Never Forgotten

Chapter 11: Family ties

Eleanor

Humming the song my mum always sang to me, I continued gently stroking my hand down the young girl's head. It seemed that ever since she laid eyes on Brian, a nightmare resurfaced. I just couldn't wrap my head around why. He wasn't in any connection to Nolan nor did he like him.

Looking at the sleeping girl, I stood up from the chair I was sat on and instructed the female nurse that no men were to enter the room except for medical staff. These girls were traumatised by men and I had to ensure their mental wellbeing as well as their physical.

Closing the door behind me, I looked to see several guards leaning against the walls talking amongst themselves.

"Daniel?".

"Yes ma'am?" he replied respectfully with his head bowed.

"Where is Brian?". Ever since we returned from Nolan's house, he was always disappearing. That was strange for Brian as he was always hovering over my shoulder like a hawk sensing I was going to slip up.

"He's gone to pick up Sofia and bring her here. Oh I forgot to say Diane wants to see you. She's in Oscar's office".

Diane. Oscar's mother.

I completely forgot that she was staying here after everything happened. I hadn't even had the chance to speak to her as the last memory we shared was of her son taking a bullet for us and her killing her husband. I felt terrible for not checking up on her sooner, but with everything going on I completely forgot about her.

"Thank you. Please come and find me when Sofia arrives".

"Of course" Daniel responded before standing guard in front of the medical room where the girls slept.

Calming my racing heart, I walked over to the double doors and knocked on them before walking in.

Not many things made me nervous anymore, but right now I was close to fainting. The lack of sleep was not helping, but the idea of being face to face with Oscar's mum unnerved me for some reason.

"Eleanor" a gentle voice breathed out. My eyes fell upon a frail older woman standing by the window.

"Mrs Hendricks, I"-

"Diane. Please, call me Diane".

I remained frozen on the spot wondering what the hell to say to her. She lost her whole family in minutes. What was I to say?

"How are you holding up dear?".

My eyes shot open as she turned around to face me with a sad smile. After everything that happened to her, she was asking if I was alright.

"I".

"I".

I tried to speak and lie my way through my feelings, but I broke down unable to speak or think.

"Oh Honey".

Diane rushed over to me and pulled me into a tight embrace. My arms instinctively wrapped around her as I rested my face onto her shoulder. I had been fighting for too long. I pushed aside all the emotions to focus on being a leader when in actual fact, I was no leader.

"Let it all out darling" she cooed as she stroked my hair so delicately just like my own mum did.

For what felt like hours, I cried into Diane's shoulder thinking about everything that happened. I had been thinking Oscar would come back, but I was starting to realise that perhaps I had been desperately holding onto the memory of him and in actual fact he was gone. I was now a single mother raising a child with another one on the way. All of us were at risk everyday. How could I carry on without him.