Atonement

•11•

My body stands as still as a statue, my brain in complete shock. This woman.. claiming to be my mother. It couldn't be. It's not. There is absolutely no way. I look back to Haz, for once wishing he would take control of the situation, but he doesn't. He just stands there speechless for the first time ever. My eyes flick back to the woman sitting in cuffs. Nothing about her looks like the mother I remember. Her hair wasn't blonde, it was brunette. Her lips were thinner, not that I can remember too much.. I was so young.
"My mother is dead. She has been dead for fifteen years." I say shakily.
"No honey.. I'm alive. I'm here." She shakes her head. "I can explain everything-"
"You are not my mother you sick bitch." I spit. "Don't you dare use her as an excuse."
I turn on my heels, walking up the stairs and out of the basement. My hands shake like a leaf as I make my way down the hall. Of all the answers I expected to get from that interaction, that wasn't one of them. Tom walks up to me, noticing how upset I am.
"Aurie what's wrong what happened?" He asks.
I simply shake my head, feeling tears start to well in my eyes. He pulls me into a hug and I let myself cry, wrapping my arms around him and pressing my face into his chest. I don't know him all that well, but right now I really couldn't care less.
"Cmon, let's go lay down and you can talk about it." He says softly, pulling me under his arm as we walk down to my room.
We go inside, and I sit on the edge of the bed, Tom sitting down next to me. His hand comfortingly rubs circles on my back and I wipe the tears from my eyes.
"I'm only 23 and I don't have parents, they both have died. I knew I would still be young when I lost my dad but.. I didn't think it'd happen this quickly." I admit. "And now there's this awful woman in the basement, claiming she's my mum.."
"Could she be?" He asks.
"My mum died when I was nine. My dad cried for weeks." I say. "There's no way.."
Tom spends the rest of the cold night in my room, making sure I'm okay until I fall asleep. I really didn't expect to find such a good friendship through him, but I think I have.

•Harrison's pov•
"Aurie's mother died when she was nine." I state, pacing the room.
"I didn't die. I recovered, and I left." She says.
"Why wouldn't she recognize you?" I ask.
"Dyed my hair, got some work done, not to mention she was young, I have aged." She explains. "Take a test if you need."
I grab a chair, pulling it over to sit in front of the woman, although she looks fake and filled with plastic, she has Aurie's eyes.
"Why would you leave her?" I question.
She sighs, letting her head fall slightly. She feels remorse, shame.
"I would rather speak to her about this." She says.
"I don't think she wants to talk to you." I say. "And I'm not going to make her."
She smirks, a laugh escaping her lips as she talks once more.
"I get it." She nods. "My daughter is a very beautiful girl. She understands your job, she already lives here, it's easy, simple."
"What are you getting at?" I ask.
"You like her." She states and I laugh, standing up from my seat.
"Nice try, stop changing the subject." I shake my head.
"Not changing the subject, just making an observation." She says.
"Then tell me why you left her." I say once more, bringing the conversation back to what's important.
"No." She says.
I grab my knife off the table, holding it aggressively against her neck, she simply laughs at me.
"You better start answering my questions." I warn.
"You wouldn't hurt me." She says.
"And what makes you think that?" I ask.
"Because even though you were taught to do what's best for the mob, you'd rather disappoint the mob a million times over than disappoint her."
I hold the knife there a second longer, before letting my grip off, the blade falling to the ground. I turn around, and make my way up the stairs and away from that awful woman.
Who does she think she is? Acting like she has the right to sit there and tell me how I run things and how I feel. She has no clue the damage she's probably caused to Aurie, wether she's her mum or not.
I walk up the steps, going to Aurie's room to make sure she's okay. As I get to her door, it's cracked open, and soft snores sound from inside. I peek my head in, not expecting to see what's in front of me.
Aurie and Tom lay on her bed, dead asleep. I didn't realize they were this close.. Tom made a few comments that they talked but I didn't expect to be seeing them sleeping in the same bed anytime soon.
Guess I was wrong.
I go to my office, and try my hardest to find any information on Aurie's mother. I need to know who this woman is, and how big of a threat she may be.
There's a knock on my office door and I lift my head to see Eli standing there, waiting for a response.
"Come on in." I say.
Eli walks in, noticeably nervous. He takes a seat across from me and I give him my full attention.
"I've been around for a long time, Aurie and I are very close. I just need to know that she's okay and this will be taken care of." He says.
He obviously cares a lot about her.
"Did Mr. Alderidge ever talk about her mom?" I ask.
"Sometimes.. he'd break out a few photos with me every now and then." He says. "Why?"
"Where are those photos?" I ask quickly.
"Um.." he thinks for a moment. "They're probably in his room."
"Go get those photos for me. Now." I say.
Eli is quick to stand to his feet and head off for the photos.
If I can make out her mum in the photos, then I can make more sense of this situation, and have a better idea of the woman in the basement.
I wait a few moments, and Eli returns with a few photos in hand. He sets them on my desk and I grab them.
"These are the only ones I could find." He says.
I look down at the photo, it's a picture of Aurie, her mum, and her dad sitting on a bench. The next is one of her mum holding her as a toddler, and the last one is of the three of them on Christmas together. It looks to be from the year her mother died.
The woman has long dark curls, and a small smile. The one thing that caught my eyes though, was a cluster of dark freckles on her right shoulder.
That's it! That's how I can tell!
"Come on." I say.
I jog down the hallway to the basement door, Eli following closely behind me. The woman lifts her head to look at me as we walk in, obviously confused with why I'm back. I grab her shirt, pulling the sleeve up to reveal her shoulder.
There it is..
the cluster of freckles.
"Fuck." I groan to myself. "This isn't good.."