Real

Chapter 8

Maybe it was the shock, or even my own anger that left me with no words. I felt the lodge in my throat every time I swallowed and I willed myself not to cry.

"There was a good reason, you know."

Austin was sitting on the edge of his bed. I couldn't sit. I paced back and forth with mixed emotions. It was quiet in here but my head was still pounding. Make it stop I screamed in my own thoughts.

"You just need to know that he loves you and he just..." A frustrated sigh escaped his lips as he carried himself to the door. "Stop pacing, sit down, relax." The gentleness in his tone made me forget for a second that he did indeed kidnap me.

The door clicking only made me pace more. When I finally decided to sit down I just sat there. Letting my many questions consume me. Why would he do that? Where has he been? Why would he leave me? I thought he was dead.

I don't know how long I sat there but when the door finally opened it felt like an eternity. I stopped fiddling with my fingers and looked up at my brother's pained face. He shut the door as he made his way to the desk chair. I watched as he pulled it in front of me before swiftly sitting down.

"I'm sorry Lace." Guilt was laced in every single word

I looked him dead in the eyes "I thought you were dead, gone forever."

"It's more complicated than it seems."

"Really!? Because why would someone ever do that!?" My voice rose with the amount of anger that was consuming me.

"You don't understand Lacey!" He put his head in his shaking hands. "You know how hard that was for me? So damn hard. Knowing that you're leaving your family."

Looking at him, I could see how much of a broken subject this has become for him. "I wish you could tell me why."

His eyes met mine, filled a pool of emotions that I couldn't decipher. He stared at me a moment debating whether or not to tell me what he wanted to say. So I just waited.

"Mom and dad aren't our parents."

"Excuse me?"