Chapter 19
Calla woke feeling absolutely refreshed. She felt totally safe as she sat up and saw that the door to the hall was still cracked open, and she wasn't locked in. When would she be able to sleep with the door shut? No clue, but it wasn't going to be any time soon.
The sound of someone in the kitchen made her freeze, and then she heard Elowen talking to Knuckles. A smile spread over her face. The dog made her laugh. She'd come over and curled up on Calla's lap the night before. It had been totally sweet, and exactly what she needed.
She wished Thario had been here, but it really was better for her to be on her own. Getting used to the idea of freedom was overwhelming.
When she stepped into the hall, Knuckles came running for her. The dog stopped short and then wiggled and bounced around.
“Are you a lively one this morning?”
The dog let out a low bark, and she laughed. After giving the dog a scratch on the head, she stepped into the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror. The person looking back at her looked refreshed. Being here would make a difference.
In the kitchen, she found Elowen making breakfast. "Griz went out earlier and picked some blackberries., so I made some blackberry pancakes."
“Wow. Blackberry pancakes. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything like that.”
“The berries were sweet, so I decided to put them in the batter. Sometimes, the berries are a little sour, and I end up doing pies with them.”
“Can I help you with anything?”
“You can make yourself some coffee. The food is almost done. Oh, could you go to the back door and call in Griz and Knuckles? He took her out to get some exercise after she greeted you in the hall.”
“Sure.” She moved to the door and opened it. The sun was barely above the trees and bathed the area in golden light.
Knuckles saw her and immediately raced over. The dog had already seen her once today, but was still excited to see her again. She laughed as she petted the dog on her head.
“Good morning,” Griz said.
“Good morning. Elowen said breakfast was ready.”
“Thank you.” Griz picked up one of the dog’s toys and came over to the patio. Knuckles spun around in a circle, looking happier than she’d seen her.
“That dog is so happy.”
"She's a good dog. I like having her around. Before I moved up here full-time, it was for Elowen's safety. Now I just like having a happy dog around."
“When we were younger, I wanted a pet. My older sister, Abigail, brought home a kitten. We found it dead two days later.”
“Oh shit,” Griz said.
She shrugged. “We should have known. But my parents hid the fact that Brent killed Daniel. It wasn’t until I was older that I understood what he’d done.”
They'd stepped into the kitchen, and Elowen narrowed her gaze. "Who is Daniel?"
Calla sighed. “I guess that didn’t come up. I’ll tell you over breakfast.”
“Sure, get some coffee if you like, and I have butter and syrup on the table.”
She put sugar and milk into a mug and poured in coffee. It tasted good, and she moved to the table. As she spooned scrambled eggs onto her plate, she started talking about her family.
"My parents wanted a big family. Abigail was the oldest, and then Brent was born. And since my name starts with a C, I was third. Then came Daniel two years later. I don't remember much. I was a toddler."
“Totally understandable,” Elowen said.
She poured syrup onto his pancakes and took a bite. “These are great.”
“Thank you,” Elowen said.
“I guess I was close to three years old when Daniel died. He’d been crying a lot because he’d gotten sick. Then he was gone. He died in his sleep, or that’s the story my parents told the police. It was ruled a sudden infant death case.”
“That’s awful,” Elowen said.
Griz set down his mug. “I’m sorry your brother died.”
She nodded. “It was horrible. But it was made so much worse when Abigail filled in the rest of the story for me when I was older, and honestly, I didn’t really understand until after my parents were dead.”
“You’ve lived through some stuff,” Griz said.
She nodded. "Yeah. Some stuff. So apparently, my mom found Brent in Daniel's crib holding a pillow.
My mom and dad had been exhausted and hadn't woken up when he started crying.
Brent denied covering Daniel's face with the pillow, but after Daniel died, my parents made me and Abigail sleep in their room, and we always slept with the door locked.
We had to sleep in their room for years. "
Elowen reached across the table and took her hand, squeezing. “That is horrible. So your parents suspected that Brent was dangerous.”
“I guess so. Though they hid the fact from the police. They never told the cops that Brent had been in the crib with the pillow. Brent could have gotten help. He killed my parents when I was seventeen and buried them on our property. I know the police will eventually find their graves.”
“The amount of shit you went through has to hurt. Have you thought about seeing a psychologist?” Elowen asked.
“I don’t really know how to go about that.”
"There are some online psychologists, so you don't have to go for in-person visits," Elowen said.
“That would be good. But how much would something like that cost? I don’t have any money.”
“We’re in contact with a lot of people through Griz being in the Navy. We’ve raised some money, so you’ll have access to something.”
“Oh, you all didn’t have to do that.”
“We wanted to. Not everyone who gave has been through trauma, but many of us have. We understand how devastating it can be when life goes sideways. Also, once your parents are declared dead, there could be insurance, and maybe other money.”
She took another bite as she mulled over the information. “I don’t really know how to deal with money. I was seventeen when Brent locked me up, but that was a long time ago. I’m sorry, but I’m going to need a lot of help.”
“We’re happy to help you,” Griz said.
Elowen nodded. “Yes, we want to help.”
She pushed her eggs around on the plate. “I don’t know what to say.”
"You don't have to say anything. We just hope you'll be happy here. With Thario being close by, maybe the two of you can spend some time together."
Her cheeks heated at Elowen's suggestion.
No question, she wanted to see Thario, but she wasn't sure when they would be able to see each other.
She knew having time to herself was important.
After being locked up for years, turning around just to depend on Thario for everything would be wrong.
She needed to learn to stand on her own, and she wouldn't ever do that if she didn't try.
“I’d appreciate it if you all helped me find a therapist, and then I think I want to research what type of jobs I could get.”
Elowen nodded. “We’d love to help you. You have a world of possibilities open to you.”
“We’re glad to help you. I know you’ll do well,” Griz said.
“How?”
He set his fork down and held her gaze. "Because you're not in a corner crying. You're working to figure out what's next. You may backslide and might have some problems that creep up, but you'll get there. Just stay the course."
Their confidence in her made her stomach feel weird. She wasn’t sure she would come out on top. She wanted to, but there was so much that had gone wrong in her life in the past, and she wasn’t sure how she would move forward.