Gwen let out the breath she had been holding. She had told Tristan everything. He now knew all about Stephen, Daisy and her parents. She sighed.
“What's your name, Gwen, your real name?”
Gwen shook her head. No, she wouldn't let that name out. She couldn't. Never in the past few years had she ever uttered her real name to anyone. Heck, only a few people knew her real identity. But telling about her parents to Tristan made her feel lighter, right? So, maybe...
“It's... It's -” Gwen felt nervous, really nervous. Her chest constricted.
“You can write it down -”
“No, it's okay.”
“No, really, you can write -”
“It's Charlotte.”
“That's a nice name, Char -”
“Don't. Don't call me that.”
“But...”
“No, please, just don't.”
“Okay. Sorry.”
“Tristan, we can't live here...” she said changing the topic.
“I knew you'd say that sooner or later. And yes, you're right, we can't. With my parents, it will be tricky. And, the police might come and find us here.”
“I have a house. And it's empty. We could go there.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay, we'll go there tomorrow. Be my guest for one night.”
“It'll be difficult in the morning, Tristan. We need to go, now.”
“Gwen -”
“Tristan, you can't win this. We need to go. I know you're worrying about Alex. We'll come see him regularly. But really, we can't live here. Let's go before someone sees us.”
“I can't believe this. But okay, come on. We're leaving.”
Gwen felt exhausted. She just wanted to get home and sleep.
She climbed and descended the tree with eyes that were drooping and limbs that threatened to give up. And why not? She jad run for hours without a break. She led the way to the forest; Travis had probably left by now. What was he doing there anyway?
Once they were in the forest, they found the lake with the help of a torch that Tristan was smart enough to bring. Gwen, then followed the path to her house, her chest constricting with every step she took. She feared what she would see once she went inside.
“That's it.” She stopped so suddenly that Tristan bumped into her. She was seeing this house after months. She slowly walked towards the door. If she wasn't so tired and if she was in the sane state of mind, she would've asked Tristan to wait outside, but then again, she wasn't, so she climbed the gate and jumped over it and once inside, she opened the gate for Tristan. Gwen's legs felt like she had applied weights to it and she was sure that her eyes were red by now, but when she went inside to the lounge, her eyes opened wide, and she felt more alive and scared than she had ever been. Her knees buckled and she began sweating.
There were broken glass bottles everywhere and things were upturned. The walls that were once white, now showed a lot of red. Gwen began trembling as the memories of that night came rushing back to her.
Brent was drunk, and his eyes showed lust and murder. He held her against the wall. He was going to kill her. “You know the truth,” he spat. It wasn't a question, it was a statement.
“I do.” She wimpered. She had never felt so scared of him before. She shook under his grip and he only seemed to tighten it.
“Do you have any idea what that would cost me?”
“No. Let me go, Brent, please.”
“It will cost me my life.”
“I - I'm sorry.”
“Yeah? That's easy for you to say.”
“Brent, please let me go.”
“I can't. This is my revenge... Charlotte Stanley. I die, you die.”
“Don't call me that,” she hissed.
“I'm going to kill you, and that's all you're going to say?”
“You're my brother, Brent. Let me go.”
“I know you know the truth, Charlotte. I was never your brother.”
“DON'T CALL ME THAT.”
“Oh, you have the audacity.”
Gwen was shaken out of her thoughts by someone taking hold of her arm. “Gwen, are you okay?”
Gwen trembled from head to toe and her knees gave away as she fell to the floor.
“Gwen you need to sleep. Come, I'll take you to your room.”
Gwen shook her head and as if voicing her thoughts, someone said, “Oh, not so fast gentleman, I want to have a word with the lady.”
Gwen turned around so fast that it wouldn't be a surprise if her neck cracked. She saw a woman in her early forties standing there. She resembled Gwen so much, she had her eyes, her lips, her hair...
“I thought I'd be seeing you soon, Charlotte. Or should I say, Gwen?”
Gwen stared at her for quite a while before a single word escaped her lips.
“Mom.”
YOU ARE READING
Here to Stay
Fiksi Remaja"You know me more than I do," she smiled. "What else is there that you want to know?" "I want to know why you've built these walls around yourself. I want to know why you don't open up to people." "I don't know. Maybe, I'm afraid to spill too much...
