The Girl Next Door

2

Song of the Chapter: White Horse by Taylor Swift

Harry

"Oh dear, I'm sorry," Mrs. Faye apologized to us.

"There's no need to apologize, obviously we have said something to upset your daughter," Mum frowns at the idea.

"You see Amanda hasn't had the best of year," she takes out a tissue from her purse to wipe away her tears, "matter of fact it's horrifying and it has changed her."

"Candice," Mr. Faye warns his wife.

"Tom, it's better to hear it from us now than when the police show up." She scolds her husband as if he was an errant child, who is now frowning even more.

"Police?" Mom questions our new neighbors.

"It's been hard on us especially Amanda. Something terrible happened to our daughter and I blame myself for it." She held her husband's hand tightly.

"Blame for what?" Gemma anxiously twisted a tissue, somewhat of a bad habit she does.

"One night Tom and I got into a fight with Amanda and it got out of control. Next thing I knew, I slapped her and Amanda was out the door. She never came back that night. I was so worried when she didn't come home, it was later that..." I walked over and sat by them, urging them to continue. "I'm just gonna come out and say it. My daughter was kidnapped that night." Gemma gasped and Mrs. Faye wiped her tears away.

"Kidnaped? How?" Mum asked.

"By her boyfriend, she was held somewhere for four months. He broke her and my daughter was never the same when she was finally found."

"Different how?" I was very confused.

"She was broken; the doctor said Amanda suffered sexual assault and physical abuse." After she finished the last word the whole house was silent. We were just horrified and shocked. I look to see that mum is crying and Gemma is trying not to.

"I'm so sorry, Candice. We will help any way we can." Mum grabs Mrs. Faye's hands and Gemma nods.

"That's why we moved here, thinking we can try to move past this," Mr. Faye speaks up, "our daughter can seem like any other teenager if she tries hard enough. But she's a broken girl and the worst thing is that monster is still out there."

"Wait, you mean they haven't caught the man who did this?"

Mr.Faye looks at me as if he ate something awful. "That's exactly what she's saying, he tried to contact her a week before we moved. He's threatening to kidnap her back."

After the Fayes left I just laid awake in my bed, from just meeting her, the little things she did make sense. The defensive demeanor, the abrasive attitude, and the flinching were all from what happened to her, her parents said she wasn't the same after it all and that broke them. Just to imagine what happened is awful, the way she carried herself was all too interesting. I wanted to know who she was before all of this, she'll need someone in order to get passed all of this.