The Girl

Chapter Twenty-Two

Hi everyone, I fly out tomorrow and have almost completely packed up my room except for electronics for obvious reasons. The next chapter however will probably be around late June-early July. I estimate around there, I gotta adjust my sleep schedule again as well as unpack and then get functional and go back to work.

Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

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Angela looked out the window as she thought about what had happened the past couple weeks. She had been at the manor for three weeks now and it seemed like time was going by so fast. Since Abelia had shown her the greenhouse, she had been there everyday taking care of the plants and also tea and snacks with Abelia. When Abelia brought her snacks that first time, Abelia had asked her if she was allergic to almonds to which she had replied that she wasn't. That made Abelia happy because a lot of snacks and desserts that Abelia loved had almonds in them and she wanted to share them with Angela.

After taking care of the plants, she would go read for a couple hours and then have lunch by herself and sometimes with Abelia. After that encounter with Desya, Luca and the others became really busy and she didn't want to bother them. Angela had also taken up drawing to pass the time, in the library there was a window seat and she would sit there and just sketch whatever came to mind. A lot of the time though, she sketched what she saw outside and found that she liked drawing landscapes. She usually stayed there in the window seat until it was time for dinner. Dinner was the one time that she saw Luca and the others. At first she had thought it weird because she had already heard of people overworking and skipping dinner, but Luca and the other never once did that. One night she asked Alessio before they left for work again and he had said that Luca had one rule that everyone in the manor must follow no matter who, and it was that everyone would show up for dinner because it was important to spend time with each other.

When she had heard about that, it surprised her. It was important to spend time with each other, at dinner? It was unfamiliar to her, that is not how it was in the Kavanaugh household. Her adoptive father always had his meals in his office, her adoptive mother would eat in her sun room and the brothers ate together in the dining room. She was never invited or accepted to dine with anyone, so she always ate by herself in her room. After hearing what Alessio said, she found that she came to enjoy dinner time and chatting with the others. Dinner time was no longer cold and lonely, it was warm and friendly and felt like she was truly part of a family.

Abelia took her shopping again, and the clothes that Angela got were to cover her arms and legs. If not long sleeves, there were cardigans and sweaters, tights, jeans, and leggings. She hadn't wore that champagne coloured dress again, it just hung in the back of her closet. She didn't want to see the scars if she could help it and she definitely didn't want other people to see them. It was enough that she had to see them when she took showers. Angela had cut herself once, but she hadn't done it again because she didn't want to add to the scars that covered her body. The relief she felt that one time was amazing, but she didn't like the cost of it. Drawing and taking care of plants helped to take her mind of her problems if for a little bit. She still had nightmares every night, but she hadn't waken up screaming again. Most times, she didn't wake up and slept til morning in the throes of the nightmare.

Angela's life now was peaceful and she wasn't in torment when she woke up in the mornings anymore. She hadn't asked Luca or any of the others anything regarding Desya because she just didn't want to deal with him anytime soon. She had been quite overwhelmed with everything at that point in time and she wanted to be able to resume a normal sort of life before even considering meeting or thinking about him again. What helped was that Desya kept to what Luca said, he hadn't tried to contact her again and gave her space. She still found it quite hard to believe that she wasn't who she thought she was. That she was someone entirely different before the car accident. That her father's name real name wasn't Douglas Thomason. Everything was regarding him and who she was, was still overwhelming but she tried to not overtake her.

She was taking her life one day at a time now, she was trying to take everything in stride. She had a daily routine now and it gave her comfort and she was just happy to be at the manor with everyone. She did periodically think that part of having a normal life again was to continuing classes at the university she went to. However, she didn't want to leave the manor. There was a fear that crept up inside of her when she thought about leaving the safety of the manor. As long as she stayed in the manor, she was safe and had nothing to worry about. Which made her think about online classes, but she wasn't interested in her major anymore. She was halfway through her bachelor's and was sure she could use the credits for another major.

Angela looked down at the sketchbook in her hands and saw the crude sketch of the back grounds with the greenhouse, hedges, and open grassy areas. She put down her pencil and closed the sketchbook and set it and the pencil on the small table that was against the wall next to the window seat. Upon the table were other sketchbooks that were empty waiting to be filled and books that she had read the few days before. She stood up and walked out of the library and to her bedroom.