Cruel Kisses (It's Just High School #2) - Thandiwe Mpofu Page 0,19
demand, eyes wide with terror.
“To keep you safe, I can’t come along. I need to stay here,” she says, as she looks up like she’s waiting for something to happen. “You have to go alone.”
“No! I’m not going without you.”
“Baby girl, I’m going to need you to be brave right now, okay,” she says, touching my face like she’s committing it to memory. Like this is the last time she’s ever going to see me. “I need you to be smart, strong and cautious. Blend in. Don’t get in contact with anyone from this damn town, not your friends from school, or your dance teacher. No one. Get out of the country if you must, just don’t let them find you.”
It’s the urgency of her voice and the shudders that rack through her body that tell me more about how fucked up everything is right now than anything she’s saying.
“Who are you talking about?” I whisper. “Why is this happening?”
“I’m talking about keeping you safe and out of danger. I need you to not let them get you, Nathan especially.”
“Dad?” I whisper, that fear making my stomach feel like I just drank acid, everything hurts like there’s a fire consuming me from within. “But…”
“I know you think he’s a great man, but that’s because you’ve suppressed all your memories about him. The kind of man he is. What he did, you forced yourself to forget and I don’t blame you,” she grits out, anger lighting her eyes. “That man would use you as kindling for the fire if he wants to.”
Dad? No. He wouldn’t, would he?
Nicky grabs the backpack she packed, then helps me to put it on my back. My arms go up when she moves them, directing me like a puppet.
“What?” I whisper, as something in me seems to break like I’m tapping into the dark recesses of my mind.
“Mia, I know forgetting has allowed you to move on and maybe it’ll help you this time but I think not knowing will get you killed,” she says with a shudder, her voice shaky as she palms my cheeks, then she touches my shoulders as if looking at me for the last time. No…
“I don’t understand why you’re sending me away,” I cry, letting the dam break loose as I burrow into her and cling to her like I’d rather be super glued to her than take one step out there where I’ll be lost. “Please, I know I didn’t take the news that you’re my mother well, I know I haven’t been good, but please don’t leave me alone…”
She holds me tight, her heart beating wildly in her chest. Then I feel her kiss at the crown of my head.
“I’m not leaving you alone, you’re my everything, Mia,” she whispers.
“But this is all my fault, I put you in this situation…”
“No, baby, this has been a dark dance of time, and with Nancy gone and some truths revealed, the ugly will come out and play and I will be damned if they hurt you.”
Who?
“I know you love that boy, and maybe he might feel something for you, but he isn’t good for you.”
Julian. He did this. He’s more or less the reason I’m being pulled away from my life.
Anger starts coursing through my veins with the sorrow that grips my heart like a tight vice.
“I can’t do this.”
“Yes, you can, baby,” she says, pulling away from me, then she looks me in the eyes. “You’re the very best of me. Always know that from the beginning, it was always you.”
She pulls away and rushes toward the screen doors that lead outside and opens the door.
“Please…”
“Mia, go! Go down the beach, and then up the side trails to your car. Run as fast as you can, don’t stop for anyone.”
“But…” I start arguing, but Nicky runs out of patience. She grabs my hand and tugs it forcefully, pushing me out the door. It’s cold, the wind is howling and I know, the world has just lost a light and I just lost more than that.
I’ve lost everything.
“Now, Mia!”
Then she shuts the door in my face and turns her back to me, and I watch her walk away from me, but then I realize why she turned away when I see the inner door open with a loud bang against the wall that I can hear from out here.
I see my father, looking furious and dark as he walks toward Nicky.