Finding Beauty

Chapter 47

~Beauty~

The blanket wrapped around my shoulders doesn't do much to warm me up. I can't wait to change out of this bathing suit and into some real clothes. My barefeet graze the concrete floor of the questioning room and my hands rest on the steel table. The room looks just like it does in all the movies, in the scenes when the officers interrogate murder suspects. Except, this detective isn't really interrogating me. He's just asking me the same questions over and over like maybe my answers will change.

"So you do not know anything about the identity or location of The Beast?" the detective asks while pacing the small space. He wears long khaki pants and a black shirt. He looks as dull as the tiny room but there is a certain, steady intelligence in his eyes that warns me to pick my words carefully. His posture is guarded yet relaxed like he knows his power.

"No," I answer for the millionth time. I shift in my chair trying to get a little more comfortable but I've been sitting here for a while and my body is stiff.

On the drive over here in the police car, I had come up with a story to tell the police. I certainly wasn't going to give away anything that might lead them to Gale. I was going to protect him, I knew that for sure. It's the least I can do for him.

My story was that "The Beast" had kept me blindfolded when transporting me to wherever he lived. He then locked me in a room and gave me food everyday with his mask on. Then, today, I woke up on the beach, changed into this bathing suit I found since my clothes were very dirty, and found a park ranger who contacted the police. I'm not sure if the detective is buying it since he keeps repeating the same questions but why would he think I'm lying? The motivation for that would be unclear. How would he guess that after a series of magical and dangerous events, I had fallen for my former capture?

"Now, can I please be let out of here? I want to see my family," I say wiping away a tear for effect. The detective sighs but before he can answer, an officer enters the room.

"Sorry to interrupt sir but the victim's mother is here." I feel my body freeze. My mother? The words echo in my ears for a while.

Last time I saw her she left me to be kidnapped. Why would she even bother to show up? I still want to see her. I still love her. But does she love me? That's the big question, isn't it? But no matter if she does or doesn't, I'm probably going to end up going back into the same routine with her. She'll do her drugs and I'll be left to take care of her. I don't want to go back to that.

Many scenarios and thoughts swirl in my mind forming a tornado around my brain. I wonder if the detective can sense this as he lets me follow the officer out of the room and to the lobby.

My mind plays images of her in my head. Her sunken cheeks, her unhealthy pale skin, her unhealthy weight, her empty stare... I can't go back to that. Right now, I need a mother, a real one.

"Here you are," the officer says and steps away giving us some room. I want to tell him to take me back. Not to the questioning room but back to Gale, to Carina, to the fun day on the beach, to the place where I felt secure and safe, where I felt loved.

It suddenly feels like a courtroom and the judge is about to make the final verdict. Will I be left with the same mother I had before or an even worse version?

I don't look at her yet. Instead, I take a shaky breath while pulling the blanket closer to me, mentally preparing myself for the worse. Slowly, I raise my head. My hair brushes out of my face like a curtain revealing the first act.

"Oh my God," our voices overlap each other. She stands a few feet away from me. She's wearing black pants, an ironed white shirt, and a pink cardigan over it. Around her neck is a necklace I haven't seen her wear since she lost her job at the office. Her cheeks are full and filled with color. She's put on a great amount of weight and her eyes aren't dull and glazed over but alive and filled with emotion.