Stolen Hearts (2012 Wattys Finalist)

Chapter 19 - All She Wants

As Robert laid sobbing on his bed, he felt completely broken, with his life crumbling around him. How could this have happened? He didn't want Georgie to love him. He'd never wanted that. It didn't make any sense to him she'd want that for herself. And now he was trapped in this hellish place – with her loving him.

He desperately tried to stop crying. He needed to think of what he could do to fix this because now they were both in terrible danger. It was only a matter of time before the bastard found out, and then he'd probably make Robert watch whatever it was he was going to do to her. There was no way either one of them would survive.

He heard a knock on his door.

Fuck! He thought about refusing to answer, but he'd played that game already a long time ago. He wasn't about to go back to the beginning.

He willed himself to pull it together. "What is it, Georgie?" he managed to choke out.

"Robert, I want to talk to you. Please open your door." He was surprised by her composure. No tears yet. He wished he could say the same for himself.

There was no way he could talk to her without breaking down completely again. Alone, he was safe in his bedroom. If he let her in, where could he possibly go to escape?

"I don't know, Georgie. I can't talk right now." He prayed she would leave, prayed she would take it all back and tell him she was just joking.

Then she said loudly and firmly, "Robert, I have things I have to say to you! I promise you I only want to talk! Now please open this door!"

Fuck! She was serious. Robert felt despair wash over him as he wiped his face with the sleeves of his t-shirt. He got up and slowly went to the door keeping his eyes on the floor. He wouldn't look at her. That would keep him from losing it. When he opened the door, he saw her ugly shoes. He felt so sad seeing them.

She said gently, "Do you want to come in here and sit down?" and he saw her hand gesture behind her.

God no, not the sitting room. He shook his head. They both stood there for a moment, then he said, "Come in here," and turned to go sit on his bed, keeping his eyes on the floor.

She went to sit in the one chair in his room. It was the chair she'd been sleeping in when he woke up and saw her for the first time. Seeing her trying not to put pressure on him by sitting too close to him, got through to him and it suddenly seemed ridiculous for her to sit so far away.

He said quietly, "It's alright, Georgie. You can sit on the bed with me."

She sat on his bed as far from him as possible, and said gently, "Thank you, Robert. I'm so sorry. I never wanted it to be like this."

Like what, he wondered. Like she'd fallen in love with him? He kept his eyes on his hands in his lap.

He heard her say quietly, "I want to tell you something I've never told anyone," and he couldn't help pushing his hair out of his eyes and looking at her. She'd been crying after all. Judging by the expression on her face, he did not want to hear what was coming.

"When my family died, I had a really hard time dealing with it," she started. He was shocked she was talking about her past. He wasn't expecting that at all. She looked down at her hands and he could tell she was fighting not to cry.

"Even though I was so young, I felt like my life was over. I didn't think I wanted to live anymore. I felt like I didn't have any future. I – I did try to kill myself – a few times. I wasn't able to do much because I didn't know what I was doing. No one ever figured it out – then I got scared and stopped." He imagined an eleven year old Georgie suffering from grief so much she tried to kill herself. It was too tragic.