The Same

Chapter 13

I was in a room. I didn't know where it was, or why I was there. What had I done wrong?

There was a middle aged couple sitting across from me and an old woman. I didn't know who they were, but the woman had been kind to me when I had arrived in a police car a few weeks earlier.

The woman began to talk quietly with the couple. I wasn't really listening. I was thinking about mommy and daddy. And my sister. I didn't know where they were. I hadn't seen my sister in a year, and my mommy didn't come back after she drove away a few months ago.

Daddy had started being mean to me. I didn't know why, but he never missed an opportunity to yell at me or hit me or throw something at me. I knew mommy was going to come back and tell daddy to stop being so mean, and she would bring my sister, too. She'd take my big sister away from the creek and back to me. I knew it.

So why was I in a room with people I didn't know?

•••

I woke with a start. It had happened again. The dreams. A knot formed in my stomach. They seemed so real.

I automatically turned to look over at Sam. Luckily, I hadn't woken him this time. I allowed myself a small feeling of relief before sinking back into my puddle of worry.

I thought back to what I had told Sam. It was just a bad dream. But it wasn't a dream, really. It was too vivid to be called a dream.

Flashback. A flashback, that was the word for it.

But why now? They had never happened before.

Even as I had the thought, I knew it wasn't true. Suddenly, I recalled not being able sleep at my first foster home because every night, I dreamed about being back in Maine. Not dreamed. I had been back in Maine. My mind drifted to other foster homes, and never being able to go a night without being in Maine.

They had stopped after a while. When I started running away. When I lost all cares and just gave up. I had dropped everything, my life becoming one big escape.

I didn't even feel. I was just numb. I didn't even think about anything, didn't love. Until I met Sam. Until I went to the creek.

Until I had the flashback at the creek.

Suddenly, it all made sense. Being at a place so similar to the one where everything started brought everything back. Sam made me feel again. I remembered love, family. I yearned for a relationship like his with his grandparents. But all I had was the remnants of my previous life.

He stirred and rolled over, but his eyes were still closed. He was so beautiful.

Remembering the kiss we shared the other day by the creek, I realized the flashbacks weren't all I had.

I had Sam.

I had the one person I loved most, and I was willing to forget my parents who had only made my life miserable because now, I finally had something - someone - to call mine.

That's pretty special.

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Yay double update🎉

50 VOTES WHAT??? YAYYYY TYSM GUYS ILYSM I REALLY DO IM SO HAPPY PEOPLE ACTUALLY READ WHAT I WRITE YOURE ALL JUST SO AMAZING YAY THANK YOU

-ABBY