Never Again.

Chapter Seven

We stood in silence until the sun was further up the sky. The only sound being Kat when she walked past saying she would open the store by herself, with Roger, because it is usually slower Thursday mornings.

I knew I should say something, knowing I sounded depressed, but this was actually the best place I've been in five and a half years. I've started to think of this as home, and feel safe. I've even gotten to know some regulars and the Wimbles stop me when I'm cleaning tables to talk to me. I can't imagine finding a place like this again, knowing I am more than lucky to have found Kat and Lily. The treat me like family, which is why I don't want to leave. 'maybe I'll leave in the New Year. Give myself one more month to save up.' Have a Christmas with people I know. I was contemplating what I should do when Lily spoke again.

"Was it really that bad? As bad as Hell?"

"Yes."

"Where were you? Were you in foster care?"

"No."

"Were you at home?"

"No." I paused to decide how much to tell her. I didn't want her to think of me differently, and I definitely did not want her to pity me. But I didn't want to shut her out. So I decided I would tell her as much as I could. I opened my mouth, but closed it again not knowing where to start. 'Do I start at sixteen, or twenty-one and work my way back?'

"You know you can tell me anything Dani, right?"

"He was mean." I blurted it out without thinking, but then it all came back and I was crying. Lily held me, and we just stood on the balcony, as the sun rose, with her arms around me as tears ran down my cheeks.

"Who was, Dani? Who was mean?" she asked after I calmed down some more.

I sat on one of the patio chairs and looked out at the sky.

"I was raised with my two sisters, one two years older, and the other a year younger. My parents and us were all very close. My mom taught yoga and pressed us to live stress free lives. It was her goal in life. My dad worked out of his office at home, but a couple days a week he had to go into the little businesses he did bookkeeping and accounting for. They drove to work, but that was all. We rode our bikes everywhere else." I gathered my thoughts, not wanting to continue down memory lane. "We were so close." I repeated.

"Then when I was sixteen, I couldn't help but go exploring. I would walk through the bush for hours, usually with my sisters. My parents didn't really want me going alone. But they agreed that if I went back every hour, I could go alone the odd time my sisters were busy." I started shaking again, but calmed down slightly as Lily rubbed my back and said soothing words.

"It's okay. Everything will be alright..."

"But it wasn't. It wasn't alright."

"What happened Dani?"

"I was kidnapped." I started crying again and Lily just hugged me. She had her arms wrapped so tightly around me I thought I would break, but it was comforting, strangely comforting.

Some time later I continued, knowing I wouldn't say anything again if I didn't say it all now.

"The man who kidnapped me... he was evil." I hated even thinking his name, and saying it tasted like acid on my tongue. Charlie...

"At first, he just locked me in his house with him, and I would sit in the corner crying. Every time I asked when I could leave he would get angry. One day in particular, he got angrier than usual. He said that I would never leave. That his house was mine too. I couldn't even comprehend it. I got so angry I yelled at him, not even stopping when he picked me up and threw me against the wall for being too loud. I just wanted to go home. I just wanted to see my family..." I let out some more cries and she hugged me tighter again.