Just enough differences that a traumatized child could pretend she didn’t see who he was.
“What’s wrong, Talia?” he asked, not realizing that all the things I’d buried for him were seeping to the surface.
Tears blurred my vision as I turned to face him. “It was you.”
“What was me?” His eyebrows shot up with genuine surprise.
I sniffled and tightened my mouth so he wouldn’t see how it quivered.
My expression must have made it click together for him, because he put the safety on the gun and placed it in the band of his pants. Like now that I remembered, I’d never try to run away.
It made me want to slap him.
“It was you.” I hated how my voice cracked. I stumbled back, tripping over a fallen branch.
“I never hurt you,” he whispered with those calm, rational eyes that always promised everything was okay, even when I sobbed for him to stop.
Hurt me?
He ruined me from the inside out.
I crawled backward to put some space between us, but he followed me with measured steps that reminded me of a lion preparing to pounce.
Get up!
I used the trunk of a tree to stand back up, putting it between us.
“You’re my good girl.” He reached for me, but I slapped his hand away from me. A whimper left my throat, making shame wrap around me for ever showing him weakness. “I’m glad you remember. Do you remember that promise I made when they took you away from me?”
“I’ll be back for you. You’ll always be mine.”
That promise made me sleep with one eye open. It made every home after that another trap with new wallpaper.
“Don’t cry, sweetheart. I’ll make it better.”
He always said that after, but he never made it better.
And all he had to say for himself was that he didn’t hurt me.
“I’ll make it better.” He put his hand out for me to take. The same hand that taught me to just do what it took to survive. No matter how much of myself had to die. “I’m not that bad. I’ve been good to you.”
Primal emotions woke up inside me. Years of anger welled up and spilled through my veins. A poison that had been tainting me as I bit my tongue throughout my life. It tasted like metal and hate.
“You’ve never been too far away from me,” he promised softly, as if there was a possibility I’d see reason. “I’ve always been with you.”
The nightmares that haunted me, where I’d swear someone was in my closet watching me. That someone was following me when I walked home from school. The feeling that made me carry mace and self-defense keychains, even on campus.
It wasn’t in my head. He’d been right there the entire time.
Haunting me.
A roar drowned out the clap of thunder. It echoed off the trees, reverberating our fury louder and closer than before.Hewas close.
I wouldn’t tell myself I was crazy and let Gale walk away. Not anymore.
This time, his blood would stain my fingers.
Chapter 29:
