Spiral of lies

Chapter 14

"Noah?" I say in a whisper

"Richelle?" He asks in a similar voice to mine, I stare at him. I never thought I'd see him again but here I am stood with our daughter and him and Amada, I guess they're still together

"Come on Noah, we're leaving." she says before dragging him out of the shop, I sigh but then again what else did I expect. So I just pay for the clothes and walk home with Nina in my arms.

We're nearly home and she starts crying, she was cold but I didn't have a blanket on me so just wrapped her up in my coat, she settled down and fell asleep. She was a beautiful baby and I wouldn't change her for the world but I do kind of wish I hadn't lost so much for her.

Noah's POV

I can't believe Amanda. I stumble across Richelle and MY DAUGHTER and she just drags me away, now we're back in her car and she hasn't said a word since the encounter with Richelle

"Do you ever learn?" she asks me, breaking the deafening silence

"What do you mean?" I ask her slightly confused

 "She breaks your heart and yet you're still clearly in love with her." she says in a voice that suggests it's obvious, technically speaking I was the one that broke her heart but...

"Ermm, I don't love her, I was just surprised to see her." I lie, of course I still love her, she used to be my world, how can I not still love her

"Yeah, sure." she says reading right through my lie.

Eventually, after an awkward car journey we get back to Amada's and I walk home. The whole walk all I could think about was how much I miss Richelle and how much I wish she was still apart of my life and that I was apart of my daughters life. Once I'm home I know that my Mom's home because I can smell fresh drugs being smoked and my brothers always smoke outside so it must be her

"I'm home." I call through the house hoping she'll hear. I wait a few seconds, no reply. I decide to go up to my room and lock myself away. I pull my laptop out and begin my search for Richelle.

Hours pass without much hope, I've searched everything that might lead to some clue as to where she lives but nothing. I'm about to call it a day when I notice a newspaper article from three months ago

"Teenager gives birth at home with no medical supervision because she's scared her father will find her." this could be Richelle, she's fiercely stubborn and I know she's scared of her father, so I click the link.

I read about this teenager who refuses to use her name who gave birth with no assistance, she lives near the place I saw her today and she has a three month old daughter. I know this is her. I click link after link until I've established where she lives, in an abandoned cottage up a hill. So that's where I'm heading.

Richelle's POV

Once I'm home I begin starting a fire and then cooking myself a minimal dinner of just toast, I can't afford much more. I'm massively underweight and constantly hungry but I know if I want to still have food in a couple of weeks I can't indulge myself.

Once I've finished tiding up and dusting I take Nina upstairs and read her a book before kissing her fore head and going downstairs. I walk into the living room and pull the curtains shut, in total darkness I sit watching the flames dance around the fireplace, I remember when I used to dance, when I used to have money and when I used to have Noah, it doesn't even feel like I'm connected to my past in anyway yet I know that I could still be that girl if one event hadn't lead to the next.

The fire was just burning out when I heard a knock on the door, I never get visitors so I started to panic whilst I walked over to answer it. I swung open the door to see a dark figure that I'd recognise anywhere.