The Pursuit

Twenty

⬻Damien⤖

The armor she had put up was starting to break apart. That much I could see, but I knew this was just the beginning.  She had poured everything out and I understood now why she was a shell of the person she once was.

As she went through her experience I felt myself hurt for her. The pain she must have went through and the threat on her life now. These people who were threatening her were lunatics that's for sure.

I knew the feeling in the pit of your stomach when all hope is lost. I could feel her pain vibrate off of her body. That hopeless feeling of drowning and finding no escape.  Not one instant of the past few years had belonged to her. She had once been so carefree and wild, untamed by life with such guts and bravado. That was stolen from her. Physically, emotionally, mentally and eternally.

My rage  was directed towards Sarah, Sam's mother. I wanted to erase her from this planet, to tear her from limb to limb. The anger for this family spurred a fire inside of me. There was no way I was handing her back to Sam, no way he'd ever be with her again.

Maggie looked at me waiting for my  reaction. I couldn't let her see me react negatively. I knew she had been unjustly robbed of life and I had to show her back to her path, back to her soul. 

I grabbed her arms again gently and kissed her cheek lightly. "I need to be honest with you and tell you that I wish nothing but hell to the Bryant family for what they did to you. I didn't lose my mother and I can't compare my pain to yours. But I want you to know that if you let me, I can help bring you back".

"Back from where?" she asked confused.

"From the grief", I said to her. She tensed up immediately.

"I'm not grieving", she argued back at me. She pushed herself back and crossed her arms.

"I'm not trying to offend you, Maggie", I confessed. "I'm not trying to tell you who you are, or what you are or aren't doing". She lowered her arms and listened to me. "Maggie, the way you are coping isn't healthy, I should know".

"Why's that?" she asked quietly.

"Because someone was stolen from me too. Someone I loved very much and he was stolen from me", I whispered to her. I hadn't talked about him in years to anyone outside the family.

Maggie's attention was peaked. "What do you mean?" She looked confused again, this time with sympathy in her eyes. Her body started to relax again.

"I went through my grieving much like you are know. I was you. You are me before I found myself again. Before I broke free from the grief." I confessed to her.

She moved closer to me and I felt her start to open up to me. "Who was it?"

"My brother", I could feel the lump form in my throat. God, man keep it together.

Maggie came even closer, as if to sit in my lap. "What happened?" she questioned with concern in her eyes.

"Matt was twenty-one", I thought back to that time. My heart began to hurt, as it does every time, I talk about him. "He was in the Marines". I think back to the day Matt enlisted and the day we shared beers with Dad before he deployed. I laughed out loud remembering his hijinks from when we grew up. He was adopted too, when he was five and I was eight. We were attached at the hip. He was always causing such trouble, setting up pranks and causing mischief. Maggie reminded me of him so much, maybe that's why I had to help her. I had to bring her back because I couldn't help him.

Maggie's hand came to my face and she wiped away the tear the dropped from my eye. I ran my hands through my hair and then through my stubble.  "He was stationed in Afghanistan", I paused, this is always the hardest part.  "He was part of a convoy that was ambushed by rebel forces. He was shot thirteen times trying to hold control of the vehicle".  I feel the anger rise again and I calmed myself through my breathing.