Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 101662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
“Henry. He was the person from my youth that messed me up. He was my abuser.”
No.
There was no way.
That was impossible.
How?
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Henry Hughes… We met when I was only seventeen and he was in his late twenties. We fell in love. Well, I thought it was love, but I realized, through you, that it was love bombing. He presented himself as something he wasn’t, and I told him everything. I told him about my family trauma, and he seemed to use that to get me closer to him. When I turned eighteen…I got pregnant…”
A knot sat heavily in my gut as I kept shaking my head. “No, what? I…” I felt uncomfortable and unsafe as the words were falling off her tongue. What was she saying? Was she saying Ava was hers? There was no way.
Her eyes moved to the photograph of Ava on my desk, then back to me. Claire’s eyes were flooded with tears as she nodded. “He gaslit me. He told me I was nothing and I’d be an awful mother like my own. I was depressed when I had her. I was so lost and he made me feel like scum. I signed away my parental rights, and he had a restraining order placed against me. I haven’t been able to see Ava through all these years. All I could do was creep around his property to just get a glimpse of her, but—”
“No,” I stated sternly. “Stop, Claire.”
But she didn’t.
She continued. “Then you began to raise her. I was jealous of you. I wanted to be you. I hated you for a while because you were living my life. I hated that you were beautiful and smart and everything I wasn’t. When I found out you were a therapist, I thought therapy would be a good way to get in to know you. To see what you were about and to see how you were treating my daughter. I didn’t expect you to save my life, too, Kierra.”
“Claire, I need you to leave,” I stated sternly, standing. I felt terrified and nauseous from what she’d shared.
But I saw it, too.
I saw Ava’s eyes in hers.
I saw my daughter’s nose against Claire’s face.
I saw parts of Ava that I wished I could unsee.
She stood, too. “I hated him. I hated him for finding you and seemingly loving you right. I hated him for stealing from me and making me seem like I was the broken one, when he was really the messed-up one. I hated him for making me think I deserved to be hit because I was crazy. I hated him for hurting me and loving you. But now I see that it wasn’t me. It was him all this time. Because how could he hurt you? You’re good, Kierra. You’re such a good person,” she said with tears rolling down her cheeks.
She stepped toward me, and I stepped backward, on high alert. “Claire. I need you to go.”
Her eyes widened and she shook her head. “No. Don’t you see? You’re just like me! We’re the same. We’re victims. You need to understand. You understand, right, Kierra? I was going to tell you at some point, I swear. I wanted to figure out a way that maybe I could see Ava and—”
“Claire,” I snapped. “Leave now.”
A flash of hurt filled her eyes. “But…but you’re supposed to understand.”
“Joseph!” I shouted as Claire kept approaching me. I didn’t know what she was going to do, so all I could think to do was call for Joseph to come and have her removed. I shouted his name repeatedly until he entered my office.
He looked alarmed as he raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”
“Can you please remove Ms. Dune from my office?” I asked as calmly as possible.
Claire shook her head. “But I’m just like you! He messed us both up, Kierra! Don’t you see?” she sobbed. “I just wanted to see my daughter. I just wanted to see her through you. And then you guys moved, and I couldn’t stop by your place to get a glimpse of her, to see her…”
Oh my goodness.
She was the person on the property at our old place. The fanatic creeping on our property, going through our trash bins.
I felt sick.
“Okay, okay, it’s all good,” Joseph said, placing a hand against Claire’s shoulder. “I think that’s enough for today. Let me get you safely out of here.”
“No, you don’t understand,” Claire cried. “He’s the monster, not me! I’m not crazy.”
“I never said you were crazy,” Joseph swore.
Claire shook her head. “But you’re looking at me like I’m crazy. I’m not crazy. Tell him, Kierra. Tell him I’m not crazy and tell him how Henry is the one who is! Tell him how Henry is hurting you the same way he hurt me. Tell him!”