“Were you spying on me?!” I can’t believe she’d do that! That’s an invasion of privacy!
“I’m your mother. It’s not spying if you’re my child—especially if said child has a lot at stake. You’ve been screwing up. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that your car isn’t here. Where is it? And did you even sleep here Thursday night?”
I stare at her, my face blank. I slept at Charlotte’s, but my mom wasn’t even home. I didn’t think she’d notice.
I’m spared having to answer when she continues. “Look, I’ve met someone, and I don’t want to have to move again. You know that Tony’s looking for you, and here you are going around doing whatever you want, with whoever you want, whenever you want!”
My face heats. “Well, that’s hypocritical! You can have a boyfriend but I can’t?”
“No, you most definitely cannot. What do you even know about this boy? He’s not the one you can trust with your life, Amelia. I am. You shouldn’t be getting close to people.”
“But you—”
“Who’s the adult here? I can do whatever I want because I know how to prioritize our needs.”
My world is shattering. “Well, maybe you should move in with your new boyfriend and forget about me altogether! Out of sight, out of mind right?”
She takes a calming breath, her face sobering. “I’ve called Agent Dylan.”
The agent assigned to my case. The one who handles our questions and IDs and moves.
“Okay? And?”
“I’ve told him that I want to be relocated.”
I freeze. Everything freezes. My heart stops beating and all the blood drains from my face.
“But—but you can’t just do that!” They can’t relocate us! Not now! “You just said you had a boyfriend! You’re willing to just leave him?”
“Keeping us safe is more important. Plus, I can just take jobs on flights to the Northeast to see him.”
She’s cold and detached from this whole conversion, like she’s not just dropping a bomb on my life.
“Mom, I’ll be more careful. We don’t need to leave,” I plead in a last-ditch effort.
“Agent Dylan thinks it’s for the best too. We need to keep you safe from Tony.”
“Then they should just catch Tony instead of moving us around all the time!” I snap.
She sighs. “You know it’s not that simple. We need to move before people get hurt, or worse. It’s only a matter of time before he shows up. We can stay ahead of him this time. They said it’ll take a couple of weeks, maybe after New Year’s—”
I can’t deal with this anymore. Her, this conversation, the finality in her tone. Not giving her a chance to say anything else, I turn on my heel and stomp up the stairs.
Great. Leave it to my mom to ruin my happy Aiden high. I slam my bedroom door as if that will make me feel better, but her words are eating at me. Is she right? Am I slipping up in my responsibilities? Will I hurt my friends if we don’t leave?
I have a major crush on Aiden, no use in denying it. He’s starting to mean so much to me, more than anyone ever has, making things so complicated. Even last night, I was thinking about the L word. I’ve never thought about that word in relation to any boy before. Of course I know I don’t L word Aiden, but it’s scary to think how easily and quickly I could. Aiden deserves better than me.
Opening my closet door, I pull out the shoebox again and look through all the stories and articles, from my dad’s accident to Sabrina’s death. I read through all the articles about my kidnapping and about “Isabella” and “Hailey.” I look at all the death threats and evidence showing that Tony has always found a way to find me and torment me before trying to kill me. I look at my past fake IDs—all from different states—and the real one, and think about how I’ve had to keep moving and separating myself from the people I’ve met in each place. I secretly photocopied my ID
before we left the first time, and have done so every move since because it’s hard letting go of a piece of me every time Tony comes after us.
That’s why I keep this shoebox—as a reminder. To remind me that Tony will never give up hunting me down. That I can’t slip up or get too close to other people because I’ll eventually have to leave them.
My friends, everyone, even Aiden. They’ve all found a way to sneak up on me and find a permanent place in my heart. I’ve never had friends who mean as much to me as they do, not even from before the accident. They’ve been there for me; they’ve supported me and defended me. They make me laugh and smile and just generally make me a happier person. They shouldn’t be so open and honest with someone who’s done nothing but lie and be deceitful to them. I wipe away some tears that managed to escape.
My heart breaks all over again. Is my mom right? Is staying selfish? Should I do the responsible thing and get out before Tony finds me? Before my friends inevitably get hurt? I can leave before I get even more attached than I already am. The truth is as plain as the words on those newspaper clippings: I can’t stay here. But I can’t leave either.
But what I want doesn’t matter; it’s already been done. I’m leaving, probably after the New Year if that’s what my mom was saying before I stormed out. That gives me a month or less with my friends.