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I can hear my dad’s firm footsteps coming closer, and they shove me aside while my dad walks around me. He turns around, and it’s as if a window has opened, allowing a dark, dangerous storm cloud to float over his head.
“This is precisely why you’ll be leaving, Lakyn. And I hope, when you come home,if you do, that you find your loyalty to this family deep inside that cracked, felonious soul of yours.”
With that, the men pull me away, screaming, digging my bare, dirty feet into the ground.
As they pull me outside and shove me into the black SUV, I realize I forgot about one thing.
My sandy, wet clothes from the night before that I left at the foot of my bed… are gone.
They know.
CHAPTER TWO
LAKYN
Eleven months later
The cool breeze kisses my face, and I lean over the edge of the window, combing the hair away from my lips as we drive down the highway. Everything looks exactly as I left it, though it feels different.
Or maybe it’s me that’s different.
I suppose that’s what happens when you’re subjected to months of harsh environments, excessive labor, and rules that would make a nun crumble. Any minute that I wasn’t in the throes of mental and physical agony, I was shoved in front of my computer to continue school.
Nope, can’t drop out of college, even when I’m in my own personal hell.
I should’ve known better. Just because I was shipped across the country didn’t give me the right to not go to school. My father pays for it; therefore, I’ll be going to class until I’m blue in the face and the words blur together. And even then, I better get good grades. I suppose that’s how life is when your parents have control over the majority of Maine. Power makes them feel invincible, when their bones are nothing but ash.
My eyes scan the familiar scenery as we hop off the highway. The evergreens are tall, the branches lush and full as they reach the sky. Fall is in full swing, the color of the sky a little darker to match the crisp breeze.
Hellcrest Heights in the beginning of October is always bustling. It’s still nice enough out that people walk through the streets of downtown. The fishermen grow excited at this time of year, their best time to catch bass and salmon. Their trucks are always roaring as they pass, rusted, their bumpers falling apart as their loud engines rumble down the streets.
We drive past the wealthier neighborhoods, the small area in the center of town where my parents live. It’s made up of sprawling green lawns and a private entrance. It’s where the politicians and elite live. With their tall, ominous homes surrounded by iron gates and constant flow of guards patrolling the properties.
I’ve spent twenty years of my life in that gated community, and I’m both angry and relieved as we pass the development, knowing I’ll have to face my parents eventually, but glad that day is not today.
It feels odd to be back home, in the place I was ripped from. The one place I’ve been thinking about for the last eleven months, and I was feeling hopeless that I’d never return. That I’d never step foot back in Hellcrest Heights, and that I’d never be able to see my friends again.
Until my aunt came into my room yesterday, and I was surprised to see her with my phone in hand. I snatched it from her without a word, turning it on with tears in my eyes. I’ve been without it for months, completely disconnected from the real world. The moment I turned it on, I ignored the hundreds of notifications and went to my messages, seeing the top one from Posie, only this morning.
Posie:Call me ASAP. I MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU!
Right below it is a message from my mother.
Mom:Call me once you see this.
Bitterness slips across my tongue as it sticks to the roof of my mouth. My best friend tells me she loves me, and my own mother has to be so cold, closed off?
I go back to Posie’s message, instantly hitting connect.
“Tell me you’re alive,” she screams in my ear.
I pull the phone away, smiling while my eyes fill with overwhelmed years. “I am.”
“Oh my fucking hell,” she gasps, and my throat closes up at the emotion in her voice. “I never thought I’d hear your voice again. She takes a deep breath, and it whooshes through the speakers. “This is amazing. I have so much to tell you. But first, I need to tell you that I miss you and I can’t wait to see you tomorrow!” she screams so fucking loud once again that I have to burrow the phone into my pillow.
I frown into my phone once I put it back to my ear. “Tomorrow?”
She goes silent, the excitement slipping from her so quickly I can feel the air get sucked from the room. “What’s going on?”
