“Still love storms, I see.” I don’t look at Bennett. It would give entirely too much away right now when my guard is down.
“Yeah, you could say that.” Bennett doesn’t know that when it’s like this, that’s when I allow myself to feel everything that’s ever happened in my life. It’s my time to sit in a corner, rock myself, and cry if that’s what I need at that particular moment in my life.
“Come on, Shila. We stay out here much longer, we’ll be soaked.” Bennett’s arm wraps around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him. I breathe him in.
“Okay.” I allow him to lead me to the side of the garage where the stairs are located. Thankfully, the garage is detached, so the Mabrys don’t have to be interrupted with my coming or going. I assumed he’d move away from me once the stairs were in front of us, but that’s not how it goes. Bennett stays beside me every step of the way, as if I’ll vanish into thin air, and when I take my keys out of my pocket to open the door, he takes care of that, too. A lot has changed between the two of us. Bennett always took care of me back then, protecting me from everyone. That’s why it was my turn to shield him. Now, though, things are different, and it’s clear that he’s back to being the protector of those he cares about.
5
SHADOW
“Start at the beginnin’. I wanna know what happened after I left, butterfly.” We barely make it inside her door. I her keys into the small dish she keeps on the table by her front door.
“I’m not even sure where to begin. It was bad, Bennett, really bad. I should have left. There was nothing left for me once you were gone. Mom and Dad never forgave me, not that it was something that needed forgiving. We were kids, totally in love, both of us having dreams of leaving town, picking a college that would be close to the trade school you chose. You know, normal high school stuff. Then, when I came home that day, the Sheriff was there asking for a statement, since, you know, you turned eighteen the day before and I was still sixteen. The words statutory rape were tossed around so many times, but I knew it was consensual. If they only knew what a harlot their daughter was and how I begged you to take my virginity. So I did the only thing I could think to do. I refused.” Shila takes a deep breath. I look around her sparse studio-style apartment. There’s nothing anywhere. Furniture and bare bones, that’s what it is. Not the whimsical shit she once had, no dream catchers, macrame art that she loves. Fuck, there’s nothing of personality, and from what I’ve dug up, Shila’s been living here for years.
“You just so happened to pull up at that exact same time, only amplifying things. They took my phone, or I would have let you know. There was even mention of them sending me to an all-girls boarding school. At that point, I didn’t care if they put me in a psych ward. There was no way I would ever do that to you or to us. I thought once the dust was settled, I’d find you, and we’d be together forever. That didn’t happen, though. I looked for you in every grocery store, at every red light, and after two years of not seeing you around our town, I truly realized you left town. A piece of me was so thankful that you got away, a clean fresh start. My home life continued to dwindle, so the second I received my diploma, I took off. Not owning a car was an issue, but I saved as much as I could and took the first Greyhound bus I out of town, left my cell phone on the kitchen counter with a note. I ended up here in Louisiana, working and saving as much money as necessary to live debt free and to pay for my massage therapy classes in cash. It’s why I’m twenty-five and still essentially in college.” Fuck. Her parents and the Sheriff ran me out of town, and my foster parents gave me the boot on my eighteenth birthday, not that I was there most of the time. If I wasn’t at school or working, I was with Shila. The look on her face, the pure agony when she saw the Sheriff talk to me, told me all I needed to know. That son of a bitch was meaner than hell. It was rumored around town that he beat the snot out of his wife, and she still stayed with him.
“Butterfly, I don’t blame you. I wasn’t pissed at you. The situation? Fuck, yes. But you were sixteen. It wasn’t like we could get married.” I walk towards her. Shila is wringing her fingers and sucking in her bottom lip with her teeth, looking like she’s back in her parents’ place with the weight of the world on her shoulders.