Chapter 57
CALISTA
The white picket fence is the cherry on top.
“It looks... nice.”
I don’t comment on the hesitation in Christopher’s voice. The slight shift of discomfort in his posture, an uneasy clench of his hands.
“Do you want me to go up with you?”
I stare at the yellow house sitting beyond the picturesque lawn. The white trim running along the top, the windows that could use a cleaning, the old playset that’s outside on the yard.
“No.”
Movement flutters past the window, blurry silhouettes that resemble grainy figures on a photograph.
“A charming setting for the Charming's.”
There’s an emptiness to my words, a hollow echo that gives away the void inside.
“Come on girls!”
The door opens and a cluster of blonde curls comes barreling through.
Giggling and falling over each other, the two girls vary in age but are similar in appearance. Features that complement their attractive mother who steps over the threshold, smiling and talking with the man who follows closely behind.
Aurora Charming hustles my sisters into a nearby minivan, her exasperated expression full of love and understanding. She looks like an older softer version of myself, her summer dress as pink and pretty as the woman wearing it.
My father wraps an arm around her, his nose similar to the one I find in the mirror. His features are reflected more clearly in the girls running around him, the older one boasting our father’s chin while the other one got his eyes and darker hair.
I feel nothing as I stare at the people who share my bloodline. Not a drop of recognition, not a hint of yearning to know the parents who lost their daughter before she could remember their names.
I wanted to feel like I was finally home.
Not feel emptier than before.
“I’ve seen enough.”
“That’s it?” Disbelief clouds Christopher’s eyes, “You don’t want to go say hi?”
“Look at this place, Devil. Look at them.”
There’s blood splatter on my clothes. Human flesh stuck beneath the vicious point of my nails and these people are going out for an afternoon adventure.
A friendly outing with the whole family.
“I don’t belong here.”
Curling my nails into my fists, I feel them leave a mark. An indent that matches the cuts and bruises covering my body, the ridged surface of a monster hiding in plain daylight.
I don’t belong anywhere.
My eyes latch onto the stitches running along Christopher’s neck, the black thread jutting through his skin. Gruesome and vulgar, it’s the only thing that feels real in these picture-perfect suburbs.
The only thing I find myself capable of holding onto.
“Are you sure?”
Emotions clog my throat as I look at the family who left me behind. Packed up, moved on and had a couple more daughters to replace the one they had lost.
“The girl they knew… she died a long time ago.”
My gaze lingers on my mother’s easy smile, the lightness in her step that I will never understand.
“I wouldn’t have stopped, you know.” Sorrow leaks into Christopher’s voice, “I wouldn’t have stopped searching for you.”
A foreign, burning sensation builds at the back of my eyes.
“I know.”
We pull away from the curb, just a couple of shadows passing through. Not once does Aurora lift her head and not once does Philip look our way.
Not once do they pause to say goodbye to their eldest daughter.
The sun disappears and rain starts to fall on our journey back. Tears shatter and trickle past my window, lost memories and forgotten truths dripping past the gates of my hell.
Thunder cracks and lightening lights up the sky as we descend into the valley. Allow ourselves to be consumed by the forbidden forest, enabling the disease of this town to settle back into our waiting bones.
I used to hate Wolf Hollow because it was my prison cell. A torture chamber of Maleficent’s making, it was everything she designed it to be.
Now I hate it because it’s the only place people like me belong.
Drache Manor staggers into view, sharp and unyielding as the women who live there. Christopher pulls to a stop just beyond the black onyx gates, the snarl of a dragon staring us down.
The engine shuts off and the air grows thick between us.
Heavy, dense with the weight of his packed duffel bag sitting behind me.
“Ask me to stay.”
I turn and look at the dark eyes staring at me.
“Ask me to stay.” His stitches shift with a swallow, “Ask me to stay here with you. And I will.”
“What about your crew.”
“I…” Misery and the shards of a broken heart streak past the surface, “I’ll visit them. We’ll make it work.”
“Your life is in England, Christopher.”
“My life was in England, but now I’m offering to start one with you.” He shakes his head, eyes glistening with unshed tears, “I’ll give it up. The stealing, the racing, everything. Just ask me to stay.”
It would be easy to say yes.
To take the larger piece of the heart he’s offering me. The fragments of hope that will only waver the longer he stays in this miserable town.
Wolf Hollow is a disease, and just as I have, it has taken too much from this man. Stripped away layers of his confidence and all but eviscerated the cocky swagger Christopher arrived with.
I’ve seen the light die in his eyes. I’ve felt the unsteady beat of his heart as the people of this town take more than he has to give.
It would be easy to say yes.
But then I would be no better than my mother.
“This is my prison, Devil. Not yours.”
“Prison? Darling, I’m talking about starting a life together. Building a home-
“I don’t want you stay.”
The laughing faces of Christopher’s crew stare back at me, the family who deserves so much more than a monster ever could.
“It’s time for you to go home.”
“Calista, darling, please-
“You are not a man who begs.” My teeth snap together, rage and sorrow radiating through my callused shell, “And you are not a man who breaks his promises.”
He reels back like I slapped him.
And maybe I did.
But he isn’t the only one who made a promise.
I’ll make sure you get home.
Taunting words that taste just as bitter as the memories of Christopher’s blood leaking through my fingers. The damp press of his tears against my cheek as I dragged him back to my bedroom, cursing the villain who got to him before me.
As if I am any better.
“So, that’s it.” He bites off each word, “Time to cut and run like a coward.”
“I’m doing this for you.”
“Bullshit. You’re doing this because you’re scared.” Eyes blazing, Christopher leans across the center console, “You think nobody is capable of loving you, but I think I’ve made it pretty fucking clear that’s not the case.”
“You made a promise to your crew. It’s time to see it through.”
“This isn’t about my fucking crew. This is about me and you.” An anxious, frustrated sound escapes his chest, “Ask me to stay, Calista. Not because it’s right but because it’s what you want. Because I’m what you want.”
For a woman who takes whenever there is an opportunity to give, I find myself giving away the only thing I would have sacrificed the world to take.
Giving Christopher the family and the life he deserves.
“Go home, Devil. I don’t want you here.”
My shoes hit the gravel and the roar of Christopher’s engine fills the air. Tires squeal as he punches it out of the driveway, pellets of rain splashing across my face as I watch him escape to a place where light and laughter don’t come with a cost.
A place where he belongs.
I press my lips together as the warmth of his presence disappears with his taillights. My body starts to tremble as the chills slink back in, the emptiness expanding like a balloon in my chest, the never-ending weight of the hope that’s been lost.
You’re safe now.