The Summer Before Senior Year

Riley

I stood on the porch of the house I'd lived in for the past 17 years wondering how things became so messy. My aunt Rachel - God bless her wonderful heart - took the time to carefully explain everything that I'd clearly misjudged and misunderstood and I felt bad. I thought back to the day we sat down to talk about the whole thing. How could life be so cruel to my dad? I'd only spent a week with my aunt and cousins but I was grateful because it gave me an insight. Now, I just had to hear it from my dad's perspective. Aunt Rachel told me there was some parts only my dad would be able to explain to me and I was really going to hear him out.

At this point, I became extremely grateful for Seth. If he wasn't combing the beach looking for me then I would have probably gone on to argue with my parents. Would've thought my mom stupid for taking him back when I knew that I'd do the exact same thing. And boy, had I missed my Seth. We couldn't communicate for the whole week I was in Illinois and it just felt off. Paige and Parker, my twin cousins who were my age as well, took me out to have fun with their friends every second they could so that I wouldn't think of Seth too much. At least he wasn't grounded anymore so I could see him tonight.

I pressed the doorbell after what seemed like forever and luckily it was my dad who opened the door for me. As soon as I saw him, all the tears that I'd been holding back escaped like a broken dam.

"Daddy," I breathed before wrapping my arms around him and crushing him with my body weight.

"My beautiful girl," he said while rubbing my back, "how I've missed you all these years."

I don't know how long I cried for but he held me through it all, telling me how much he had missed me and how much he loved me. When I'd finally calmed down, he took me inside along with my suitcase and brought me some water to drink.

"Thank you."

"So I know you've got tons to ask me but do you wanna get some rest first or do you wanna know now?"

I was sincerely tired of putting it off so I told him to tell me then I'd get some rest.

He took a deep breath before he began to speak.

"When my dad died, he willed all of his money to Rachel and me. And it was a lot. My dad had a brother who was broke crack addict that he'd sent to rehab countless times but refused to change. When my uncle, Tim, realized that my dad was getting some good money he decided to try changing. That way he'd be able to get money from my dad to do as he wanted and nobody would get hurt. What Tim didn't account for was the fact that my dad's money was going to me and Rachel and when he found out, he was livid.

"So livid that he started to hunt us down to kill us. You met Tim at one thanksgiving that we spent in Illinois and you said he creeped you out. His wife had left him when he started screwing up and decidedly wasn't coming back for any reason whatsoever. After that thanksgiving, he started sending death threats to me. Remember when you came crying to me that someone was in your room but you couldn't see anyone, it was him. He wanted to hurt you and your mom both because of how bad he wanted the money. Your mom and I sat down to talk about it and she wanted to come with me but I couldn't let anything happen to the two of you because of me so I went off on my own.

"Tim wanted me to ultimately leave you both so I couldn't contact any of you for a while because he still had his eyes on you. The same thing was happening to Rachel so we both decided to take it to higher authorities. He nearly killed Paige and Parker because of her husband and that's when I knew I couldn't let the same thing happen to you or your mom. Tim was good at covering his tracks so the FBI was always a step behind him. Countless times, I got frustrated because I just wanted to see my girls but it was hard.