Sometimes the cards life dealt us are not fun. It was not what we wanted. There are other times when it feels as if the entire universe and all its inhabitants are against us. As if they have come together to destroy us but we should always remember...
"So what have you been up to?" Maya asked Luke excitedly as she scooted into the seat across from him in the small café they had found a few miles away from the school.
"Well nothing really. I've been here and there"
"Doing what specifically?"
"I've been in the Navy for the last few years."
"That's pretty impressive," she praised as she stared at him with a new light in her eyes.
"It's nothing really but enough about me tell me what's been going on in your life. What have I missed? What happened to you after I left?"
She fidgeted in her seat as she'd never been a person who liked to speak of herself.
"Hey," he said grabbing her hand and giving it a tight squeeze,
"It's just me M. You know you can tell me anything. You know I won't ever judge you and nothing you can ever say or do can either keep or turn me away from you."
She smiled slowly and returned his squeeze. He was right. He is the same boy, well man now, that had held her while she cried off one of the beatings he wasn't there to prevent and he's also the same person who listened as she had dreamt of a future that was so out of her reach at the time that it almost seemed comical to even think of it.
"Well after you left I would sit on the steps and watch any and every car that passed by. I always hoped that one day one of the strange cars that always passed by would stop and you'd step from it and come back to me. After the first two months I stopped sitting there and I realized that you weren't coming back any time soon and that I needed to find a way to protect myself. I started going to church every Sunday and whenever I knew my mother was drinking or having her friends over I would get what I had to do early, lock the door to my room and then sneak out of the house. At first I didn't have anywhere to go but then I went to your old house. I would sneak in through the living room window and then I would camp out on the floor of your old bedroom until the next morning.
After a while it became my safe haven. I would lay on the cold, hardwood floor and imagine myself wrapped in your arms like you did whenever I had to stay with you. I missed you so much. I thought you would have written to me. When I realized you weren't coming back I waited for your letter but it never came and I thought you'd forgotten about me.
One day I'd been too tired and I forgot that it was my mother's drink day and I'd fallen asleep on the couch. One of her friends had come back with her from the bar that night and he insisted that I joined him and my mother in their night's festivities. I declined and he grabbed me I waited for you to come safe me and so I didn't put up a fight when he slapped me or when he punched me in the stomach until I broke five ribs. It wasn't until he tossed me to the ground and tried to take off my clothes that I realized that you we're gone and if I didn't fight back that he'd rape me. All I remember myself doing was to dig my nails into his eyes. Sometimes I remember kicking him but otherwise I don't know how I got away from him to the church.
They brought me to the hospital and called the police. There was a hearing and my mother and him were sentenced. After that I moved here with the help of my church family. A friend of mine at church had a sister over here and she allowed me to stay with her. I worked part time to make my way through high school since I decided I didn't want them paying any more bills for me after all they had already done. After I finished my last year I got an academic scholarship to study in any university I wanted and from there I got a job at the school I'm working at now and I've been there ever since."
She finished her story and looked up from the stain on the table top, to which her sight had been focused as she told him her story, to find Luke gazing at her with an expression she wasn't entirely sure she understood.
"M I'm so sorry you had to go through all that alone without me or anyone else to help you. God, I should have been there for you when you needed me. I'm so sorry I -
He stood up suddenly and pulled her up out of her seat and into his arms. She held onto him and squeezed back just as tightly. She didn't say anything all she did was to hold him and she sighed when he also said nothing but just held onto her. She had gone through so much with him and then so much without him. The many years they'd been apart seemed to have dissipated the moment he took her into his arms. The past was in the past and everything that happened to her can neither be redone or undone. But he was here now. They were together again and that was all that really mattered. She wound her hands tighter around his neck to hold him tighter in her arms.
She believed everything happened for a reason. The plan for her life had been laid out from the beginning of time. She believed that their lives were meant to be joined. Everything that had happened to her was to strengthen her. She had lost everyone just as Luke had. He being in her life was a blessing in and of itself. He kept her and loved her when she needed someone to.
He finally released her only to frame her face between his hands.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you then M but I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere. I won't leave you again. I promise."
"I believe you," she said and then she raised herself on the tip of her toes to press a gentle kiss to his cheek.
Just as they released each other her cell phone rang. She smiled at him and reached into her bag to pull out the device. She did not recognize the number but she answered anyway thinking it must be important. Her thumb slid across the screen of the phone and then she raised it to her ear.
"Hello?"
At first there was no answer and so she tried again.
"Hello?"
She was greeted with heavy breathing this time buy still no one answered her. She tried again and this time she felt very uneasy.
"Hello, is anyone there?"
Luke was just about to get out of his seat to take the phone from her when the person finally spoke.
"Hello muffin long time no see," a man sneered on the line. He spoke again before she could say anything.
"Our party was interrupted the last time cupcake but I promise you this time make no mistake I will get you. You will be mine and I'll show you what happens when I'm rejected. See you soon muffin," and the line went dead.
The phone fell from her hands and all colour drained from her face. She couldn't say anything when Luke took her into his arms. All she could do was shake.
"M talk to me," Luke said as he gently shook her.
She found her voice and finally answered him.
"It was him. The man that got locked up with my mother. He said he was going to get me. He said I was going to see what happens when he's rejected. God Luke he....wh- what am I going to do. I can't - I can't
She couldn't find the next words to say so instead she buried her face against his chest as she silently cried.
"Hey it will be alright. Do you hear me? You'll be alright. I'm here now and I won't let you get hurt anymore. I won't allow that creep to lay his filthy hands on you ever again. He'll never ever touch you unless it's over my dead body," he proclaimed as he gripped her against his chest.
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