Stolen Secrets

Stolen Secrets- Chapter 6

~Jeff~

Natalie cried for almost a half hour straight. They were quiet sobs that shook her whole body, but it was really scary. Natalie had talked to me more in the last hour, about something not school related than she ever had. And everything she told me had been sad.

I was right there was more to the story that made up Natalie Taress than what meets the eye.

I didn’t realize she was done crying until her hand slid under mine and removed it from her cheek.

I had wanted to comfort of while she was crying but I didn’t know how. I didn’t want to touch her too much, because I didn’t want her thinking I was just like her ex-boyfriend. But I still wanted to show her I was there for her. That’s why I had settled for just stroking her cheek, she had allowed me to do it, so I didn’t push my luck.

But instead of just letting my hand drop, she guided it from her cheek to her knee, where she intertwined her fingers with mine. She smiled slightly down at our hands, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to see it.

“I owe you an explanation,” she said quietly.

“No you don’t. You don’t owe me anything,” I tried to assure her. But she just shook her head.

“Taress isn’t my real last name,” Natalie said softly. It was like she was scared to speak to loud in case someone other than me heard it. Even though we were the only two here.

“How is it not?” I asked quietly as well. I didn’t want to scare her by speaking loudly.

“My last name is Gorgoitz or something. But legally, my name as Taress, has been since I was five and they signed the papers.”

“Which papers?” I asked. I didn’t want to seem stupid. But there were a lot of papers one could sign.

“The ones at the orphanage.” She spoke the word ‘orphanage’ like it was a curse. “Dad says Mom fell in love with me because when they came to visit, I wouldn’t stop talking about the castle I would one day live in.” Natalie shook her head. “I had a big imagination. All the other kids were scared and wouldn’t talk to them.

“So Mom brought me home. Since that day, she always had time for me. She didn’t ignore me like other people did. I was first in her priority book.

“I don’t know why she cared about me so much. It might be because she wasn’t able to have kids. But everywhere we went, people adored her. I was just the quiet little girl next to her. Her and Dad were the only people who loved me, the only people that noticed me.”

“I thought you said you were a talkative kid,” I asked. I hated interrupting her, I was scared she would continue. But I wanted to know what had happened.

“I had been, at the orphanage. I had been there since I was two. So my imagination was my only way of escape. When Mom and Dad adopted me, I didn’t need my own world to live in. Just having people love me was more than enough for me.”

I squeezed her hand. Fresh tears started to run down her cheeks and I hated that this was so hard for her to talk about. But I could tell that she needed to tell someone, she needed to get it off her chest.

“With work, Dad was always busy. I knew he loved me, but he wasn’t constantly home like Mom was. Sometimes it seemed like Dad only put up with me because Mom loved me so much. I know it isn’t true, but it seemed like that at times.”

Natalie paused and looked up into my face.

“Your parents love you a lot, I can tell. With me, I’ve always had to question it.” I squeezed her hand again.