Someone I Used to Know - By Blakney Francis Page 0,100

face him again. Each morning, I’d woken up and felt the weight of their hatred. I’d told myself again and again about the shame and pain I caused my family.

There was nothing he could say to me that I hadn’t already said to myself.

“You were wrong,” he remarked finally, a simplicity I hadn’t expected marking his simple statement. “I can’t say how Mom or Dad or even I would’ve reacted if you’d told us you were pregnant before you left, but you know what, Adley? Neither can you, because you just decided how it was going to be, and you acted. You never even gave us a chance to prove you wrong…

“So after all this time, I wanted to look you in the face and tell you that you were wrong for walking away from us. You’re my sister, and I love you. I couldn’t stop even when I’d wanted to. But you were wrong about us. We deserved a shot to do the right thing. We had a right to decide what was best for ourselves without you deciding for us.”

Everything about Thomas looked a little lighter as he watched his declaration settle on me. It had the opposite effect on me. He relaxed, freed of the physical burden he’d just dumped on my shoulders.

I had yet to speak a single syllable in Thomas’ presence. I doubted if I even could.

His words were powerful. They echoed inside of me long after he’d said them. I didn’t have any doubt just how much he’d meant them.

But he was wrong.

I’d left just as much for them as I had for me. They didn’t deserve the burden of my choices. By leaving, I’d set them free. There was nothing I could say so he’d see that though.

The sureness of his gaze made me nervous. Just as much as I was certain of my own rightness, so was Thomas. And the more I looked, the more I questioned my own certainty. My doubt grew.

“Your cab’s here,” he said, nodding his head to the car that had arrived behind my back.

I walked away and the spell was broken. If anything, I was more determined than ever to leave everything behind. Questioning the past wouldn’t get me anywhere. It was too late for me, and it was time that everyone else saw it too.

There was really only one thing left for me to do….

Chapter Eighteen

Adley

The sky was an ugly gray that stretched thin in every direction I could see out of my window at Cam’s. The hazy weather told me what I already knew. I didn’t deserve the sun. My single black duffle was fully packed, not a pound heavier than the day I’d arrived three months before.

I anxiously watched the hands on the old-fashioned clock sitting on the bedside table tick past, until it was finally time for me to go.

I’d planned my departure perfectly. The flight I’d booked as soon as I’d gotten away from Thomas, was scheduled to leave at an ungodly hour. It was far earlier than Cam’s usual wake up call, and he’d never ever assume I would willingly submit to being awake at sunrise.

Navigating the logistics of my time in the airport was a little trickier. I couldn’t show up too early for the flight, with the possibility that someone actually might recognize me. I wasn’t entirely sure how widespread or popular the knowledge that America’s favorite book had a face to attach to a character had become.

The house was so quiet that even my tiptoed steps down the stairs in the foyer, sounded like an elephant in a china shop. For the first time, I was actually thankful that I’d sold my Brighton rolling luggage to help pay for hospital bills. It would’ve been as loud as the engine on the airplane I was about to board, bumping down the unpadded steps.

Like the prize at the end of the treasure hunt, I reached out victoriously for the cold, shiny metal of the front doorknob.

“Just like that, huh?” Cam’s voice echoed through every facet and crevice of the high-ceilinged foyer, until it felt like he was surrounding me on all sides.

I imagined that was exactly what a fugitive felt like the moment they heard, ‘The place is surrounded! Drop your weapon, and get on the ground!’

My head hung forward, thumping against the door in defeat.

“You weren’t even going to say goodbye?”

No, I didn’t say.

I had little choice but to face him, turning slowly towards where he sat in the