Wandering Fireflies

Chapter 15: Stand Your Ground

Song: Castle On The Hill by Ed Sheeran

Numbness never lasts forever. And when it finally does goes away, the feelings that you were trying so hard to repress tend to come back. They wash over you at full force and the next thing you know, you're drowning in unwanted emotions.

That was how it felt. It was as if everything I tried so hard not to feel last night came swinging at me with full force the next morning.

Now here I was, at my house doing the last thing I ever saw myself doing.

"Are you ready?" Zaavan asked.

I shook my head. "Zaavan, I can't do this." I was shaking so hard that he had to grab my shoulders just to steady me.

"Hey, you don't have to if you're not ready," he said in a calm voice. "We'll only do it if you want to."

"I want to, I just...don't know if I can."

"Don't worry. I'll help and I swear that I won't leave you, even for a second. I got your back and won't let anything happen to you. This ends today." Zaavan gave me a reassuring smile.

"You can do it Vance, I know for a fact that you can." I nodded. He was right, this has to be done. I took a deep breath as we both walked into my house.

"Zaavan!" cried my mom. "What a lovely surprise! Won't you stay for dinner?" I rolled my eyes. She only did this because Zaavan's dad is the town priest. She's virtually obsessed with the man.

"Uh...sure. That would be great," he replied with uncertainty.

Just then, the last person I wanted to see walked in through the door. "All right, here are the onions you needed and Greg is coming in with the rest of the groceries." In that moment, every ounce of courage that I had left me. There was no way that I could do this.

"Hey boys! Planning on lending us a hand?" My dad asked. I froze, knowing that she was watching my every move.

"Actually, Vance has something he wants to say, right?" Zaavan turned to me and nodded encouragingly. Seeing the look on my face, he whispered: "I won't let her touch you, I swear. You can do this."

It didn't really calm my nerves but it was reassuring to know that he was on my side. "Dad? Can we talk?" I managed to say.

"Sure bud. What's up?"

"Um, can we talk in private? In my room?"

He gave me a confused look. "Sure bud. Just let me finish helping your mom with dinner..."

"No-now!" I cried in panic, worrying that if I waited I'd chicken out. "Please? It's really important."

"Alright then. Just give me 5 minutes."

I nodded and Zaavan and I went up to my room.

"What if he doesn't believe me?" I started to panic. I was so nervous that I even left to throw up a couple more times.

"Then we'll make h-" but before Zaavan could finish his sentence, my dad walked into the room. It was time and I was nowhere near ready for this.

"Boys, what's going on?"  Zaavan gave me an encouraging nudge. "You can tell him."

"Tell me what? Did you get into some kind of trouble?"

"D-dad, it's aunt Lucy." I said, failing to keep a steady voice. I was sick of crying but that didn't stop the tears from coming. Slowly, I told him everything. How every night she makes me get into the car, takes me to some strange place, does whatever she wants with me and then leaves me there. I also told him about last night and the other women.