I Love You Most

Prologue

"Mom?" Olivia looked up at her mother, clutching her hand tightly as they walked into a convenience store. Going outside was a privilege at this point. Her mom rarely ever let her outside, let alone a store. But there was no one to stay home with little Olivia, and her mother couldn't risk her getting hurt or worse, taken away. "Yes, my flower?"

"There's a little girl over there. I'm going to talk to her. Maybe she could be my friend? She looks nice." she said as she began trying to walk away from her mom. Olivia was around 7 years old. She'd been homeschooled since preschool started a while ago, she didn't know any different. But she did know that she was lonely, and would love some friends. "No," her mom said, yanking Olivia back to her side. "You know how I feel about that, why would you even ask me that?" she scoffed, pulling Olivia down one of the aisles and grabbing what they needed. Her mom quickly rang it up at the counter and dragged Olivia out of the store.

Later at home, Olivia was crying very loudly. Days like these made her mom mad, and she knew that, but she was 7. She couldn't help it if she just needed to cry. "Olivia, I swear to god if you don't shut UP!" her mom yelled at her, causing her to cry even more. "You don't need friends! Who would even want to be your friend, you don't need them!"

Olivia stopped and looked up at her mom as they both calmed down. Her mother kneeled down to her eyeline and looked at her seriously. "You have to trust me," she whispered soothingly. "Friends will do nothing but stab you in the back. The people out there? They're terrible people who only want to hurt you, I've been out there. I know what's out there." Her mom ran her hands through Olivia's long reddish brown hair, smiling a bit. "You trust me, don't you, my flower?..." Olivia sniffled and wiped her eyes, nodding. "I know mama." she said softly. "I'm sorry. I won't ask again. I promise."