Powerful (The Driven World) - Kathleen Kelly Page 0,39
chanting over and over in my head, all the while I’m crying and shaking my head from side to side. If I tell Ashlea, she’ll tell TB, and then he’ll tell Mom and Dad. Everyone will know. And then I won’t be okay. I’ll have to face what happened, and I’ve done very well keeping it all hidden—secret, my secret. The voices outside grow louder, and I realize it’s Mom.
Brushing the tears off my face, I run toward the front of my family home. Dad is between Mom and Kris.
“You will not do this again!”
“Mrs. Boswell
“Don’t you dare! Do you know what happened to her last time?” Mom points at him. “No, you don’t. I love you like a son, Kris, but you are not mine. I will not let you pull this shit again. So, I’m asking you, are you leaving?”
“Betty, calm down.”
“Oh, for God’s sake, Dean. Do you remember how she was? Do you?” yells Mom.
I’m hanging back in the hallway listening.
“It’s not about me leaving, Mr. and Mrs. Boswell. I want Athena to come with me to LA to build a life, but if she does…” Kris’ words trail off.
“They’ll find out what happened to her in New York,” whispers Dad.
“Oh my God, no,” replies Mom in the same hushed tone.
I feel Ashlea’s arms around me, and I look at her face. She’s crying, and it’s then I realize they all know.
“Y-You knew?” I choke out.
Ashlea nods. “TB went to New York the moment you went missing. Your boss told him you didn’t want us told. He…” Ashlea pauses and looks beyond me. “We hoped that one day you’d share. No one wanted to push you, honey, but as time wore on, we all understood you just wanted to forget. So, we never asked you.”
My legs buckle, and I slide to the floor. Ashlea follows me down all the while stroking my hair.
“Oh, honey.” I feel Mom holding my hand and then rougher hands that I know are my father’s.
The tears keep coming, and they turn into sobs as my family does their best to comfort me. When I finally can see through my tears, Ashlea, Mom, Dad, and Kris are all sitting on the floor in the entryway with me. All of us are crying. This whole time I thought I’d protected my family from my worst nightmare, but they were right there with me.
“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
“Oh, honey, you were broken inside and out. You needed time to heal, so we let you do that. Sweetheart, if you never wanted to talk about it, that’s okay, we love you,” replies Mom.
“I’m so sorry.”
Dad rubs my leg. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”
Finally, I look Kris in the eyes. “Did you know?”
“I found out recently.” I close my eyes and shake my head as more tears flow, then I feel his hands on my face. “Open your eyes, babe.” I shake my head. “Athena, open your eyes.” By their own volition, my eyes fly open. “Nothing has changed, you’re still you.” Shaking my head, Kris wipes my tears and nods. “You’re still you.”
“He’s right, honey,” agrees Mom.
Dad makes a noise, gets up on his knees, and grabs my hand. I’ve only seen my dad cry a few times in my life, and it breaks my heart to see him this way.
“You are the same perfect human being that I helped create and bring into this world. Those animals got what they deserved.” Dad makes a sobbing noise as he drags in more air.
Looking at the people I love most in the world, I see that although I thought I was going through this alone, they’ve been suffering right along with me.
***
Maybe it was ten minutes, maybe it was hours, my family sat with me in that hallway until I couldn’t cry anymore. Ashlea took me home, and we talked about all of it. Every grisly, horrible detail. Now, I’m curled up in bed, numb from letting it all come out. There’s a knock at my door, and as much as I don’t want to face anyone, I know I have to.
“Yes?”
The door opens a foot, and Kris sticks his head in. “Want company?”
I shrug, not knowing how I feel.
He pushes the door open, and in one hand he has a chocolate bar and the other a cup of tea. “I bring gifts.”
As though I can’t help it, I smile. “I like gifts.”
Kris comes into the room and kicks the door shut. “Well, I