Page 55 of Fractured Souls

I keep running. I can't stop. I feel like if I stop, I'll break, and I can't do that. I want to… I just really want to kill him. Yes, I want to destroy the people who hurt my mom. I want them to pay tenfold.

Fuck them for taking my mom from me. Fuck the man who thought he could take advantage of my mom. Fuck that man who lived in my dreams as a child or who I dreamed of as I was locked away. The man I thought would come save me. Who in reality ruined everything before I was even born.

I turn around and walk back towards the house. I need to calm my thoughts. I just… I am so angry, and I don't want any of that to come out on Bri. Bri is good; she is an angel, and I never want her to feel hurt. I feel like I need to protect her. I’m jaded, and yeah, she had things happen to her too, but she came out soft and loving. I don’t think I will.

When I get back, Bri is pacing the back deck. “I'm so sorry, Bri. I didn't want you to feel any of my anger.”

She smiles softly, but I can tell she's been crying. “It's okay, but I need to know you're safe. I got something the other day for you and haven't had a chance to give it to you.”

Bri waves for me to follow her, and we head inside to her office.

She pulls out a phone. “Here, it's all set up. Please use it. I put myself, Atlas, and Linc in there. Also, it does track so I can know where you are. It's for your safety, so please don't fight me on it.”

I nod; I understand where she is coming from. I mean, she still doesn’t even know what has happened to me or how much danger I could be in. It makes me feel safer, too, knowing that they could track me.

“Thank you, Bri.”

“Okay, so we do need to talk about what I told you.” I grimace and nod as we walk back out to the living room and sit down. “Harley, I can only imagine how hard what I said is to hear, but I really don't think you should look into it.”

“Okay, but why? What do you know, Bri? I need answers. I've had no answers for so long, and I need to start figuring shit out for myself.”

She nods. “I understand that, but why this? Maybe Linc can talk to someone down at the station and see if we can find out anything on the case, but Harley, I really think you need to focus on moving on and not bringing this all up. I mean, honey, you haven't even told us what has happened to you for the last three years.”

I look down. “I'm not ready,” I mumble.

“I know, but we do have to talk about it someday.”

This isn't the conversation I wanted to be having. I don't want to talk about me. I don't think I'll ever be ready to share my personal hell, and I'd never want Bri to have to hear it all. So I change the subject back to my mom.

“Okay, but I still want answers, Bri. I need them. It’s going to help me heal.”And get revenge.“So please, tell me what you know.”

She sighs, “Alright, here's the deal, you have to tell one of us, me, Atlas, Linc, what you find out. Where your brain is at, everything. I am only giving into this because I see the fire in your eyes, and I don't want you doing this without us and getting hurt. Deal?”

Shit. I am about to lie to her. “Deal.”Shouldn't I feel guilty for that? Why do I not?I guess I just didn't realize how revenge is an all-consuming thing and can and might literally destroy you.

Too bad it'll be too late before I really realize that.

ChapterTwenty-One

Brielle

“Alright, well, I met your mom when we were kids. I think it was first or second grade. We were best friends instantly. We were always together. I knew Tammy, who is your mom's sister. She was one year older than Lil. Tammy was mean; she always had it out for Lil and wanted to make her life hard, so she picked on her a lot and got others to, as well. Lil used to come over to my house all the time. I never knew why, but I did know that she didn't have it easy at home.”

I take a breath. Talking about all of this isn't easy. But part of me is hoping that by telling Harley this, she'll open up to me about the last three years. I know the girl has been through hell. I can see it in her eyes. I have this odd feeling that whatever happened involved Tammy. I saw how she was when we were kids. I can't see her ever having gotten better.

“When I was fifteen, my mom died. Three months later, my dad packed us up and moved us here. I had an hour to say goodbye to Lil. It was really hard, and Lil was extremely upset. I needed my best friend after losing my mom, but my dad was taking me away from there. We moved up here, and my dad moved us right in with his new wife. I didn't even know he had met someone and gotten married. When we moved in, he started drinking a lot more than I ever remember him drinking. I watched him slowly fade away in front of me.

“His wife was awful to me, and a lot of shitty things happened. As soon as I turned eighteen, I gave up on trying to help my dad get better and left. I was able to get this place with money my mom had left me for when I turned eighteen and more when I turned twenty-one. A month after moving in here, Lil showed up. Broken, scared, and extremely lost.”

I start to think back to that time, and everything comes back to me like it just happened yesterday.

* * *

17 years ago

I have been in my own home now for a few weeks, and I couldn’t be more grateful to be out of my dad’s house. The future is finally looking up for me. I am curled up in my window seat in the office reading a book and listening to the sound of the waves from the ocean through the open window when someone knocks.

Before I can even get up to head to the door, someone is knocking again. What the heck? I fling the door, assuming it's my dad wanting something or his evil wife, but that's not who's here.

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