The Broken Ones

Chapter Thirty-Four

"You have thirty minutes to talk," the prisoner guard told Alesia as he led her down the long hallway.

"What if I don't need that long?" Alesia asked nervously as she fiddled with the shoulder strap of her messenger bag.

"You may leave the room at any time," the man reassured her. He stopped behind a large door and turned to her. "Why now? After all this time, why visit now?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Alesia asked.

"It's been thirteen years, and you have never visited once. Why come now?"

"I want to know why she did it," Alesia replied.

The guard opened the door for her. "I'll be right outside."

Alesia told a deep breath and walked inside. Her mother was already waiting for her. It was a small room with a thick window of glass down the middle. On either side of the glass was a table pressed up against it with a phone connected to the wall. Leah was already seated at the table as she watched her daughter approached. She picked up the phone and pressed it to her ear. Alesia sat down and did the same.

"When I was told who the visitor was I thought they were lying to me," Leah told her. "Yet here you are."

"Why are you wearing pink?" Alesia asked blankly.

Leah looked down at the pink jumpsuit she was in. "It is supposedly a calming colour."

"You look different," Alesia commented softly.

Leah's face was the same. It still looked like Alesia's but with a few wrinkles. Her hair was longer and had darkened with age. The biggest different was her behaviour. She was calmer than Alesia had ever seen her. She almost looked peaceful.

"I glad you came to see me," Leah told Alesia.

"Why did you do it?" Alesia asked as she looked down at the table avoiding the gaze of her mother.

"Because I hated you," Leah told her

"Why?" Alesia asked her eyes still on the table.

"Because you ruined my life." Leah continued. "Because of you, I am here."

"You not here because of me," Alesia said as she finally looked up to face her. "You here because of yourself."

"Alesia," Leah started. "I was in a bad place now. I am better."

"That doesn't bring Mackenzie back," Alesia said. "That doesn't fix my childhood."

"Alesia, listen to me," Leah interrupted.

"No! You listen to me," Alesia insisted. "Because of you, I have post-traumatic stress disorder. Because of you, I have had anxiety attacks and nightmares! Because of you, I'm terrified of water."

"I know-"

"I not finished." Alesia continued. "I have felt worthless, weak, and unlovable. After all, if my own mother couldn't love me who could?"

"Do you hate me?"

"No, but I don't forgive you. I will never forgive you," Alesia told her.

"Then why are you here?' Leah asked she leant closer to the glass. "Why did you come?"

"To give you a message," Alesia replied as she glared at her mother. "Tell Emily to leave me alone."

"Is that it?" Leah asked.

"No. You ruined my childhood, but I am not going to let you ruin the rest of my life." Alesia told her confidently. "This is the first and last time I am going to visit. Once you finally get out of here, I will file for a resigning order." Alesia kept her eyes on her mother. "Someday I will have children of my own, and I will be a better mother than you ever were. They will have a childhood that they will not need time to recover from. And you will never go anywhere near them." Alesia paused as she let the silence fill the room. Leah just stared at her expressively. "Goodbye Leah," Alesia told her as she stood up, and marched towards the door. She could feel her mother's eyes on her as she knocked on the door but she ignored it. The guard opened the door, letting Alesia out. Alesia walked out with her head held high but her confident act dropped the second the guard shut the door behind her.

Alesia broke down into tears. Leaning back against the cold concrete wall as she rested her head in her hands.

"Are you alright?" the guard asked as he tried to confront her.

Alesia nodded. "I just want to leave," she told him between sobs.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Alesia sat at the table in the library, her criminology textbook opened in front of her and pen in hand as she made notes in her workbook. It was three weeks until exams started and she had a lot to study.

Alesia looked up from her books when she heard a familiar voice. Angelica was on the opposite side of the room. She was waving goodbye to a group of boys. Alesia placed her pen down on the table and left her books opened as she walked over to Angelica.

"Hey Angelica," she said politely as she approached her former friend.

Angelica looked at Alesia in surprise. "Hello Alesia," she replied.

"How the search for popularity going?" Alesia asked as she crossed her arms over her chested.

'It's been harder than I thought it would be," Angelica admitted. She looked curiously at Alesia. 'What do you want?"

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm not afraid of you anymore," Alesia told her as she held her head high and smiled. "That is all." She turned around to walk off.

"Is that why you were so easy to manipulate?' Angelica yelled after her. "Because you were afraid of me."

Alesia stopped and looked back at her. "No," she admitted, and she walked back to Angelica. "You reminded me of my mother."

"I don't understand what that has to do with anything," Angelica replied.

"My mother was abusive," Alesia admitted. "She was cold, manipulate, and violent, and she didn't love my sister or me the way she should her.

"Still lost," Angelica remarked.

Alesia shrugged. "You reminded me of her. You had the same psychotic tenderises she had. You're manipulative and narcissistic. You are both unable to feel empathy or remorse" Alesia explained. "You were my surrogate. My mother hadn't loved me, but you made me feel like if you did that would be enough."

"Where is your mother now?' Angelica asked.

"Jail," Alesia replied. "She is in there for murder and attempted murder." Alesia stared at Angelica. "Maybe we should all be grateful that you're not violent."

Angelica looked blankly back at her.

"Good-bye, Angelica," Alesia told her as turned and walked away.

Alesia walked back to her table and shut her books. She reached into her bag and brought out her laptop and opened word to start writing her essay.