The Broken One

Chapter 11

NATHAN POV

Months. That's how long it had been since I'd last seen Sam. It was currently spring break, so we were not in school, and that only made things so much worse. At least when we were still going to school I would see her everyday. Well, perhaps not every day. It became normality for her to skip chunks of the school day without any explanation and as it became more frequent the teachers also stopped checking up on her absences. I suppose they figured that if she kept coming back okay then that meant there was nothing going on.

But I knew the truth.

Sam was in trouble.

She hadn't acknowledged me in the slightest ever since the day 'Eli' turned up to collect her, only to discover that she was stood at my front door talking with me. From what I could gather from his aura, I don't imagine seeing her with another man sat well with him. I couldn't help but put two and two together. He was hurting Sam and at times it seemed that there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. But that was all about to change, I was certain of it.

It was easy for the teachers to turn a blind eye. Sam was smart. She never drew any unnecessary attention towards herself and she always, always knew how to cover any injuries that I knew she was hiding under modest clothes and thick layers of makeup. I had finally come to the conclusion that there was something more serious going on in her home as well. Why else would she never return? The shouting and sneaking out all was starting to make sense, as much as I'd like to be wrong it was a strong possibility that she was being abused at home too. It certainly explained a lot.

My entire family had gone away for spring break, all of them had gone out of state with grandparents, cousins and aunts. I how ever, had stayed behind. I was going to Europe instead. Travelling alone hadn't been the plan but I had left my old 'friends' behind me after having realized that they did nothing but add to my unexplainable misery. After a short while their company became tedious and more of a bane on my life then actually becoming friendless. As sad as it sounded the latter ultimately became the best way to go. I was better now. My head was clearer and I could focus on what I actually wanted to do as opposed to getting pushed into parties with a bunch of sexually desperate characters who wanted nothing but an extra buddie to amp up the fun.

I was leaving for Paris tomorrow, well aware of my unconventional choice for a spring break travel destination but there you go. I didn't want the sexually explosive and alcohol/drug infused rave of a holiday that everyone else had planned. Instead for the next two weeks touring the hidden gems of France's most famous city. It was a somewhat random choice but important none the less.

I had trips planned. I would visit the obvious places like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre-Dame and the Triomphe amongst a few others. However I was also excited to see the Catacombs (no matter how dark and sinister that seemed) along with a few other less popular places. I knew that the tourist must see locations would just be jammed packed full with people, trying to get a photo here and a photo there. I wanted some peace and quiet, at least.

It was when I was packing that I heard a frantic knocking at my door. I put down what I had been folding and quickly went downstairs, my own footsteps trying to match the pace of the urgent knocking I could hear.

I reached the door, hurriedly unlocking it and was sure my eyes were playing tricks on me when I saw the person who was waiting for me behind the barrier.

"Sam?"

I was shocked to say the least.

She hadn't attempted to make any contact with me in the last several months and now hear she was, literally right in front of me. Part of me was annoyed but that insignificant part was overridden by the pure happiness I felt that she was here again.