When I See You Again

We Missed You

"Jessica, they really want to see you." Sarah said tentatively. "They said they wouldn't leave until they talked to you."
Jessica sighed then asked. "When...Evan took me...did you call my parents?"
"No. I didn't. I knew how you felt about them and you had said you didn't want anything to do with them." Sarah said walking closer to Jessica. "The only one I called was your brother George. I know how you and him are close."
"God! What do they want?" Jessica said in frustration. "I haven't seen them in years. Why do they want to see me?"

Sarah chewed on the inside of her cheek nervously; she wasn't sure why Jessica's parents were there now in their living room.
Jessica took a few deep breaths then said. "Well...I guess I should get this over with."
She took a step towards the door but stopped and turned back to Sarah. "Stay close to me please." She said suddenly feeling scared.
Sarah smiled a little and nodded.

Jessica led the way to the living room; Sarah followed close behind. Jessica stepped into the living room and saw her parents sitting down on the sofa. Even though she was angry at them, it wasn't until now that she realized how much she missed them. She had to work hard to stop herself from running into her mother's arms.

Jessica's mother, Dorothy burst into tears once she saw her daughter. Same with Jessica's father, Albert; he too burst into tears when he saw Jessica. They both stood up wanting to wrap their arms around their daughter.

They saw Jessica's appearance; she was thinner than the last time they saw her years ago, she still had bruises from Evan's beating but they were now just beginning to fade, and her hair was much shorter. Her blonde hair was back; two weeks or so after Jessica came home, one of Sam's friend's who was a hair stylist, had gave Jessica a much needed hair cut and had dyed her hair back to blonde. Jessica couldn't wait to have her natural blonde hair color back.

Jessica remained as emotionless as she could; she wasn't sure why her parents were there, so her walls were up.

"Albert, Dorothy, what are you doing here?" Jessica said, her voice filled with anger and a bit of sadness.
"Jessica...we're so sorry." Albert said as he put an arm around Dorothy. "We are both so sorry for how we reacted when you told us that you were gay. We shouldn't have reacted that way. We realized how wrong we were for kicking you out and...and saying that you were no longer our daughter."

Jessica had her arms crossed over her chest; she still didn't show any emotion on the outside, but on the inside she was screaming.

Albert took a breath then continued; he needed to say what he needed to before Jessica could stop him. "Yes, I was angry because I didn't understand and I was close minded. A few weeks after you left....I realized...you are are my daughter and I love you no matter what. We truly missed you. We wanted to look for you and beg you to forgive us. But...I knew you would be angry and we knew you wouldn't forgive us so easily."
Dorothy stepped forward and stood in front of Jessica; tears flowed down her cheeks. "Jessica...we are sorry. I am so sorry." She sobbed. "I talked to George the other day and I begged him to tell me where to find you. He didn't want to at first but...I had this feeling that has gone on for over a year now or maybe more. It was too overwhelming; I needed to find you and I needed to know if you were alright. George finally gave in and told me everything that had happened. He told me about that man abducting you and holding you against your will for over a year!"
"Jessica...after hearing that, we just had to come and beg you to hear us out." Albert said as he stepped in for Dorothy who was too overcome with emotion to speak. "We wanted to say we are sorry. We want to be a part of your life again. We...we don't want to lose you again."

By this point, Jessica's tears escaped her eyes; she was sobbing, leaning into Sarah as she held her close to comfort her.

Sarah whispered words of comfort into Jessica's ear; she was telling Jessica that it would be good for her to talk things out with her parents and to forgive them.