Break The Cycle (Chris Motionless' Daughter)

Chapter 13

Riley's POV

"There she is." Dad says, pointing to a woman sitting on a bench.

"Are you not coming?" I ask.

"Do you need me to?"

"No."

"Then no, not if you don't need me. I don't want anything to do with her."

I pause, "Okay." I state.

"I'll be right here for you if you do need me though."

I nod, "Okay."

I get out of the car and shut the door behind me. I make sure my phone is in my pocket, and then walk over toward the bench where the woman is sitting. Her back is to me, and all I can see is her long, black hair. There are kids playing on the playground (we're at a park), people throwing balls and Frisbees, families having picnics, etc. I sort of envy them. I never got to have that kind of childhood.

I approach the woman, "Excuse me?" I ask her, "Are you Carlie?"

She turns around to face me, her blue eyes piercing into mine, "Yes?" She asks, "Riley?"

She stands. Dad was right. This woman's hair was dyed black, but let it go back to it's natural blonde, we'd look a lot alike.

"Yes." I state.

She exhales and hugs me. I stiffen.

"I'm so glad you're okay." She says before breaking the embrace, "You know I had nothing to do your abduction, right?"

I nod, "I know."

We sit down on the bench.

"And you know that this is just a one time thing, right? I just want my closure with you." I say.

She nods and looks down at her hands, "I know." She says, softly.

There's a pause.

"If you didn't do it," I start, "If you didn't have anything to do with what happened to me...then why did you go to prison for it?"

"All of the evidence made it seem like I did it."

"Didn't you tell the authorities it wasn't you?"

She sighs, "Riley...sometimes, when a lie is told enough times, it becomes the truth. They made it seem like I was mental; that maybe I didn't remember doing anything to you because I was, in short, crazy. Eventually, I myself began to believe it, and I confessed. Though, there was always a part of me that knew I was innocent."

I'm not sure how to respond.

"Oh! I um...I got you something." She says, pulling something out of her purse, "Your dad gave this to me when we were about seventeen, and I just sort of had it lying around."

She pulls out a locket in the shape of a heart and gives it to me, "I never put anything in it. You can put pictures inside."

I nod, taking it, "Thank you." I say.

She nods, then sighs, "God, you're such a beautiful girl, Riley...Don't make the same mistakes I made."

"I don't plan on it." I say bitterly; more so than I'd intended.

"I'm sorry, Riley, I really am. I'm sorry for everything."

"I should hope so. So far, Sabrina has acted more like a mother to me than you have and I barely even know her!"

"Sabrina?" She asks.

There's a pause.

"He's dating again...Good for him." She says quietly.