“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. Let’s talk about Shelby,” he offered. He knew Liz pretty well. He knew when he was about to get bitch slapped. “Tell me what you know.”
Liz told him everything that she knew, which wasn’t enough. She explained about the agent staying at her house, the therapy that they wanted her in, the fact that she didn’t want to be called Shelby, how she loved the man that she was raised to believe was her dad, and about what a sheltered life she had lived. They actually talked over three cups of coffee without raising their voices, not once.
Liz was beside herself. Emmanuel had to make a drugstore run for another inhaler. He was starting to worry about her. He had never seen her asthma act up this much. She usually had it under control.
Liz called her parents, breaking the news. They wanted to come, but she denied them their request. Before she started tossing family members her way, she needed some time with her first and get a feel for what she was up against. Having an agent stay with her, was frustrating enough already. How was she supposed to get to know her daughter with her there?
“Jesus, Liz, sit down, you’re wearing a path in the carpet,” Emmanuel warned.
“I can’t Manny, how can you be so calm? I am jumping out of my skin here,” she described, looking out the window for 100th time. She wasn’t sure why. Shelby wasn’t scheduled to arrive for another hour.
“It’s going to be fine, Liz. Everything will work out, I promise. Now sit down.”
“Um….Manny?” Liz said, looking out the window again. Shit. Who called the press? Everything wasn’t going to be okay. She didn’t want them there.
Manny got up to see the white van with WKTV printed on the side. It only took a minute for the crew to be out of the van and starting on the news story right away. They had nerve, Liz couldn’t believe their audacity. The female reporter walked right to the door and rang the doorbell.
“You need to leave!” Emmanuel demanded, opening the door. He didn’t want them there either. It brought back too many memories. The press drove them crazy 14 years ago when Shelby had been taken. Liz actually stopped living; she wouldn’t go out of their town house, she lost her job, and he had to hire someone to take care of Reese. She wouldn’t even do that. That’s when the fighting began. That’s when their little family had been torn apart all because some savaged demon took their baby girl.
“Mr. Rimmer, how emotional is this for your family?” the reporter asked the stupid, ridiculous question, ignoring his request as she held the microphone out for a reply.
“Just close the door, Manny,” Liz commanded. This was absurd, were they really going to have to deal with the media? How did they find out so quickly? They had just found out themselves.
“Seri, I’m going to be sick,” Aquilla warned ten minutes into their forty-five minute drive.
Seri pulled off the side of the road and Aquilla heaved her shrimp over the guardrail.
“Please, let’s get a hotel room tonight, I’m not ready for this,” Aquilla begged. She didn’t want to be in Nowhere, Connecticut. She wanted to be home, in her own bed, with Julius and her father. She couldn’t do it, she couldn’t.
“Come on, Quill, we’re doing this. I’m going to be right there with you,” Seri assured her, trying to coax her away from the grip she had on the guardrail.
Aquilla looked up, she could jump the guardrail and run. She could go somewhere, anywhere. Wait. Her money was in the car. FUCK. She didn’t want this family. She had a family. The Feds took them from her.
“Don’t even think about it, get in the car, Quill,” Seri warned, sensing her sudden plan to run.
Aquilla stared out the window as they drove. This was definitely a different planet. The road that they traveled was mostly country with fields, livestock, and trees. The houses and farms were spread out unlike the close proximity of the buildings she was used to, of course she did live on a small island. There was no room for remoteness between houses and buildings. Their house was one of the few elaborates with that luxury.
Seri tried to talk to her about different things that they passed. Aquilla wasn’t interested. She just wanted to curl up and die. With her heart beating a million miles a minute and the anxiety of the unknown, it was almost bad enough to send her into a full blown panic attack.
She swore that Seri lied. There was no way they had been driving for 45 minutes. It seemed more like five. What was she supposed to do? Were they going to cry? Would they hug her? Maybe they would decide that they didn’t want her and she could just stay with Seri until Julius found her.
“You okay?” Seri asked, as they turned down Sky-Ranch road.
“No, I don’t want to go here. You’re making me,” Aquilla replied not looking at her. She was staring at the neighborhood. The houses on this road were a lot closer, with yards, swing sets and porch swings. There were dirt roads branching off the county road. She wondered where they would take her.
“Fuck!” Seri yelled, coming to a complete stop. Who the fuck called the press?
Aquilla looked up to see the television crews, reporters, and cameras lining the house that she assumed would be hers. Seri took the next dirt road and called Liz.
“Hello,” Liz answered. Something was wrong. She wasn’t coming. Something happened. She just knew it.
“Liz, we’re here. Do you have a garage that I can get her in?”
Liz breathed a sigh of relief, calming the threatening asthma attack. “Yes, give me a minute to move my car out, it’s only big enough for one car. She can come in through the kitchen,” she explained.
Seri eased her way back toward the house. “You can put your head down if you want, Quill,” she offered.
Aquilla didn’t want to. She couldn’t believe all the people. Her new neighbors were all outside waiting to see the kidnapped girl. FUCK. She hated this.
The cameras were going crazy as Aquilla stared with deer in headlight eyes at the flashing lights. Her chest suddenly felt heavy as Seri pulled into the garage. A middle aged man quickly hit the garage door button, closing the door behind the black government vehicle. Aquilla wondered if he was her real father, assuming that he was, she looked to the women. She knew without a doubt that was her mother. She had the same long blonde hair and dainty features, just like Aquilla’s.
Seri squeezed Aquilla’s wrist with a reassuring embrace. It broke her heart when Aquilla looked over to her with the most frightened expression she had ever seen. Fuck, what the hell? She didn’t get emotional, she didn’t have those kinds of feelings. She didn’t get involved with sentiments. She wasn’t weird in that way. She had her reasons and damn good ones. What the hell was wrong with her?
Aquilla noticed the blonde woman…her mother…holding her chest with one hand as the other one covered her mouth.
“Seri?” she nervously spoke.
“Just get out of the car and get it over with, Quill. Once you get past the initial reuniting, it will be better,” Seri tried. What was she supposed to say? Monica should be the one there dealing with this shit, not her. She wasn’t a therapist.
Aquilla felt sick again. Her knees wobbled and she was suddenly hot and clammy. She was sure she was going to pass right the fuck out. She hated Julius at that moment, not believing that he was allowing this to happen to her. Where the fuck was Julius?
Liz tried, she tried so hard. She had told herself all morning that she wasn’t going to attack her. She was going to give her space and not suffocate her with her arms. It was hopeless, as soon as Aquilla was out of the car, she had her arms around her, crying and sobbing uncontrollably. She couldn’t even speak. Was she breathing? She didn’t hear any wheezing.