Everything Has Changed

Five

One year later

One year. It's been one year since the incident occured. One year since Malachi Hamilton was caught, Damion Lukes was arrested. Samantha has her days. Her good days and her bad days. Sometimes, she'll start screaming in the middle of the night, screaming for him to stop, stop hurting her. He was put on death row, killed last month. But Trent's always there to hold her and to tell her it'll be okay.

Laylah's there too, rubbing Samantha's head whenever she has her bad days. When Layla was born, the doctors immediately took her away.

Since Sam had been kidnapped and all the Cyanide was still in her system, Laylah was taken away to a special ICU for babies born addicted to drugs. Samantha had forgotten a few things so we've been helping her.

Like today, I'm reteaching her how to wash the dishes. It's an improvement from where she was last year, when she first woke up. She couldn't speak. She can't walk; instead she's confined to a wheelchair. The stroke and the poison of the Cyanide did a lot of damage.

Zander and I started dating a few days after the girls were rescued and today is our one year anniversary, also my birthday.

"Erica?" She says, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Yeah?" I say, handing the dishes to her so she can put them in the dishwasher.

"Do you think Laylah blames me? For not being there for her, I mean." She says, looking at the one year old playing "peek a boo" with Trent on the couch.

"No, she doesn't. She wouldn't. It's not your fault, so please stop blaming yourself. She loves you. I see the way she looks at you in the morning when you wake her up. Her eyes, they're full of love, for you and Trent. You two are her parents, plus she's still a baby."

I finish the dishes and go over to the couch where Laylah is now asleep on Trent's chest. I lightly kiss her forehead, careful not to wake my niece. Dalton walks into the room tiptoeing, not wanting to wake Layla. He sits on the edge of the couch and looks at me.

"Zander's here. Says he has something he wants to ask you." He whispers, looking at Trent and Samantha, and they all share a look and a light smile. What's going on? I think, and head out the front door.

Once outside in the hot summer heat, I see Zander standing there, black tee with khakis and white converse. He's holding something and I can't really see what, so I move closer. A cute Panda bear. "Hey, stupid head," I say, hugging him and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Hey, beautiful. Um, I have a question." He says, blushing a little.

"Yes?" I say, taking the Panda bear and hugging it close to me. "Will you go on a date with me?" He finally says. I nod my head and get in his truck. "Wait. I'm in sweats and have greasy hair," I say and Zander looks at me from the driver side.

"Doesn't matter. You always look perfect to me." I blush at that. We drive for about fifteen minutes until he shuts off the engine.

"Where are we?" I ask, looking around at the trees around me. "Somewhere. You'll recognize it though." As we get out of the truck and take in the view, my eyes go wide with recognition. This is the park. The park. "You were there that day, for Sam's birthday. Weren't you?" I inquire, and cross my arms over my chest, looking at him.

"Yeah. Back then, we weren't friends. We used to be, but I guess we went separate paths. You didn't see me that day. I was hiding under the cave. It wasn't a real cave, only made of rubber. I couldn't stop staring at you from my hiding place. And then when I saw Trent and Samantha kiss, I started laughing at your face. You had the weirdest look on your face, and you went green. I wanted to talk to you, but I got nervous." Zander says, avoiding my eyes.