Fracture

Part 4

The midnight sky glittered with stars and shimmering lights. I opened my door to step out of the car and felt the cool breeze kiss my cheek before placing my feet on the hard pathway.

            "Come, I'll take you to her." Lex's expression had softened greatly, revealing a half smile and a welcoming hand.

            "Thank you." I smiled, taking his hand. I looked up to the large brick house, porch lights gleaming around heavy oak doors. Before I could reach the doors, they swung open with ferocity, a short, curvy woman stood in the middle, tears forming in her golden eyes. I recognized her immediately.

            "Sarah." She ran to me, her arms wrapping around me in a suffocating hug.

            "You left me." I cried, she pulled tighter, unrelenting.

            "Not by choice. Come, now, we have so much to discuss." Her warm hand led me to an oversized family room with a large grey sectional and fireplace. "I am so happy they found you before he did. I desperately tried reaching out to your dreams, but, I could never quite make it. I wish I could've brought you here sooner." Her eyes glimmered with passion and love, like a real mother would look at her child.

            "Why would I want to come here? Dad gave us everything- even when you didn't." Overwhelming emotions swirled in my heart. I so desperately wanted to forgive my mother, wanted to hate my father, but part of me couldn't grasp this new truth.

            "Oh, dear, I'm glad Sam gave you a good life and he's not a bad man, Sarah, he just has made terrible mistakes." Her voice was solemn, laced with melancholy. What did he do to her?

            "Then why leave us? If daddy isn't a bad guy, why leave? Was it me? Was I too much?" She shot up from the couch and cradled me in her arms. "I couldn't help it that I was sick. I never asked to be a burden." The rotting memory of spending countless nights in the hospital as a child flooded back into my view, tunneling into my soul.

            "Darling, I didn't leave you by choice. Seizures or not, I am your mother. I would've never left you. I'm sure Lex has already told you, but, I have a very unique set of skills, my dear, and so do you. Your dreams aren't happenstance, love. That's why I sent them to find you, before Sam could make the same mistakes with you." My mother's hand caressed my back as she cooed, calming me to a submissive sigh.

            "Tell me everything; I want to know." Her hand stopped, allowing me to sit up and soak in her face. Wrinkles trickled over her eyes and laugh lines traced her lips. Her perfectly straight smile was white, sparkling in the firelight. We shared the same golden brown eyes and thick blonde hair. She was enchantingly beautiful, just like I remembered.

            "Oh, my Sarah. All grown now, I see." She stood and walked to the fire, her golden robe enhancing the color of the firelight trickling over her face.

            "I wish this was a better story, I truly do, but the truth is the truth. That's something you'll find very soon, child. The truth is all you can trust, the only thing you can hold." I saw her eyelids blink closed, hinting to a whisper of pain that she managed to tuck away with a quiet sigh before continuing. "I was 18 when I met your father, you know. My dreams had just started. We were so young and so in love. But, love blinds us, Sarah. I had terrible dreams about my future, but I ignored them. I can still remember the day he introduced me to his friends. Being older, most of his friends were his age and I never minded, that is, until I met Jack. He always smelled of whiskey and cigarettes. Jack was a good guy with bad habits and he shared them with your father. He was so cunning and manipulative; he had your father buying into his schemes in no time. Jack quickly found out about my gifts, Sarah and he vowed to keep it secret. He told me one day I'd be his, but I never thought he'd do what he did. I should've taken you and ran when you were an infant, but I couldn't leave your dad." Her face narrowed in shame before she moved to the firelight.