“Let’s talk first, Quill,” Monica suggested.
“Let’s not,” Aquilla replied, leaving the table.
Liz started after her with a broken heart. She couldn’t help her. She didn’t know how.
“Reese, go over and visit with your grandparents for a while,” Liz ordered.
“Why?” Reese asked, scraping the last bit of her oatmeal from the sides of her bowl.
“Because I said to,” Liz scolded with a scornful look.
“Come on, Lil,” Reese coaxed, sensing the thick air.
Monica and Seri exchanged a quick glance, waiting for the storm.
“I think you two should head home when we do this weekend, back to your own homes,” Liz coldly stated.
“I was actually telling Seri the same thing. I know this is hard, Liz, and I would love to give you the easy advice that you’re looking for,” Monica explained. “I can’t. I don’t have any more answers than you do. She has opened up to me and we have talked quite a bit. I just can’t get her to open up about being here.”
“She doesn’t want to be here, does she?” Liz asked, moving to her purse. She could feel her chest tighten at the same time she felt the tears burn her eyes.
“Liz, it’s only been a week. You can’t expect her to come home and turn into the daughter you lost 14 years ago,” Monica assured her.
Seri didn’t say a word. She wasn’t a shrink. She wasn’t touching any of this.
Liz inhaled her medicine and smiled at Quill as she walked out. Quill gave her a fake smile back, trying not to roll her eyes as she walked out the door.
“Why is it that she wants to be with Seri? She doesn’t know Seri any more than she knows me. I don’t understand,” Liz continued.
“For some reason, Quill has taken Seri on as her security. She feels safe with Seri. I’m not sure why that is either, but I am hoping that getting Seri out of the picture will help. I will come two or three times a week and keep working with her. Don’t expect too much too fast, Liz. You’re doing all that you can by giving her space and letting her take the steps.”
“How long?” she wanted to know.
Monica knew what she was asking. “I can’t answer that either, Liz. This is all new to me too. We don’t really get the experience for kidnapped girls taken from their families’ years ago. I wish I had a better answer for you. I don’t.”
Liz dropped her head and covered her eyes with her hand. Great, neither Seri nor Monica did well with emotions. They hated to be around crying people. What the hell were they supposed to say? Seri nudged Monica’s arm with hers, nodding toward Liz for her to console her. Monica shook her head and nodded her own head toward Liz, telling her to go to her.
Seri brought her hand up and dared rock paper scissors. They secretly played the childish game. Monica lost. She gave Seri a dirty look and scooted from the table, walking to Liz.
“Seri and I are going into town tonight and staying in a hotel. I will talk to Quill today and give her a little homework while we are gone. You’ve just got to hang in there, Liz, and remember that she’s not purposely trying to be mean to you. This is hard for her. Very hard,” Monica tried as she circled her back with small circles.
“I’m sorry. I just feel so helpless. She’s my child and I can’t help her,” Liz stated, taking the tissues from Seri.
Aquilla sat her laptop up on a picnic table. She watched the younger kids running around, playing on the swings and slide. She never had that growing up. She never got to play with a group of kids on a playground. She played with Julius. Julius played all the silly games that these kids were playing with her. She wouldn’t have wanted it any other way, she decided, logging onto the computer with the encrypted code.
Aquilla read for almost an hour. She laughed more than once as Julius reminisced about their upbringing. He talked about his dad beating his ass for tying her tooth to a string and slamming the door. It worked, and she got her first ten dollar bill that night.
He reminded her about their make believe wedding when she was seven, and the wedding cake that she insisted the cook prepare for their special day. Every stuffed animal she had attending their wedding.
They were all witnesses, Quill. So that makes it real. That makes you mine, always and forever. Mr. Frog said so.
Aquilla laughed and wiped the single tear that slid down her cheek. She missed him something fierce. She wanted him so bad and didn’t know if she would be able to stand it much longer.
I have tried to be a better person because of you, Quill. You always made me want to do better. That being said, there are a lot of things that I did that I am not proud of, including running drugs, training women, and most of all, not reporting your whereabouts.
“Hey, aren’t you that kidnapped girl from the news?”
Aquilla looked up to see three teenage boys standing in front of her.
“Yeah,” she replied and turned her attention back to the computer in front of her, trying to ignore them.
“You a freak or something?” the middle one spoke as the other two laughed.
Aquilla ignored him and tried to stay focused on Julius’s words.
“She a freak,” he laughed. “Can you talk? Was you locked in a cage all them years? I bet you a wild woman. You a crazy? You get lots of dick sucking experience?” the boy continued on and on while Aquilla’s blood began to boil.
“You ever have an English class?” she looked up, dogging his slang vocabulary.
“Ooh, she a feisty little bitch. You be a sex slave all them years, did ya?”
“Don’t hurt him; just make him eat a little dirt.”
Aquilla smiled when she heard Seri in her right ear. She got up and walked to the other side of the table.
“Dat right baby, come to daddy,” he called, grabbing his crotch.
“You should probably turn around and leave before you get hurt,” Aquilla warned.
“Yes, fucking hurt me, baby,” he called, jumping up and down as the other two boys laughed, egging him on.
Aquilla was fast. She was lightning fast. The illiterate boy found himself in some sort of pretzel knot, face down in the dirt. He couldn’t move and moaned in pain from her knee being shoved in his back.
Aquilla kept an eye on the other two while holding the kid twice her size to the ground. She came to her feet when she caught them coming after her.
“You want to go?” she asked, in a karate stance.
They exchanged a look, trying to decide whether it was in their best interest to walk away.
“Go after her!” the boy on the ground yelled at them.
She caught the first one right in his shoulder with her left foot. He instantly screamed out in pain and dropped to his knees. The other one raised his hands, not wanting any part of her. He cowardly backed off, pulling his friends to their feet. They scurried away quickly.
Aquilla smiled a victory smile, dusting her hands and turned back to Seri.
FUCK.
“Quill, what the hell is this?” Seri asked, staring in disbelief at the computer.
“Nothing,” she said, slamming the laptop closed.
“You switched laptops. That’s why Houston said there was nothing on Julius’s. You did, didn’t you, Quill?”
“Leave me alone. It’s none of your business.”
“It is my business. Do you know where he is?”
“Do you honestly think I would be standing here right now if I did?”
“Oh, my God, I can’t believe you. You really should work for the FBI, you’re good. You have to turn that over, Quill.”
“No way, you’re not touching this laptop. It’s private and it’s written to me.” Shit. This couldn’t be happening. She would never find him if Seri confiscated her laptop.