Page 114 of Perilous

This is it.

He’s taking me…

I grab for his hand and my knees start to wobble.

“Peri, please,” I whisper to him. “Please just…”

My jaw starts to quiver and he stops walking and faces me.

He touches my chin. “Everything in order, doll.”

I open my mouth when I hear a noise behind me.

“Annika? Is that you?”

It’s a woman’s voice and it just does something to me. I quickly spin around and see my mother standing no more than ten feet away from me.

She looks the same as I’ve seen in memories and dreams. Yeah, she’s older, but she’s…

I start to fall and Peri catches me. I lean against him and his hands hold my sides.

“You have to do this, Annika. There’s no other choice.”

I grab behind myself at Peri.

This can’t be real. I’ve spent my life thinking my mother was dead. And yeah, I believed Peri when he said she was alive. But believing she was alive and seeing her in person are two different things.

“You are so beautiful, Annika,” my mother says. “More beautiful than I could have ever imagined you to be.”

I start to shake my head. A part of me believes a ghost is walking toward me right now. I want to jump and scream and run away. Another part of me feels such an intense connection right now. It’s my mother…

“Would it be okay if we talked?”

Her voice is soft, soothing, and nervous.

“Yes,” Peri answers for me. “She needs to hear everything before we move forward.”

“You’re… he tracked me down,” my mother says. “Him and the others. And I know all about it. About who they are. I’ve known all along.”

“H-h-how?” I manage to ask. “H-h-he said you were d-d-dead.”

“In some ways I was. I was lost. I’m an addict, Annika.”

“What?” My legs find some strength. I step away from Peri.

“It was a terrible life to have lived,” my mother says. “I had plans to escape. But I got pregnant. I knew then if I left it would be bad for everyone. Especially you. You were my light, Annika. You were my everything.”

“Don’t say stuff like that right now. You can’t just show up and just… and…”

“I went to rehab three times when you were younger. I just couldn’t stop. I couldn’t figure out what was making it happen. I didn’t want it, Annika. I never wanted it. He convinced me to leave to get better help. Across the country. He promised me…” Her eyes well with tears. Now she’s shaking her head. “He promised me a billion dollars. I would be set for life. Nothing to ever worry about. Just so I could get cleaned up for good. And now it looks like I gave up my life for that money. He faked my death. Convinced me I was nothing but an insane addict.”

“Yeah? Well what were you then?”

“I wasn’t around,” she says. “I was always good on it.It.What wasit? I didn’t know, Annika. He was drugging me the entire time. To keep me away.”

Silence enters the frame. I absorb her words. I have no idea what’s real or fake.

Peri’s hand touches me. Holding me. He’s my strength. My rock.

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