Did You Hear About Brianna?

Chapter 4

"So are you all set and ready to go home?" Annabelle asked me.

Where was Max?

I plastered on a fake smile, pretending to be happy and at peace. 

Where was Max?

"Yeah. Have been for seven years." I said.

Where was Max? 

The thought was circling in my head.

"I'm sorry you can't go back to your old room. It seems kind of stupid now that Mom changed it into a study." Said Annabelle, frowning in disappointment.

I couldn't be in that house. The old room would have been difficult to reconcile with who I am now. My room was for a teenager not the adult I now was. 

Annabelle wheeled me out of the hospital. A part of me was surprised at how quickly I was discharged. Wasn't I supposed to write a test or be submitted through some security checkpoint before I was allowed to re-enter society? Nope. Just a signature and an info pack with all my doctor's information and next appointments.

Despite the injuries I had, my healing was at the point where I was on the mend. My psychiatrist insisted that I needed to be back home to recover. Prolonged stays in the hospital would only trigger memories of captivity and compound the feelings of being a prisoner. Inwardly I was grateful. I would have run out of that place if I didn't feel that they would bring me back and lock me up in the asylum ward. I didn't feel mentally stable enough to leave. 

I deciede to tie my mental unease with my failure to see Max. 

We got to the car. It was a physically representation of a mom van, down to the dent in the bumper. It looked like a bomb went off. A bomb that left a wake of smashed up crayons, chips, mud and dismantled toys.

"I'm sorry about the mess. I wish I could have a reason to explain it but I don't. All I can say is that I have three kids who have the ability to destroy anything." Said Annabelle noticing my surprise face at the interior of her car. 

"Wow, you really do have kids." I said, amazed.

"Yep. I do clean it, I swear. Two days later it looks like this again. I honestly don't know how they do it." She said trying to understand it herself.

I was nervous to see them. Would they like me?

It took us forty minutes to get to Anna's drive. The journey was strange. It was the first car ride I was in where I was alert. The road rushed by and the trees blurred green. I thought I  would like it but the motion made me car sick. I closed my eyes trying to still the nausea. 

 Pulling up into the driveway I was stunned.

"Annabelle! It's beautiful!" I said, utterly awestruck. The warm stones that outlined the brickwork took my breath away. Large windows looked out, showing the warm life within the home. It was just that. A home, a retreat, a place of refuge and peace.

"Thank you." Said Annabelle, beaming in pride.

"When did you buy it?" I asked her.

"Built it. Took us four years to plan and save, but we finally did. Bogart was in charge from the beginning to the end. Was never more proud to have him as my husband. Even the treehouse in the backyard looks like something out of a dream." She said smiling, a look of love and affection crossing her face for her husband.

"Dad would have loved him very much." I said to her.

"I know. I think I would have had a harder time dealing with his death if I didn't know that Bogart would be there. I know I am strong and independent. I can live without Bogart. I just don't want to. Bogart lets me be strong but he doesn't force me to be. At the end of the day, I lay my head on his shoulders. I depend on him." She said.