Stolen By Him | ✓

day sixty two

||DAY 62

Everything after was a blur.

The walk to the police car merged into the drive to the station, and the wait as she sat in the waiting room melded into the encounters she made with a Sheriff This and a Detective That.

They asked her questions.

"Can you tell us anything that might help us find him?"

They tried to be gentle.

"We understand that you've been through a tough time..."

They didn't push her to answer.

"We just want to help..."

But the whole time she wasn't truly there; her mind was in a foray of distress. She tried to think of ways to get out- to escape- but as time went on, the harder it became to slip away. Slowly, her hopes were being buried beneath layers of dirt, mud and the words of people who didn't really understand.

Something heavy began to grow in her heart- the realisation of reality.

You fucked up.

Nothing will ever be the same again.

The only beacon in her haze was when she saw her parents.

She was sitting with someone, whose name- or purpose for that matter- she hadn't bothered to remember, when the door opened.

Lana pushed herself out of her chair when she realised it was her mother and father standing there, both of them struck by their own flurry of emotions.

As they all stood there, Lana no longer felt she was in her own body, like she'd dissociated from herself and was watching from above as if this was a show of her life. 

There'd been a point where she'd let herself give into the belief that she wouldn't see her family again.

And yet, here they were.

"Lana," her mother cried out and ran to her. She took her in her arms, squeezing Lana so tightly that she couldn't breathe.

Her father joined them, intensifying the hug twofold. But she didn't care because the only thing she needed right now was the warmth of her parents' arms- oxygen be damned.

"Mum. Dad," she whispered back, unable to voice herself any louder.

"My baby."

"I don't want to be here anymore. Please take me away."

And, knowing that she could always rely on them, that's exactly what they did.

*•*•*•*•*•*•*

As they stood outside, on the front porch of their house, Lana's mother stopped her, taking a hold of her arm gently.

"I know this may be hard for you," she said, looking at Lana with her soft almond-shaped eyes. "But Adam's inside. He's been here since we heard that you were found. Do you want to see him?"

Lana was convinced that she'd misheard her mother. "Who?"

"Adam, honey."

"No," Lana uttered, shaking her head dismissively. "That's not right."

"What do you mean Lana?" Her father asked, taking a step forward in confusion.

"Adam- he's dead."

"Oh honey," her mother whispered. "That's what we had all thought when they first found him. He was... he had been so close to death from the accident. He was in the hospital for weeks after. Even now he's... He may not ever fully recover."