Mockingbird

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven:

I sat in my room and had the door locked for the rest of the night. Ellen wasn't going to be home anytime sooner, so it was easier for me to not let any company in here.

God, do I hate this family even more. I can't to anything normally without it being wrong or illegal. I can't do anything without getting caught. Having a mother who's a cop and isn't on your side from the start is sucky as is.

A noisy and irritating knock came to my bedroom door and I grimace in annoyance. "Go away, not in the mood to talk."

"Let me in," a familiar, light voice whines. "C'mon, I wanna talk to you."

I trudge over to the door and lazily unlock it, walking back once it's open and shrug back into my bed, where I've been all day. "What's up, Hunter?"

"I'm sorry," I say. "I'm sorry that Mom found out about your runaway bag. I didn't mean for her to find out, really, but she just was all up in your business and talking to me about you, and I-"

"Hunter, slow down," I giggle. "It's really okay, she can't do anything about that. Besides, I can't really go anywhere, now. The police would be looking all over for me again."

Hunter sighs and sits on the edge of my bed. "Just promise me you won't leave. Maybe Mom doesn't seem like it, but she's a mess with you gone. She's just worried about losing her daughter again."

"Hunter," I hesitantly say, "can I ask you something?"

He shrugs simply and nods.

"What did you say the other day about being a replacement child?" I throw onto him. I felt like that question was kind of heavy and a little strong. But I was just curious.

"A year after you were taken away, Elizabeth thought she'd never get you back. Never be a mother-of-two again. So, her and Dad had me. Hence, replacement child," he huffs. "But I still wasn't enough. She still was a shitty mess. It was like giving a lion owner a mouse in return."

I internally laughed at that little comparison he made. "Mice are important, too," I say sympathetically.

"Not as important as lions."

I move closer to Hunter and put my arm around his shoulders. "C'mon, think about it. Do you really think Elizabeth wouldn't work just as hard or be just as messed up if you were missing?"

He shrugs, as if he can't exactly agree with that statement.

"Hunter, you can't think she loves you any less," I say, pulling back from him. "And who told you, anyway, that you were a replacement child? You can't just assume that-"

"Sienna," he choked out. "She said she always heard everything Mom and Dad said about me. They didn't want me, they wanted you back. But they knew that wasn't happening through LoriJean."

"What do you mean?" I ask. "You mean, Elizabeth and Harry knew LoriJean?"

Hunter nodded. "Follow me."

Hunter lead me downstairs, into Harry's office. He rummaged through drawers before he smirked to himself in accomplishment, pulling out a photo envelope that had the name LoriJean on the title line.

"This, right here, is a photo album LoriJean had made at the near by pharmacy," Hunter says, opening the envelope. "Mom found out and picked it up before LoriJean did. And was shocked at what she had found."

Hunter slid the envelope towards me. He undid the flap so I could easily open it and find what LoriJean-my mother-had been doing.

But I slid the envelope back towards him. "Hunter, this doesn't feel right."

Hunter scoffed. "Out of all the things you've been caught doing, this feels wrong?"

"I don't need to be getting into more trouble than I already am," I roll my eyes at him.

"Just open it, will ya?"

I slowly opened the flap and took out eight pictures of what seemed to be Elizabeth and Harry under a tree on a blanket. They looked so young then and so-happy. As I looked through all of the pictures, I saw that the two of them were obviously in a picnic. Must've been before they even had Sienna.

"I don't get it," I say, looking up at Hunter, continuing to flip through the photos.

"Why would LoriJean take photos of her next door neighbors on a secret planned date?" Hunter says.

My mind was filled with bewilderment. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She was really crazy. "You're telling me that my 'mother' was some kind of a stalker?"

Hunter nodded. "And after she saw the perfect family that the Styles' were, she swooped in and abducted one of their children. Mom thinks it was because she didn't have a child or husband of her own. Dad thinks it was revenge. Sienna thinks it was just because she was crazy, and Ellen didn't really care. But after that, all hell broke loose."

"I didn't know that I-"

Suddenly, the office door swung open and a tall figure stood at his full height at the door.

"What are you guys doing in my office?"