to the attic stopped squeaking all of a sudden. And there was a shadow on the wall that was definitely in the shape of a human. And I knew from the start, when I disappeared from my old life, it was only a matter of time before he tracked me down. I thought he would slow down after my mom died and he no longer had her health and wellbeing in the palm of his hand, but that was a delusional way of thinking. From the start, his obsession with me is all that matters to him.”
Mr. Peters slapped a hand on the table and leaned toward me. “Okay, Ollie. Let’s roll this back a bit. I want to help you, but you have to give me some more information. What do you mean he was holding your mother’s health in the palm of his hand?”
I got a little choked up trying to get it all out. It was never easy to explain, and I hated how weak and powerless the explanation made me sound.
“My mom was chronically ill. She had a bad heart. She was easily overworked and exhausted. I think that’s one of the reasons she was scared to leave the estate. She was a legacy employee, so they never pushed her too hard.” I sighed heavily. “Until Sawyer figured out that the best way to make me behave was by punishing my mother. If I did something he didn’t like, he took it out on her. She was always in the hospital because of something he made her do. The night of the accident, when she heard all three of us were hurt and I was unconscious, she had a heart attack. No one checks on the help, so it wasn’t until she didn’t show at the hospital that anyone performed a welfare check. She nearly died on the way to the same hospital where I was. By the time I woke up, Sawyer and Huck’s father had moved her to a specialized cardiac center and had her under the care of the best doctors money could buy. At first, I was grateful, but not long after, Sawyer’s mother let me know if I didn’t corroborate Sawyer’s story about the accident and say that Huck was driving and that he’d wrecked on purpose, all the medical care my mom was receiving would go away. She was kept alive by machines at that point, so I didn’t have much of a choice but to agree.” I knocked my head against the table again. “I’ve regretted the choice I made every single day. But how is any fourteen-year-old kid supposed to pick between their mom and their best friend?”
I turned my head to the side and pushed my hair out of my face as I kept talking.
“For a short while I convinced myself Sawyer got what he deserved after the accident. He was injured in such a way he won’t ever walk again, but I had no idea once Huck was out of the picture how bad things were going to get with Sawyer. He was always overly possessive and bossy, but as soon as he knew I felt responsible for him and his situation, he took total advantage of it and of me. I wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone he didn’t approve of anymore. I had to pull out of high school and finish my last few years at home because he didn’t want me to be out of his sight in case he needed me for something during the day. I became his chauffeur. His chef. His secretary. His full-time companion. I was at his beck and call twenty-four seven. It was exhausting, and he got more and more demanding as I got older. By the time I was ready to graduate high school, he’d taken over every single aspect of my life, including where I was going to college and who I was going to spend the rest of my life with. And none of the adults who should’ve intervened seemed to care. I had no one to ask for help, and my mom was barely hanging on.”
I closed my eyes away and clenched my fist on the tabletop. “His behavior toward me also got more aggressive and sexually suggestive as I got older. He started to demand I help him change his clothes and that I bathe him. He started to touch me and grope me and tell me all the things he wanted