Love The Way You Lie

29. Home

I have been talking every Friday with Sam for a month now. I was feeling better. I felt like my heart was almost healed. I mean, I even made friends at the clinic! I only had one more step and it was a big one. Step 12 was different for everyone. Often it was about self love and accepting who you truly are. People would complete their steps with a final action, again, divergent for each person, and would go home, happy, full and complete. I thought for sure that for me it would be about letting things go, but Gloria had another plan.

"I'm sending you home." She said as we were both sitting in her office.

"What!? But what about step 12!?" I asked, shocked.

"Emily, sending you home is step 12. You came here to face the demons of your past. Well now it's time to face the present and future." She calmly explained as she leaned forward on her desk.

"Do you really think I'm ready?" I shyly asked.

"Emily, honey. You have made so much progress! And by letting you go home we are not abandoning you. You will have to call each month to have a psychological check up. We will keep up your prescription and you will always be welcome to come back but, I think it's time that you trust yourself and you go home..." Gloria was now standing next to me, resting her hand on my shoulder. "I know that it will be okay... trust yourself. Never forget; you can't control everything, sometimes—"

"You just need to take a leap of faith... yeah, I know... You're right. It's time that I see everyone." I said standing up with confidence. When suddenly tears started boiling in my eyes. "Does this mean it's goodbye?" I asked her as I looked at her saddened eyes.

"For now... I'm afraid it is. Come here." She pulled me into a tight hug as we both chuckled softly.

"Thank you... for... just thank you Gloria." I sobbed as I left her arms. "I'll miss you..." I whispered as I turned the doorknob.

"Good luck Emily..." she said wiping away the small tear on her cheek as I closed the door behind me.
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I ran to my room and called a cab to come pick me up. I packed my bags quickly and started dialing Sam's number. I suddenly stopped and thought that maybe it would be better to surprise everyone. It was a Friday... so I knew everyone would be home. I took one last look at the room and took a deep breath. This was it. I finally felt my heart revive... I was complete. I knew that from now on, I would be able to face anything.
I smiled as I left the building. The car was already waiting for me at the front. The cabbie took my bags and I opened the backseat door, ready to leave. I turned around to look one last time at the green gardens leading up to the clinic and the old stone walls of the house, remembering how scared I was when I first came here. Now, I felt peaceful watching it from afar. Driving away from it, I felt like I was on my way to the real world. I was driving towards my future...
our future...

I'm coming Tom...

Sam's point of view:

I tried calling Emily but there was no answer. I was a bit worried but I knew that she was in good hands. Tom and I had talked to Gloria the week before to tell her our plan. She laughed and said that she had never met someone that was so dedicated to make other people happy. Tom and her talked and she told him how much Emily loved him. I think she was trying to give him hope. The plan was all done! It had taken us a whole month to plan everything but, it was all worth it!

"Ok. So Emily is not picking up... I don't understand. She was feeling better!" I whined as I went up to mom and dad sitting in the living room with Pads and Harry.

"She's probably busy, mate... it's ok. Let's just not tell Tom because he will freak out and get all paranoid." Harry said as I nodded in agreement.