Destined to be?

Chapter 41

Sarah

"Can you believe him? I mean. It's not like I'm telling him what to do with his life or to not move so far away or something crazy like that. He's acting like if i dont go off to college that the world is going to end. Why is it so important to him anyways. It's not his life."
After the park Brayden had dropped off amara and myself at my house and I had just spent the last ten minutes ranting to her about the whole conversation. Filling her in on everything that was said, all of which she had listened to without piping in a word or two herself.
Maybe that should have been my first clue that something was wrong.
Rolling from my back onto my stomach as I eye her sitting at the edge of my bed with a guilty look on her face.
The same look that she had when she told me that she was talking to the detective behind my back.
"Spill."
Something was going on and clearly my best friend was in on it.
"Well, I agree with him." Shrugging her shoulders even though she could barely meet my wide eyes as I stared directly at her while confusion and frustration bubbled up inside.
What could be so important about me going to college that both of my closest friends seemed to be completely convinced that I should pack up my life and go?
"Okay." Trying to keep my calm. "Why?"
"We always talked about going to college together. Besides, we haven't been apart for that long and I'm going to miss you. Something that I wouldn't have to go through if you would just apply to my school or one that was close to it. Maybe we could even get a little place of our own right by my campus then you wouldn't even have to go to college but you could still be with me. That would be fun. We always talked about rooming together. Well now we actually can."
i had to admit that idea did sound great but i didn want to take always from her experience on living on campus and everything that brings, just because some of her usual self was popping out did not mean that i was going to get distracted by the fact that she is acting just like Brayden. Making up excuses for why I should go, acting all weird.
This was more than about me just going to college.
"Amara. What is this really about? Both you and Brayden are acting weird."
"It's just that. Well. It's just." Repeating her words over and over not sure what she was going to say and if i thought that it was weird for her to be silent before well this definitely tops that. I have never seen amara stump over her words. She has always been direct, never afraid to voice her thoughts. Now, it's like someone flipped a switch and that once confident, unbreakable, feisty spirit of hers has turned to goop.
"Seriously, what has the two of you so worked up, that you can't even speak to me?"
"I'm worried about you okay."
"Because I'm not going to college. I can go at any time, it's not that."
"No. Because you're staying here."
"You're upset because I'm staying home?" Bryaden wants me to move away to college and now my best friend is telling me that she's upset because I am not leaving my home.
"At the end of the summer all of us are going to be gone and your going to be here and your not going to have anyone to hang out with when you want to do things outside of the house which means that your going to be alone and if your alone that makes you more vulnerable and more of a chance that you might get taken again. At least if you go to college then you can be far away from this place, far away from whoever took you so they won't have the chance to do it again."
Now all of this made sense.
They were worried that my kidnapper was still watching, which you are. Mostly, they were worried that I would be taken again.
If i was, it wouldn't be by you. Like i said before there are some creeps in this world and if it happened once it could happen again.
I knew that my parents didn't like the idea of me leaving the house on my own but I had no idea that all of my friends had also been in on that notion as well. Considering that every single time I have been out of the house this past year someone has always been by my side. I just thought that it was because they wanted to hang out. In the beginning I knew that they were protecting me, or at least trying to but I thought that faded out. Has every outing really been about them making sure that I wasn't alone.
Their very own version of keeping me safe.
That was just crazy.
Sweet, but just straight up crazy.
This was the exact reason why I had to sneak out just so I could go somewhere alone.
I had just thought about upsetting my parents if they found out but apparently it was my entire friend group as well.
Was Luke in on this too?
in a way her worries were valid. My kidnapper was close and leaving would definitely put distance between us but she didn't know that for sure. Besides if they were so worried about my kidnapper coming back around then he would have done so already. Then again there have been stories about how victims who have escaped had been recaptured and killed even after months of time.
Those were the things that were going through their heads. I had to remind myself of that. To remember that I was the only one who knew that I was safe while every single one of them could only go based off of the knowledge that they could gather.
Considering how dark some kidnapping stories are, I couldn't blame them for trying to protect me or for worrying.
Getting up from the floor I wrap my arms around her shoulders and squeeze as hard as I can for just a second before releasing and plopping down on the mattress.
"I understand. Leaving does make sense but who is to say that even if I do move that the person who took me won't just follow right behind? No matter where I go, that's always a possibility. I can't just be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life always worrying that I might be taken again and I don't want you to either. I love that you care, you wouldn't be my best friend if you didnt but I'm not going to let what happened control my life."
"We could still find a place together, you could audit some classes, and we can be together." Looking at me with hope in her eyes catching her shoulder droop as she bit her bottom lip. "I'm not going to get you to change your mind am I?"
Shaking my head as the corner of her lips quivered in a 'what am i going to with you,' kind of smirk as she pulled me into another hug.
"I'm going to find that bastard that took you. When I do, I'm going to make sure that he rots in a prison cell for the rest of his miserable life."
My grip loosened slightly at her promise as a hint of worry carried through that she might actually hold true to that while also realizing that an entire police department couldn't even find my backpack let alone get anywhere close to figuring out where I was or identifying who even took me. All they had were the very vague details that I had told them when my 'memory' of being taken had come back.
Everything fiber in my being told me that I had nothing to worry about and yet there was this feeling. A feeling that had seemed to emase so much energy that it had produced its own form. Invisible but I could feel the jumble of endless dark tendrils swarming behind my back and right then it was whispering into my ear that it was possible.
Heart beating faster at the possibility of her figuring out who you are.
She won't.
She already tried and she couldn't get any further than the police had.
There wasn't enough evidence to be able to piece anything together. My case was cold and that is how it's going to stay.
They were just words, a statement that would never play out.
Well not anytime soon.
But maybe when we are old and gray in the hair sleeping in mechanical beds that are controlled by remotes with only a curtain separating us. When our minds are no longer what they used to be and our days are spent with nurses looking after us. Maybe then I will tell her the story of how I fell in love with my kidnapper. How I kept him a secret from everyone to protect him. If everything pans out, maybe I'll even be twisting a ring around my finger as I tell her about the worst days of my life when I thought that I was for sure going to be murdered only to realize that the man I thought was a monster was actually my knight in shining armor. Hearing the door open up and a familiar voice saying hey beautiful as you come onto the room all hunched over and nearly bald, your skin no longer tanned to perfection and all of your teeth gone but even still my heart would melt by that crooked grin as you sat down in the chair beside my bed holding my hand in yours. Kissing the aged paper thin skin that showed every single one of my veins.
Smiling at a possibility of what my future could be.
All of that depended on what happened now. Not only with the choices that I make but yours and hers and my parents.
Everything affects what's going to happen.
According to you we are fate.
If that's true then we are destined to be together no matter what. I just didn't want that what to be through a sheet of glass where i would have to use a phone to talk to you while knowing that my family and my best friend will never understand or forgive me for what I did.