Loressa stared out the window of her office and watched the traffic below. She stared hard and for a moment, her reflection peered back at her. Soft, golden waves of her hair rested on her back. Large blue eyes, bow shaped lips. Her face was an adult. But she could still see the grime-covered features of a 16-year-old girl staring back at her.
"Ms. Brentley?" Her assistant, Mark, called softly and broke her from her reverie.
Loressa turned her head and softly responded, "Yes Mr. Bradson?" Mark Bradson was a short, thin 21-year-old-man who's clumsiness often caused mishaps. But Mark was good at his job and she considered him her friend.
"Your father is here."
Loressa sighed as she turned and ambled to her desk, then sat in her chair. She had no father, at least no biological. Not one that cared enough to know her at least. Johnathan had been the one who saved her; the one who'd named her, made her who she was today.
"Send him in," Loressa murmured. Mark nodded as he always did, then exited the office. She ran a hand through her hair, felt tears well at the corners of her eyes, but she blinked them away. She was a woman! Not some little girl. Not anymore; she'd never be a little girl anymore.
Her father knocked thrice, per usual, and entered the room.
Johnathan smiled warmly at her, "How's my girl doing?"
Her lips trembled, her fists clenched hard enough that her nails left moon-shaped indents in her palms. "The nightmares are worse. I keep..I can't stop seeing her face." The other girl had never been saved; the man who'd kidnapped her had realized the trick and had fled through a secret tunnel. She'd asked a few days after she had been rescued. Her father had been hesitant to tell her and Loressa almost wished she didn't know.
His eyes saddened and he rounded the desk. His frame lowered and Loressa felt the warm, comforting rasp of his stubble against her cheek as he hugged her.
"I'm sorry...." he murmured, "we're still trying to locate her." They'd never stopped looking, even when others had given up. They being her father and his partner, Katrina. Loressa had given up at the young age of 20, after they'd raided a house and found 5 dead girls, all raped, all beaten, all tortured. The oldest had been 10. She still saw the images at night when she closed her eyes to rest.
"The guilt," she whispered into her father's embrace, "it eats me alive. It keeps me up at night," a small sob escaped her and her father tightened his arms around her.
Her father said nothing, simply held her tighter. A few minutes passed before she shifted and her father released her. Loressa glanced outside at the fading sun.
"You should go before Mom worries, Dad."
Johnathan frowned for a moment, then asked, "You sure you'll be alright?"
Loressa smiled, "I'm sure."
Her father sighed, "You know I'm always here if you need me."
She nodded, "I know."
"Goodbye Kid," Johnathan pressed a kiss to her forehead, before he turned and left; left her alone in a company she'd built, alone in the company she both hated and loved.
Loressa turned to her computer and opened it, then began to work.
