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He chuckled. “What would you like?” he asked, handing me the menu.
I decided to take him up on his advice and chose chocolate chip pancakes with a coffee. I’d never had breakfast for dinner before. Even back when I was a kid, my parents had strict rules about having the proper meals at the right times.
My stomach twisted, wishing I could see them. My mom and dad. We had left things on a bad note, and I never got a chance to tell them I was sorry. For being a typical teen. For not listening to them. For not going home like my mom had begged before it was too late, and I was taken from them.
‘My parents,’I wrote on the piece of paper. ‘Where are my parents?’
The social worker gave me a sad smile. “They were in a car accident, Ainsley. They’re gone. They’ve been gone for more than a year.”
I was alone. I had no one. Not then. Not now. Not—
“Ainsley?” Cyrus frowned, his jaw clenching.
My cheeks heated at being caught daydreaming. Although it was more like a nightmare. A nightmare that I was constantly living no matter how much I tried waking up from it.
“This place makes the best pie,” he said, trying to distract me. “Did you want to try a piece instead of breakfast?”
I shook my head, appreciating the thought but preferred an actual meal instead.
Cyrus helped me place my order and thankfully, the waitress never gave any sort of judgement. Not even when she asked if I wanted anything else with the pancakes. I pointed to the options on the menu instead of actually voicing my answer out loud. She just smiled and nodded and went to put our orders in.
Cyrus took another sip of his water, watching me over the rim of his glass.
My heart jumped as he stared at me.Where did you learn ASL?
“I learned it as a kid,” he told me. “A boy in my school was deaf and while the other kids ignored him, I made it a mission to learn so I could communicate with him. I think he appreciated the gesture. He left for a special school a year later, but I was determined to continue learning it. It hasn’t come in handy until now though.” He winked.
My cheeks burned.
“When was the last time you spoke?”
Shifting in my seat, I looked down at my lap. Picking at a string on my ripped jeans, I shrugged.
“You don’t know?”
I met his gaze then.Why?
Cyrus sat back in the booth, resting his hand on top of the table between us. “I don’t know, pet. But I find that I want to get to know you. I want to know your truths. Your hobbies. Your likes and dislikes. I want to know what movies you like. What music you listen to and if you like to read.”
I almost laughed at him wanting to know what kind of music I liked. My music tastes were heavy. To say the least.
I searched his face for any sign that he was lying or hinting for more, but truth was, I couldn’t tell. I ended up trusting the wrong people before and I paid for it.
My chest tightened, remembering some of the other girls I had been locked up with. I hadn’t thought of them in so long. I never even knew their names.
“Run. Run as fast as you can.”
The words slid into my mind, like tiny shards of glass threatening to cut away every bit of the sanity I had left.
We didn’t know each other’s names but even though that was the case, we still knew everything there was to know about one another when it came to us being in that world. But I didn’t know them outside of it. I didn’t even know if any of them were still alive. If they were, I prayed they had good lives. I prayed they survived.
“Ainsley?”
I jumped, finding Cyrus staring back at me. Clearing my throat, I grabbed my phone.
I haven’t said more than a handful of words in years. I actually don’t remember when the last time I said a full sentence was.
But I did. It was before. Before everything happened and I was taken. Before I was shoved into a life most would never see or even know about. It was safer that way if you asked me.
