Lilah
"You never told me why Sam is unconscious." Finn's voice was strangled as he carried Sam to the couch.
"He passed out because of the blood." I gestured towards my now wrapped up hand. He seemed to understand.
When Sam was securely on the couch, I laid a cold, wet rag over his forehead.
"Speaking of blood." Finn commented. He moved towards the open door of the closet that held the cleaning supplies.
"You are not cleaning up my blood." I protested. I shifted so I was standing in front of him, trying to prevent him from moving any further.
"Come on. Just let me help." He lifted me by my arms, avoiding the injured part, as if I weighed nothing. He set me down behind him, and continued moving.
"Really? Just because I'm tiny does not mean you can use it to your advantage!" I dashed ahead of him, and arrived at the closet just seconds before him.
Before I could even reach for anything, I felt his hands grip my arms once again, as he put me behind him. He completely ignored my frustrated scowl.
"Yeah, yeah. Okay, shorty." He teased.
I growled under my breath, one more time, as he retrieved the dustpan and broom from the closet.
"Good idea. You take care of the glass and I'll take care of the blood." I declare. I crept around him to grab a rag, but his arm shot out before me. "Really?"
"Yes, really. Someone needs to be there when Sam wakes up."
"Why can't you?"
"He doesn't even know me!"
"I'm not letting you clean up my blood." I argued.
"It's fine. It doesn't bother me. Just stay in here with Sam. Oh, and watch that hand!" He collected the rest of the supplies, and then walked away. He was gone before I could object.
I rolled my eyes stomped my way to the couch.
Yes, the stomping was necessary.
My timing was perfect. Sam was starting to open his eyes and take in his surroundings.
"What happened?" He croaked, holding his head with one hand, and rubbing his eye with the other.
"You passed out." I told him, as he took the rag off of his face, and placed it on the coffee table.
"Oh." His eyes shifted to my wrapped up hand. "I'm so sorry. I wanted to help, I really di-"
"It's okay. I get it. It wasn't like you could help it." I interrupted.
"So you aren't mad at me?"
"No, of course not." He threw me a thankful look. He then tried to sit up.
When he wobbled a bit, I grabbed his arm to steady him. I gave him a light push. He understood and lied back down.
"I don't think your ready to stand up just yet. Just lie down for a bit longer." I picked up the rag off of the coffee table. "And keep this on your head."
"Seriously, I'm oka-" I glared at him and he stopped talking, taking the rag.
Finn came out of the bedroom a bit later, carrying a garbage bag. He tossed it into the kitchen garbage can and sat down at the counter, pulling out his phone.
"Who is that? What's he doing here?" Sam wondered.
"He-" I tried to respond, but I
got cut off.
"I'm here because I cleaned up the mess you couldn't bother to help with." Finn snapped, sending a glare in Sam's direction.
"Okay. That's not fair! I passed out, dude." Sam defended. Finn placed his phone on the counter, and turned his barstool so that it faced towards Sam.
"I meant before she cut herself, idiot."
"I did help!"
"That's not what I hea-"
"SHUT UP! Both of you." I yell. "No one is at fault here, okay?"
"And that's where you're wrong." Finn disagreed. "It's Micheal's fault."
"Finally, something we can agree on." Sam snorted from where he was laying on the couch. "Can I get up now?"
"I guess you can." He sat up and handed the rag to me.
"So, are you-" Sam was cut off by the sound of the front door opening.
"Wow. Ironic that you show up now, when everything is clean." Finn rolled his eyes at Micheal.
"What are you doing here?" Michael snapped as he placed his briefcase on the floor. He sent a single nod towards me and I start to stand up from my spot on the couch.
"Seriously? That's ridiculous. Take care of your own briefcase." Finn shot. "Aren't you going to your office anyways?"
"Well, I came home hoping for some lunch. Seems that I'm not getting any." Michael gestured towards the empty counter.
"Maybe because-"
"Finn, I think you should leave." I cut him off.
"But we're supposed to hangout today." He pouted.
"We never agreed to that. It's just a really bad time right now. You should head home."
"Seriously? What about your-" he cut off and glanced at Michael. "Never mind. Have fun with Sam." He stormed out of the house, using the front door this time.
"Lilah, I really don't want you to have anything to do with that boy anymore." Michael said before nodding at Sam and heading towards his office.
I rolled my eyes and turned towards the boy sitting in the couch.
"I'm really sorry. None of this is your fault." I told Sam.
"It's alright. I was gonna ask you if you wanted to go see a movie but I changed my mind. I don't think today's a good day." He stood up.
"Wait!" I stopped him from heading towards the door. "I would like that."
"Didn't you just tell your other friend that it wasn't a good time?" He gave me a questioning look.
"That situation was a little more... complicated."
"Oh, okay. What movie do you wanna see?"
"You choose." I suggested after shrugging.
"How about we go to the site and close our eyes. Wherever my finger lands, that's what we'll see." He offers.
"Good idea." I agreed. He pulled out his phone and got onto the website. Once he was there he closed his eyes and scrolled. He stopped scrolling and pointed.
"Of course. You had to choose a horror movie!" I said in disbelief.
"Do you want me to choose again?"
"You can't cheat the finger." I stated, getting up from my spot on the couch. "Lemme go ask my dad."
When I got to Micheal's office, he was typing something up in his computer. I waited for him to look up at me before speaking.
"Can I go to the movie theaters?" I asked, bracing for a no.
"With Sam?" I nodded. "Sure." He looked back at his screen.
I can't believe he actually said yes. There's something about Sam that he likes.
"Alrighty! Let's head out." I exclaimed when I got back into the living room.
"Cool." Sam grabbed his keys off the table and moved towards the door, I followed.
The ride to theater was silent. Not the comfortable silence, it was the awkward kind. It was like both of us were trying to come up with something to say but we just couldn't form the words.
Thankfully, the way to the theater was very short so we didn't have to suffer for long. When we entered the theater, Sam offered to buy me popcorn. I politely declined.
The movie was terrible. It had to have been the most awkward experience of my entire life. Even more awkward than the car ride!!
What's more embarrassing than crying in the movie theater because you were scared?Nothing!!
To top it all off, Sam was laughing at me. Not the quiet chuckle, full out laughing. We got a lot of dirty looks.
I'm so ready to go home. Sam had offered to treat me to dinner afterwards but I declined so he just took me home instead.
When I got home, I said goodnight to Sam and went up to my room. What I did not expect was Kayla standing in my bedroom.
"Kayla? What are you doing here?" She looked angry. That's never good.
"Who is Sam? Why do you keep ditching Finn? And please answer your texts!!"
"Sam is just a good friend." I told her, completely ignoring her second question.
"Lilah. Tell me what's going on in your life. You used to tell me everything."
"Fine. Sam is the only guy that my dad will willingly let me hangout with. I actually feel like I have a life now!"
"Lilah. You will have a much better life if you just turn Michael in, and go live with your real parents."
"It's not that easy." I sit down on my bed and she sits next to me.
"Lilah. It may not be easy but this is something you need to do. It will significantly change your life. In a good way."
"Micheal raised me. He was still my father for 7 years! I really don't want him in jail. Plus, he had his reasons."
"I cannot believe you just said that. There's no such thing as a good reason to kidnap someone! Do you even hear yourself?"
"You're right. Just give me a little more time."
"Is this not what you want? You don't want to be with a family who loves you?"
"Michael loves me." She raised an eyebrow at me. "In his... own special way."
"Lilah. You need to figure out your life."
"I know." I sighed.
"Come to the cafe tomorrow at 3:00pm. This time, don't bail on us." She said, getting up and walking towards the window.
"Okay." Was all I responded with.
~~~~~~~~~
"Hey dad, Sam invited me out to ice cream, can I go?" I lied and somehow, he believed me.
"Yes. Be home by 4:30." He instructed and I nodded. I grabbed my jacket and left.
When I got to the familiar cafe, the only person I saw was Finn, sitting at the retro counter.
"Where is everyone?" I asked as I sat next to him. He slid a hot chocolate towards me.
"Kayla is running late. I don't know where Cathrine is." He says flatly, barely making eye contact.
"Did I do something?" I hesitantly take a sip out of my hot chocolate.
"You tell me." He kept his eyes trained on his coffee. Always black, no flavoring.
"Sam is just a friend." When I said this I finally got eye contact. It was a glare.
"I don't care about that. I care about the fact that you don't even seem to care that I found your real family. You choose to stay with him."
"Why do you care so much? You met me like two weeks ago."
"You're right. Maybe I shouldn't care this much." He shot, and went back to drinking his coffee. He looked away which I took as the ending of this conversation.
"Okay. What did I miss? Why is he all pouty?" I heard the female voice I've known forever say behind me. She sat at the stool on the other side of me.
"I'm not pouty."
"Sure, you aren't." Kayla's eyes moved to me. "You came." A smile lit up her features.
I stayed silent as Catherine came out from the back. She was only then putting on her apron, and her eyes were dark as if she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep.
"Catherine? Are you alright?" Kayla asked.
Catherine just shook her head. Her eyes shifted towards me but moved away just as quickly.
I glanced at Finn and he was staring at Catherine. He opened his mouth as if he was gonna say something but thought better of it.
"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" I finally said, breaking the silence.
"I don't think you understand." Catherine's voice sounded as if she had been crying for days. "I know this is affecting you a lot, but it's also affecting me and your father. Think about it, we've been looking for you for seven years. When we finally find you, you don't even want to come home."
My heart broke at her statement. I'm really selfish. I kept my eyes down on my hot chocolate.
"It's not that I don't wanna come home. I just don't want Michael to be arrested." I explained.
"You're trying to help someone who kept you captive for seven years? Someone who lied about your whole life? Someone who treats you like a maid?" Finn questioned me, anger evident in his voice.
"Finn. There's no need for that. The answer is right there in front of us. We need to come up with a plan. A plan where everyone will be happy." Catherine decided.
A realization came to me.
"I think this might start with telling Micheal what I know."
Thank you for reading!! I'm sorry this update is so late, if you want an explanation for that, check my Instagram or my latest announcement.
~haylie♥