Moving On

Chapter Eight

A month passed by, Justin and Anaya were three months away from their wedding and a lot of the wedding preparations have been taken care of. The two were eating lunch one day when Anaya noticed Justin was awfully quiet. Something was not right. She reached across the table and held his hand.

"What's on your mind?" Justin came back to the present.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just thinking about something."

"Well, what is it?" He shook his head and smiled.

"It's nothing, really." But Anaya knew something was bothering him, she decided to give him space. Later that night Justin came over, Niani had a nightshift at work and wouldn't be home till the morning. Justin was still quiet, laying next to Anaya, holding her hand but not saying anything.

"Justin, will you please tell me what's bothering you? I promise I can help." Justin sighed.

"Yesterday a man came to our house, he said he needed to confess something." Anaya and Justin both sat up, sat across each other on her bed. "He said he was the one who was driving the car when it crashed into my parents' car that night. He was the driver who was in the hit and run accident that took my father's life."

"Justin, why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I don't know if he's making it up as a sick joke, or if he's the actual driver and the truth is Anaya, I'm scared of how I might react if I know the truth." Anaya held his hand.

"How would you find out if he's lying or not?"

"I went to the police this morning to find out if they have any leads, and the descriptions match to what that man was saying. The car he was driving, and the details of the accident. I kept this hidden from my mom, only because this coming out would only bring back those memories we tried to hard to overcome, she doesn't need to worry about this."

"I'm so sorry you're going through this right now but please know that I'm here for you no matter what happens." Justin kissed her. He spent the night with her in her room, they just slept, close together.

The next morning Anaya woke up to the door bell, her mother probably forgot her keys again. She got up quietly, not wanting to wake Justin up and went to the door. But it was John.

"What are you doing here? You need to leave. I already told you, I don't want you in my life."

"Anaya, I need to tell you something else." Anaya was shaking her head.

"I don't care about what you did in the past, you need to leave."

"Anaya please, let me tell you, I need to tell you because you should know, as my daughter."

"You have five minutes, and then you're out of here." John took a breath.

"13 years ago I had a very nasty fight with my wife Suzanna, and I was drinking heavily and I left the house in a rage. She begged me not to go, my wife, but I didn't listen. I pushed her out of my way, grabbed my keys and went out in the road in a terrible storm." No, no, this can't be. This isn't the same man Justin was telling me about, Anaya thought. "And I was driving for a while, until I hit something. I didn't realize what I hit until my eyes cleared up, it was another car. I saw the driver's seat and the passenger's seat. There was a pregnant woman, both unconscious so I left the scene. I couldn't go down for this. The next few weeks I lived in fear thinking someone would find me and lock me away, but there were no leads on this case, no one ever found out I did it. I thought I was lucky, but the guilt, it nearly killed me. It drove my family away... I had to come clean about what I did." Anaya fell silent.

"You should've went to the cops, you killed someone that night." Anaya said quietly.

"I know, I will. I just had to come clean to the people in my life first." Just then Justin came to the door, he ran to John, grabbed him by collar of his shirt and held him against Anaya's car that was in the driveway.