Page 66 of Pushed Through The Dark
"We'll be putting you on a flight tomorrow morning. You'll have a hotel for the night, and a police officer will be with you the entire time. We want to make sure you're safe, Aubrey. I wish you the best of luck, I really do. Do you want to call your family?"
My fingers fumbled around each other as I dropped my eyes to my lap. "What do I say to them?" I asked her, letting my eyes drift back up, covered in tears. "Do I tell them the truth?"
"You tell them what you're comfortable telling them, Aubrey. It's your choice now." She opened the door and stepped to the side. "Come on, I'll show you where it is."
Holding the receiver in my hand, the dial tone was loud in my ear. My stomach twisted and turned, causing a lump in the back of my throat. Pressing the numbers slowly, I pushed the phone harder against my ear.
"Hello?"
"Dad. . ."
Chapter Fifteen
Aubrey
The night dragged by. I sat in a cheap hotel room that men probably took their friendly neighborhood hookers to. The officer was outside the door, and I was told he was going to be there all night. They placed me on the second floor, with no other way in or out of the room.
I spent the night watching American television, from cartoons to a few movies I once found appealing. They didn't do shit anymore. Life was tainted. I wasn't sure I'd ever find these mindless escapes pleasurable ever again.
My father cried through our entire conversation. I'd never heard him cry like that before. I could hear my mother sobbing in the background. They thought I was gone forever, dead, never coming home.
I had just been reborn in their eyes. Their daughter had reappeared from thin air.
And while I got to listen to their pure bliss overhearing my voice and knowing I was alive, I found myself having to force pretend happiness like I felt the same. I had no idea what they were going to think when we saw each other face to face.
The girl they knew and remembered did die. She died in that shithole club at the hands of a monster. I wondered if they'd see the scars if they'd see the muscle movements I couldn't control when someone touched me. There was a small wince, a subtle roll of my shoulders with wide eyes, and a hiccup in my voice.
Once the novelty of my homecoming wore off, would they see what I felt?
Would they see the dark cloud hovering over my head?
Not if they don't want to see it.
The only person who knew me, the person who came out of that darkness, was Koa. He was able to see behind the walls. He found me, and he brought me back. But what I lived through would always be there. It would always be a part of me now. Nothing would change it.
I kept glancing at the phone and watching the door. Waiting for Koa to call or bust through, saving me and bringing me home.
