AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Pulling out the book, I hug it to my chest, exhaling through my mouth. Hailey was right, this needs to be discussed.
My feet move on autopilot, and I’m grateful as they guide me. My heart beats double time.
The knock I give the solid wooden door light enough that I doubt the wind would even hear it.
My stomach leaps to my chest.
“Come in.”
five
Rory
IwalkintoAbram’soffice with reluctant steps. The confidence I’d had before rapidly depleting with each new echo of my shoes.
I clear my throat, my mouth suddenly dry.
He slowly raises his head. The surprised look on his face vanishes as quickly as it appeared. If we’re being honest, I'm shocked, but I don’t let him see. My face as blank as the walls of this room.
“Well, come in.” Waving one hand while shuffling around papers with the other.
I don’t move, stuck in my spot like my feet are caked cement for two reasons. The last time he’d been doing that, I’d found documents of the truth and secondly, I calmed down. Or I tell myself I have enough to finally get the answers I want.
My brain tells me to move, but my heart won’t allow it. Change has happened every time I’ve been in this room and my gut screams that this time will be no exception.
The stress lines that now run along his forehead and down the creases of his mouth hold the same expression he’d had before. It may have taken some time, but I came back, not as upset as he asked.
That was nothing compared to how intimidating I’d known him to be when I was younger. That memory ingrained in my wounded mind forever.
The harshness of that memory stalls me in my tracks for another beat. Sucked right back into the flashback of my youth. The beginning to my end.
My exhale shallows out, and it’s like I choked on a golf ball. The grip on my book tightens from where it’s tucked behind my back.
Suddenly, I can’t do anything. Move closer, speak,breathe… nothing.
My subconscious won’t allow the fresh torture.
Concern flashes across Abram’s pupils. The edges of his mouth turn down like he knows exactly what I’m thinking.
Quickly he wipes it away, rubbing them with the palm of his hands.
“I won’t bite, Rory,” he adds. My name drawn out, his tone sounding almost defeated.
Choking up the courage, I glance around once more. This time with a different, new perspective.
The room is exactly as it always is. Dark-brown woods, large ornate windows, furniture on the far side, and an oversized desk that he’s currently sitting behind.
Glancing around, I realize the space, although intimidating, didn’t seem to swallow me with its immense grandness as it had when I was younger.
As a twelve-year-old, Abram’s office seemed intimidating but now it only looks solitary. Lonesome, more than anything else.
I push air through my lungs, it is as crisp as the memories I was shoving into my past. Adding them to the endless collection of everything else. I won’t be intimidated again.
Neither of us is those people anymore.
Reminding myself that this is only a room, and he is only a person heightens my confidence. Pulling me closer until I come to a stop before him.
“I have some questions.”
