Charli shook her head, “I don’t know what to tell you about that.Chicago is a ways from here.If what you said is true then someone might not have wanted you to survive, the fact that you did might just come back and bite him in the ass.”
Britney shook her head.“I’m not sure I want to know, but I have a feeling about this area and I just had to come back.Maybe it was a total mistake but I had to come.I need to find out what happened and why.I think I’d rather find out the truth than live inside this bubble of uncertainty like I’ve been doing.”
Charli nodded.“I hope it happens for you.I’m just not sure how bad it might be for you.Like someone hurt you bad enough to have caused a coma and memory loss?”She shrugged.”But I would feel the same way.I would demand the truth too.She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the window overlooking the backyard for a moment.Then she opened her eyes and turned her head to say, “Eat up honey, then we’ll find you a place to sleep.I have a feeling the next few days are going to be more than any of us can handle.But like I told Mario, I won’t be going anywhere.I have no idea what the hell is happening.That whole family has to accept that I’m not their property anymore.I never was part of their world anyway.And I refuse to allow them to step up and tell me I have to do anything for them now.”
Britney nodded as she reached for half of her sandwich.She paused briefly then shook her head.“I think I know how that feels but I don’t know why.”She took a bite and sat there chewing while she tried to remember her past.“There’s a big chunk of my life that just seems to be blank.”
Charli watched her carefully then asked her softly, “You said Braaken Ridge sounded like a name you know.How is that?”
Britney shrugged.“That’s what I can’t remember.”She took another bite of her sandwich and stared down at her plate.“I know I lived around here somewhere but I don’t think I was alone all the time.I can remember someone looking at me all the time.I just can’t remember her face.I know I spoke to her and I can hear her voice.I just can’t remember her.”Setting the sandwich down on the plate, she spoke in a shaky voice, “I think I remember her being braver than I was in every way.I think I remember her sneaking into rooms that we weren’t supposed to enter.She knew we’d catch hell for being in there but she said she didn’t care.She told me one time that our dad couldn’t stop her...”She snapped up her head and gazed at Charli, “She said our dad was keeping something from us and she wanted to know what that something was.”She paused, then the door in her mind opened and her memory was coming back to her.“She said our dad...”Britney’s voice faded away.“Our dad,” she repeated.“She was my sister, I think.Oh my God, how could I forget my own sister?”
Charli shrugged.“I don’t know, but something happened to you, something that separated you from your sister, do you remember what that something was?”
Britney pushed her plate away, her stomach was churning now and she felt like she was going to puke.“I think so, our dad called us into his study one day and he told his minion to take my sister upstairs and make sure she couldn’t escape.”She frowned as her memory began to return.“Sometime later a green jeep pulled up and a man got out.He joined us and he talked to my dad and said he was ready to take me home.I didn’t want to go with him but dad didn’t give me a choice.When I said no, he backhanded me.Then the other guy dragged me to my feet and out the front door.He tied my hands behind my back and belted me into the seat.I couldn’t say a word.Then he turned the jeep around and began to leave.I was so scared, I didn’t even fight back.”
Charli stared at her then looked at the door to the living room.She saw Ace standing there.
He shook his head slightly.
Turning back to Britney, she asked, “What happened once you got to wherever this was?”
Britney shook her head.“I really don’t remember, I was trying not to think about it.”She paused then rubbed her fingers over her temples.“Maybe I don’t want to remember what he did next.All I can really remember is him dragging me naked down the hall and throwing me into a room.It was dark by that time and every move just echoed.I made my way to the far corner and sat down.Every movement I made hurt and I think I was in shock or something.There was no light in the room or any furniture either.”She looked up at Charli and whispered, “He just left me there in that room for maybe two days before he came back.Two women came in to get me and they ushered me to a big bathroom and they let me have a shower and wash my hair.Then they gave me something to sleep in but they took me back to that room.They gave me a blanket but they never said a word to me that whole time.”
Charli sighed as she recognized that this was a bad memory for sure.She waited for her to continue.
Shaking her head, Britney swallowed hard and said, “Then the next night he opened my door again and dragged me into the bedroom and when I protested he began hitting me.It was only when I was silent that he stopped.Then he abused me again.When he got off he got up, he twisted his hand in my hair and dragged me back down to that room.He locked me inside.It was hours later before the door opened again.It was one of the house maids I guess and she just shook her head at me.She’d brought a bowl of warm water and a washcloth.She said she couldn’t do much or the master would know someone was helping me but she got me cleaned up.Then she handed me some food and at that point I didn’t care whose food it was.I ate it.That went on for the longest time, he would attack me and the maid would clean me up again.The only good thing was that he was gone, sometimes for weeks or months at a time.I could almost breathe again whenever he left.”Britney paused again and slowly shook her head.“Then one time he came home and the maids told him I was pregnant.I didn’t even know that myself.He seemed happy about that fact and he left me alone for a while, but it didn’t last.He went to an appointment with me and they did an ultrasound and he asked what the baby was, a boy or a girl.The doctor told me I was having a little girl.”She paused then said, “That night, he damn near beat me to death.He kept screaming that I was even a failure at giving him a son.”
Charli reached over and took her hand.She didn’t say anything.She wanted Britney to remember, even though it was a horrible memory.
Britney didn’t seem to even feel it when Charli took her hand, she was too caught up in the nightmarish scene that was unfolding in her mind.Finally, Britney spoke again, “Later that night, I was lying in that room and I heard his jeep leaving.I got up and went over to the window.I watched as he drove away.I sobbed because the fact he was leaving didn’t bother me in the least.I think I even prayed that he would just never return.I hated him.”She looked down and raised her hand to her belly.“At first, I hated the baby in my belly too.But then the longer he stayed away and I felt my baby kick I began to love her.None of this was her fault.But I tried not to care about her too much.I had a feeling I wouldn’t see her born anyway.”Shaking her head she admitted.“And I was right.I went into labor and the maids called him.The pain of labor was harsh and I got only so far then he couldn’t wait.I was screaming with the contractions and he just came into the bedroom and because I hadn’t had the baby yet he got upset.”She lowered her head.
Charil shook her head as tears filled her eyes and she raised her gaze to Ace.
His expression told her that he was enraged by what Britney had recalled so far.
Raising her head to stare at Charlie her eyes glimmered with unshed tears.“I don’t remember what happened next.I woke up in the hospital with no memory and a slash across my belly.For the longest time, I couldn’t even speak.My mind was a total blank.They said I had a baby but I couldn’t remember being pregnant.They asked me where the baby was and I couldn’t tell them.At first, the doctors thought the baby was dead but eventually, they must have believed me.I finally asked them where I was and when they told me Chicago it never helped me.I was almost sure I didn’t know anyone in Chicago but how the hell could I be sure about that?I’ve been so lost and confused since that day.They let me go and wished me good luck.I had no money, no memory and no way to make a living.I had to find somewhere to stay.But first thing was that I had to find a job. I found a place that didn’t do a background check.It was just a small diner and I barely survived those first few months, then I sort of got into a rhythm.I survived I guess but right up until the day I met Mario, I still had no clue who I was.”She looked around the room and seemed a little startled to see Ace.
He walked further in and went to the fridge to get a coke out.
“Now I’m here but I still don’t have answers, do I?”Britney said almost to herself.“Maybe this long trip was for nothing.I still don’t have any answers.”
Charli shrugged.“Hey, you remembered something.Well, it was a lot actually.It wasn’t great but at least now, you now know about some of it.You gotta give yourself time.You just have to give yourself a chance.”
Britney studied her for a moment then asked.“You think I can get there?Like I will know it all?”
Charli smiled faintly.“Why not?I’ll bet there is someone out there right now that knows you.Someone that can tell you who you are and who that bastard who hurt you is.”
Britney shook her head.“I don’t want my problem to make me unwelcome here though.Like what about the trouble coming here for you?You surely don’t need an extra person in your way.”
Charli shrugged.“I’m not worried and I don’t think you will get in the way.I’m already in the way cause I’m not helping them at all.My uncle has already been told off by me.Did he listen?No.But in the end...he can just suck it.They can all just kiss my grits.”
Ace popped his soda can open and then he laughed.“As usual, you have no problem telling someone off, babe.Grits.Too funny.”
Britney looked back and forth at them and then she actually smiled a little as she wiped her eyes.
