have one question though. How did you get here?”

“I stole his truck,” I say while wiping my eyes.

“Okay, I’m going to put you to bed and work on getting rid of the truck. We’ll figure out what to tell the cops tomorrow about why you’re back.”

We talk for a while, and I tell her everything. When I finally yawn, she leads me to my room and tucks me in kissing me on my forehead.

“I’ll be here when you wake up, okay? Don’t worry. He isn’t coming back to hurt you anymore.” She walks over to the window where the daylight’s streaming in and closes the blackout curtains so it’s pitch black in the room. She walks to the door and before closing it I hear her whisper, “I love you, Sky.”

My eyes close and I’m asleep within minutes.

CHAPTER 16

SKYLAR

The cops comethe next morning with questions. I am so thankful to have Nicci. She’s my rock and without her I don’t know what I would do. She told me when I woke up that she got rid of the truck by parking it in the airport parking lot. My girl is smart. She also gave me a rundown of the story she thought up right before the cops arrived.

“So, you just ran off with a boyfriend?” They say it like it’s hard to believe when they literally came up with it themselves. Nicci told me about their questioning when I was kidnapped. That they gave out these excuses as to why I would have run away. So we went with it. No use in making up a story they’d think was impossible.

“Yep! That’s right, Officer...” I squint my eyes, looking at his badge, which I don’t need to do, but I’m playing the part here. “Daniels?”

“You didn’t think to call the police station or your roommate to let her know where you ran off to?”

“I honestly didn’t think anyone would be looking for me or had been. Also my phone was completely lost at the music festival.”

“You didn’t think to call your roommate?” He looks skeptical.

“Who remembers phone numbers anymore? All my contacts were on the phone I lost at the festival.”

He sighs and rubs his head and runs his hand down his face. “Okay, Miss Viceroy. Thank you for your time.”

Nicci and I walk with him to the front door.

“Thank you for your concern, Officer Douglas,” I say with the fakest smile I can muster.

“It’s Daniels.”

“Ah, right, sorry. Forgetful me.”

He walks out and we shut the door behind him. I walk over to the window where Nicci is standing, watching the cop get into his cruiser.

“Did you really have to give him that jab?”

I smile at her. “I was pissed. They never listened to you or attempted to find me. My dad is still a worthless piece of shit. I knew he wouldn’t even try because then he wouldn’t have to pay for my tuition.”

She huffs out a sigh. “Well, at least that’s all over with.”

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