Trauma Bond

Chapter 2

The ride to Tio's place was a quiet one. At least for Darcy. She didn't know what to say, so she decided the best course of action she could take was to remain silent. She felt a little bad because she could sense how excited her uncle was to see her. And she wished she had it in her to reciprocate his energy, but unfortunately, she didn't. She just stared out the car window from the backseat and started to daydream. That is what she always did when she felt a little odd or felt anxious. She just imagined she was somewhere else entirely. That was easy for her to do. She has had a lot of practice.

Darcy could tell that her uncle had made a new and improved life for himself while she was absent these past two years. She noticed it when he introduced her to his stepson because this was the first time Tio had a stepson. She noticed it when they went into the silver car Tio was driving because he had never had a car before, and now it was crystal clear that many things had changed when the scene around her went from an urban city to a mini forest. There were trees in every direction, and everything was so green. Tio has never lived so far, she thought.

When they arrived at their destination, Darcy felt unsettled. She glanced at the humongous house and instantly realized she had never seen a home this big, with so much land. She was dazzled by the way the house looked from the outside. She analyzed the blue house and its surroundings. She couldn't help but feel that it was a loving cozy home. It was what she believed how a loving home would look like. It was a place where families who stayed together lived. She could tell. A house like that could have been where she might have lived with her own family. If her mother and father never separated, and if they even wanted her in their life.

"Tio, this is your home?" Darcy gasped.

"I live upstairs with my girlfriend, Elliot, and my daughter." Tio smiled. "it's nice, right?"

Darcy nodded.

Tio parked the car in the driveway of the house. He told both Elliot and Darcy to come. Elliot was sitting in the front passenger seat and jumped out of the car as quickly as possible to open the car door for Darcy.

"Come on," he said.

Tio was already walking up the stairs to the second-floor deck when he chuckled and said "Wow, such a gentleman," that comment made Darcy blush.

Elliot said he would get Darcy's bags, and she rose and started to walk towards that back Deck too. She was nervous, but not about being with her uncle. That she was used to, she wasn't nervous to meet his new girlfriend because she had met many of Tio's old girlfriends. She was skeptical about Elliot, but the person she was afraid to meet the most was her new little cousin. Darcy was terrified of that specific change in her uncle's life because she knew that now she wouldn't be his baby girl anymore. He made his own baby girl. She wouldn't be as important to him anymore, and there wouldn't be times that only Darcy and Tio hung out. He made a family. Darcy wondered if she was still a part of it.

Darcy reached the top of the deck and stepped slowly towards the sliding doors. Before she could even open the door, a lady opened it. She smiled widely and greeted Darcy.

"Hi Darcy, my name is Vanessa. I have heard so much about you!" she exclaimed.

Darcy tried to reply, but before she could even form a sentence, she was immediately interrupted by her.

"This little girl here....," she said as she walked towards the sofa, "...is Lotus, your little cousin."

Vanessa smiled and said, "come here."

Darcy paused for a few seconds before walking in. She walked towards the sofa and saw a toddler sitting on the floor.

"She looks like me," Darcy whispered.