Abandonment is one word to describe Evelyn Ward's childhood.
Known as an orphan freak and paranoid schizophrenic, she was dragged through years of therapy after admitting to hearing whispering voices and seeing creatures and living shadows.
...
Before I could respond with so much as a stutter, Chelsea yanked me into her kitchen by my arm, slamming the door shut and rounding on me with a stare so ferocious it made me wish for a hole to crawl and hide inside.
"I wanted to make sure you were okay after getting fired, and you didn't answer any of my calls or texts, and when I went to your apartment, you know what I found? Your door wide open, shit knocked over, and no you. I thought something bad had happened, and now you show up here like everything is fine and I haven't been going out of my mind imaging every horrible, terrible, fucked up situation my mind can come up with? And you know what sort of shit my brain thinks of. It's fucked up. Really."
Standing toe to toe with Chelsea, behind the anger masking her face, I could see the fear in her hazel eyes. Fear and concern for my well-being. She truly was the best friend someone could ask for, and what sort of friend was I? Ever assuming the worst, I hadn't thought she'd bother to check on me, hadn't considered she might care enough to worry. "Chelsea, I'm s--"
"No, no. Don't 'Chelsea, sorry' me. I even called Jorden -- went to his house and everything -- but still nothing. Nothing."
"We broke up."
Chelsea stared in shock at the words I had spit out.
"Jorden and I, we had a fight and we broke up."
Chelsea spluttered. "Had a fight? If by 'fight' you mean full out UFC match, then yeah, but..." She dropped her hands to her sides, and her eyes softened. "Are you okay?"
To be truthful? "I don't know." Shoulders sagging, I leaned against the laminate counter, sighing low in my chest. Sure, he had turned out to be a demon so maybe it should have hurt me less, but finding out that he didn't love me, that not once during all this time had he actually cared for me at all... That lie had shredded my last piece of pride. Maybe I wasn't worth enough to be loved by anyone.
But seeing the tears in Chelsea's eyes -- Chelsea whom I had never seen cry over a damn thing -- tears for my broken heart, and remembering the reason I had come here, to tell Chelsea about my mother -- my mother who had never given up on me even after twenty-one years -- I knew that wasn't true. There were people who loved me, who believed I was worth something more than contempt and neglect. That knowledge was what kept this pain bearable, kept me from caving in underneath the immense weight of heartache.
Chelsea wrapped me up in a fierce hug, the fire returning to her eyes. "Want me to hunt the bastard down and rip his balls off? Because I will. You know I will. Just say the word."
Despite myself, a laugh escaped me. "No, Chelse. I just want to forget about him. I never want to see him or think about him again. I just want him gone."
Her gaze slid to my hand where a diamond still glittered on my ring finger. The diamond I hadn't thought to remove because doing so would finalize this harsh reality. And despite everything, some little part of me wished I would wake up and find this all a terrible dream because I had wanted to love Jorden. I had wanted to love him with every piece of me, and letting go of that wasn't as easy as I wished it to be.
Seeing the conflict warring on my face, Chelsea slid the ring from my finger and walked over to the window. With a glance back at me, she opened it and hurled the ring as hard as she could into the open air. "Have your stupid ring back, Dickweed!" she shrieked before slamming the window shut and turning to smile at me. "There. Gone, vanished, disappeared. No more jerk to think about."
Grinning like a mad hound, I hugged her. "Thank you, Chelsea, really."
"No problem, that's what friends are for after all." She shrugged, nonchalant, but every bit of me was alight with gratitude.
"You know, this actually wasn't what I came here to tell you."
"No?" She pulled away from my hug with her hand over her heart. "Now that deeply offends me." But she winked with a giggle, letting me know she was only kidding. "But really though, I'm curious, what were you planning on telling me?"
Taking a deep breath to steady my heart, my eyes lit up with joy. "I found my birth mom."
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Ah, what I wouldn't give to have a friend like Chelsea. Isn't she wonderful?
Thank you all so much for sticking with Evelyn this far! Starlight's Heir reached #667 in the top 1000 rank this week, and I'm overjoyed to say it's rank just keeps on improving! So thank you so so much for all your comments and votes! Have an awesome week!
