Battle To Be Free (z.m) ✔️

Chapter 29

Alanna’s POV

The darkness had long descended; the stars making a stark contrast against their background.  I counted the glimmers of the night and everything was peaceful as all forms of life was resting.  I wanted to stay like that forever, simply swaying in an old battered swing in the back yard, however I knew I had things to do.

Finn had pestered me non-stop when we arrived here. Asking questions I didn’t really know the answers to. I could guess the answers to them, but I didn’t know if what I was saying was truthful. I had long ago come to the definite conclusion that Dean was in fact Daniel as when I thought hard about Dean’s appearance I couldn’t work out how I hadn’t noticed it earlier.

They looked identical and if I didn’t know what his personality was like I would have probably marvelled at what a handsome young man my brother had become, but he was only handsome on the outside and his appearance shielded well what laid beneath the surface.

The thoughts made my eyes glossy. If I would have said something to somebody when I got out of foster care about the abuse would any of this even be happening? They would have likely put the man in jail and he wouldn’t be free to forever taint our lives with his presence.

I had hoped that they would have led happy lives by now and knowing that wasn’t the case was eating away my insides. They deserved to be happy but they weren’t. Daniel was practically psycho and I didn’t know anything about any of the others.

The others.

From what I could gather Seth, Demetri, Daniel and Aria were alive. That meant that Lucas, Taylor, Eli and Mel were dead. Gone, just like that. I didn’t know why I felt like I was grieving, as I didn’t know the people they’d become, but I guess I was grieving for the people they once were as kids.

Daniel was just plain crazy, I was under no misunderstanding about that, but when faced with the task of killing him I don’t think I would be able to. Ben, the guy who had tried to rape me, had a cross on his back too and the thought nearly made me sick. He was either Lucas or Taylor, granted I hadn’t been that close to them in particular, but it still hurt to know that any of us could think about causing harm to each other, especially after all that we went through.

I hadn’t killed Ben, but I was pretty sure I knew who had, as it wouldn’t be the first time he’d killed one of his so called siblings. He was found a day after he’d tried to rape me. He only failed because Daniel had come storming into the room, seemingly without a reason.

It was no coincidence that he was found dead a day later.

I shook the swing harder; treating it as if it was a boxing bag that could get rid of all my pent up guilt, anger and frustration. I hated myself and the self- loathing was killing me however it was well justified as I could’ve stopped this years ago but I hadn’t.

All those deaths will be on me forever. I had a valid reason for leaving and never looking back, never wanting to remember what occurred there, but I should have thought about others before being so disgustingly selfish.

I felt someone sit beside me on the basket swing and I let out a sigh of relief as he wrapped his arms around me.

“What happened here?” Finn asked his voice strained. I hated that I put that strain on him, he’d been through so much already.

“A lot.” I answered simply.

My foster home was the only place I could think to go after it had happened. Daniel would never venture back here as I suspected it held to many truths for him and I know the others probably felt the same. I wasn’t planning on staying there for long, just until we could find another safe place where we didn’t live in constant fear of someone finding us.