The Interview | ✔️

Keep Holding On Part 1

The song for this Chapter is "Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne

Steph's P.O.V

Today was the day. Today I would come face to face once again with the man who took over a year of my life away. I hadn't seen Tara since our fight, but I really do hope she's doing alright. I've called, texted, e-mailed. Any form of communication out there I've tried, yet, I got no response.

It hurts, you know. Having someone so close to you one day and the next they just...vanish. Will she come back to me? I don't know. Maybe she will, maybe she won't. Will we ever talk again? I hope so. But I'm not the type of person who's going to force her to do something she doesn't want to do. If she wants to go her own way without me, then who am I to stop her. Everything happens for a reason, right? So even though it's going to be painful at first, what's meant to be will be.

If and when she's ready to talk like a rational human being, I'll be here. Patiently waiting. Today I would be facing Joe and my fake mother. It's insane what my life has turned to.

"Baby, are you feeling alright?" Carter asks.

"Mhm," I say.

"No. Don't 'mhm' me. You look like you're about to cry. What's wrong? Talk to me," he pleads. I couldn't keep what I was thinking and feeling inside any longer. It was too much to bear. Sitting on our bed, I finally breakdown in front of him.

"I'm lost, Carter. I feel like I don't even know who I am anymore. Do you know what it's like to find out that the people you called 'mom' and 'dad' your whole life, aren't even your real parents? That a woman was so fucked up in the head she kidnapped a newborn baby from the hospital and decided to call it her own? Do you know what it's like to be kidnapped by your boyfriend's rivals, ex-fiance, and your best friend's fiance who turned out to be related to my fake mother? To lose more than a year of your life and only think it was maybe a month or two? To be starved and repeatedly beaten for no reason at all, other than your kidnapper's entertainment. Carter, I'm not me anymore. I feel like the life I'm living isn't even my own. I feel like I'm drowning on the inside, and I know, I know you want to be here for me and help me, but I don't think there is any helping me. My best friend doesn't even talk to me anymore. And I try, I really do try to tell myself that everything happens for a reason and that somehow, this is all going to work out for the better. But is it? Is it really ever going to be better? I'm never going to be the same girl that I was a year ago. I'm scared to step outside the doors of our house because I don't want something like this to happen again. Carter, I'm afraid to go to sleep at night because I fear that once I close my eyes and open them again, you're not going to be there anymore. And I'll be back in that basement, tied to a chair. Carter, I don't know what to do anymore," I say, tears running down my face.

"Baby. I know. I know that you're hurting. I know that you're never going to be the same. I know you feel like you're not you anymore. But I love you. And I promise you, Steph, I'm not going anywhere. If I could back in time and make you stay at the office I would. If I could change things I would let it be me that they took. I know you're hurt because Tara isn't speaking to you anymore. I can't imagine what you went through. Sure they took me, but only for a few days. You spent more than a year with those monsters, so I'm not going to pretend I know exactly what you're going through and how you feel. But I am going to be here for you no matter what. I'm not leaving. I'm not going anywhere. So we're going to walk into that courthouse and we're going to face this head-on. Together," he says, holding my hand and pressing our foreheads together while a tear runs down his cheek.

It was here that I realized he loved me. He truly loved me. I was missing for a year and he didn't stop loving me. For the first time, I found a guy that's going to be my ride or die. And even though there were endless possibilities as to what could happen from here, I know that he's always going to be by my side through it all.