Page 51 of Severance

Where are you, bambolina?

Dahlia

Staring at the front door of their house, I stall as my mind and body are overcome with a rush of different emotions. An overwhelming sense of doom envelops me and the anxiety of being here begins to override any positive emotions I had been feeling.

When it came down to it, there were no positive feelings attached to the relationship that I had with my parents. The bond between us was broken after I was taken and held captive at the farm.

They tried after I was home, but that maternal and paternal love was never the same. They looked at me differently and treated me differently. I was treated like a fragile piece of glass, but when I asked for an inch, they gave me a mile.

They had no sense of control over me and they let me live my life like that.

It all makes sense now, now that the truth has been revealed and their secrets were exposed. How could they treat me the same after what happened to me and after what they did?

They knew that their little girl was gone and even though they tried, they knew that they would never get her back.

???

Taking a deep breath, I muster any courage that I can find within and finally ring the doorbell. Wringing my hands together, I wait awkwardly and fight against the memories of when my life was good with them.

Those memories aren’t my reality and they haven’t been for a very long time.

I’m here for answers, not a goddamn reunion.

The door is slowly pulled open and my mother peeks her head through the crack. I hear the sharp intake of her breath as she pulls the door open farther.

“Dahlia?” Her voice shakes. “Is that you?”

“In the flesh,” I proclaim as I step closer to the door. “I don’t have much time, so let’s do this.”

“Yes, yes. Of course.” She nods as she steps out of the way, giving me room to enter the house.

It is just as I remember it, with the lavish décor and expensive furniture and fixtures. However, none of it feels familiar. Nothing about this place feels like home.

“Please sit.” She motions to the couch in the front room.

Crossing my arms defensively, I shake my head and decline. “I’ll stand.”

“Okay,” she says hesitantly as she folds her hands in her lap. “How are you? Look at you, you’re so grown up.”

“Cut the shit, Mother.” I roll my eyes. “You don’t care about me or my life.”

“That’s not true!” she interrupts, but I quickly dismiss her words.

“If that were true, you would have visited or called at the very least.” Tilting my head to the side, I stare at her shocked face, feeling slightly amused. “This isn’t a goddamn reunion, Mother. This is your confessional.”

Her eyes widen as her body stills. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know your secret.” I smile. “Don’t waste either of our time with your lies.”

My mother stares at me like a deer caught in headlights, but it doesn’t take long before her shoulders slump and she submits. “What do you want to know?”

“Tell me where my daughter is and why you did what you did.”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she closes her eyes as she takes a deep breath. “It happened after the police found you. They had already taken you to the hospital when they called us. You were heavily sedated and being prepped for surgery when we arrived. They told us that you were delusional and became aggressive and combative, looking for Kai. They didn’t know you were pregnant until your water broke. The doctors believed that the stress is what caused you to go into preterm labor. An ultrasound was done to confirm that you were pregnant and to determine how far along you were. That was when they found that the umbilical cord was wrapped two times around the baby’s neck and was slowly strangling her. You were already thirty-three weeks, so they made the decision to perform an emergency C-section.”

“The C-section that you covered up with an appendectomy?”

“Yes.” My mother hangs her head in regret. “I’m not proud of what we did, but your father and I felt as though it was the best option. You were still a kid, who experienced trauma that I could never imagine. We didn’t know how you would handle it and we knew of a great family that would take her in, no questions asked.”

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