Broken

chapter fourteen

I'm allowed home after a couple of weeks. Almost every time I turn the tv on, there my story was. And there were their faces. While I was in the hospital, I looked through a newspaper that a nurse brought to me, and saw the story on the front page: Seventeen-year-old girl reunites with her loved ones after six months of being presumed dead. Those words hit me hard. I knew that journalists distorted facts to bait the readers but a small part of me wondered whether it was true.

I broached the subject once when my mom and Ezra were here together not long ago. My mom told me not to read the newspapers and ordered the nurses not to bring them to me anymore, while Ezra assured me he never stopped searching. But that didn't mean he wouldn't ever have.

My therapist checks in with me at least three times a week; a tedious routine which I'm not completely used to just yet.

Ezra filed a complaint against the Rosewood Police Department for their lack of interest and involvement in my case. He also wanted to sue them, but I convinced him not to. I told him that I didn't need anything else to worry over. Despite Ezra's formal complaint, the officers still made regular visits to me when I was in the hospital, giving me updates on the case. Admittedly, they seemed more concerned about my recovery than they did about my disappearance; I had twenty-four-hour police protection with an officer stood outside my door day and night. Sometimes it was Toby, which meant that I met him much sooner than I'd planned to. He's nice, and I can see why Spencer likes him so much.

Part of the ongoing investigation was to search the bunker; the surrounding woodland in a twenty-mile radius was cordoned off from the general public. Ezra accompanied them there, regardless of my protests. Even the thought of that place makes my stomach lurch. He told me they'd found a room that had survived the fire, full of expensive surveillance equipment, files, photos, notebooks. There was endless information on me, on Ezra, my family, my friends, and it was disturbing to think about.

From the physical evidence found in that room, they finally decided to issue a warrant for Nicole's and Alison's arrests. Although it pains me to think about, I began to realise that the only reason any of this happened was because of my relationship with Ezra and because of the people I decided to be friends with. Simplifying it to those reasons didn't make it feel any better, only worse.

When my mind wasn't brimming with thoughts of the last six months, it was worried over the questions Holbrook had for me and Ezra about our relationship. We told him the truth: we only started dating after he left his teaching position at Rosewood High. He was hard to persuade, because of the reasons why Ezra was forced to resign, but Ezra reminded him that Alison's allegations weren't exactly credible considering what she'd helped Nicole do to me. Holbrook didn't argue.

Driving back through Rosewood, I felt surprised to say I'd missed it. Our house hasn't changed at all, aside from the garden; my mom seems to have taken up gardening as a hobby. Vibrant flowers were bunched all around us as we walk up the path to the front door.

I pause for a while in the entrance, inhaling the smell of home. The air feels different, like there's something missing, but I don't know what. We leave the bags at the bottom of the stairs, intending to take them up later.

I walk around the house, wander through to the kitchen and look out of the window at the back garden. I turn around and see Ezra walk into the dining room, I find myself smiling as he comes over to me. I reach up and kiss him, melting into his arms wrapped around me.

My mom still doesn't agree with me and Ezra, proven by her side glances and mutters of disapproval. However, she doesn't overtly make our relationship difficult.