Living Like Sleeping Beauty

Chapter Forty Four - The Recovery Period

My amorous thoughts were interrupted by my mother, her voice was sharp to catch my attention.

"Morgan? Are you even listening to me?"

I snapped my attention to her, shaking my head with an apologetic smile.

"No, sorry. What were you saying?"

"You're father and I have been discussing what's going to happen next."

I nodded my head, signalling for her to continue.

"Well. We can't stay in your grandmother's house forever. It's been too long already. That's why we've decided that it's time to go home. All of us. To Colorado."

I was momentarily speechless, my mind suddenly too stunned to form together sentences to convey the level of horror within me. Scott. Tessa. Piper. Ryan. Gran. I would be leaving them all behind. To return to the empty nothingness of my previous life in Colorado. Living with my parents would be a return to normalcy that I did not want.

"No." The word felt as if it had been ripped from my throat. Tears formed in my eyes as I blinked away the image of saying goodbye to Scott.

"No. I'm not leaving." I repeated, feeling the quiver in my voice.

They were the ones who had brought me here. They were the ones who left, full of assurances that everything would be fine. That I would make friends. I would feel at home here. Well. Yes. I had made friends and I did feel at home here. Now I was to be taken away and placed in another home, to be assured that it would all be fine. That Colorado was home. A home without the people I loved from here.

My mother stopped rummaging in the cupboards and leaned against the counter beside me, her eyes wide and empathetic.

"I know that you've made friends here sweetheart. I know. It doesn't seem fair. But we aren't returning to the cruise. Not after what happened. But we can't stay here either. The only logical solution is to go home. You came here for the experience, just like your Gran wanted and you got hurt. You have no idea how scary that was for us. To want to protect you but not being there to do so. We both think it would be best for us all to go home, where it's safe."

She reached out to take my hand.

It hurt to do so but I snatched my hand away.

"What about school?" I asked, hoping to try a different route of reason.

"You can return to being home schooled. I'm sure we can pick up where you left off in school." Her answers were too well thought out and my mind turned from disbelief that this might actually happen to horror that it most definitely was going to.

"This isn't fair. Not on me or on Chase. He has a life here too. A girlfriend. Friends. You can't just drag him back because it's not safe for me."

"Chase will understand."

I left the stool, swiping away a stray tear.

"No. He won't."

Without another word, I left the room. The only sound from the kitchen was the echo of the door I had slammed.

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Dinner was a silent affair.

Gran attempted conversation, her manners too polite to allow the awkward tension to reign. I wondered if she knew, if what I thought was a bravado was simply her lack of energy to care that we could be leaving.

Scott was seated beside me and I saw the glances he shot at me. I knew he was worried. I hadn't had the time to tell him. Nor the guts to. He was confused at my silence and the fact that I would not even look in the direction of my parents.