Three Tracker Alerts Led Me To Uncover My Whole Family’s Secret Betrayal Chapter 07

Three Tracker Alerts Led Me To Uncover My Whole Family’s Secret Betrayal Chapter 07

“Why did you leave them?”

I kept my eyes closed. The voice in my ear was soft as water.

Dr. Ellison said I had to answer every question with my truest feeling.

“Because being with them hurts me.

“Ard after you left–are you happy?”

“I don’t feel happy yet. But I don’t feel the pain anymore.”

She paused.

“And that voice in your head–has it come back?”

I shook my head.

“Almost never.‘

“That’s enough for today.”

She removed the weighted blanket from me and handed me two prescription bottles.

“Take these on schedule. You don’t need to come in as often now–once a month will do.”

Holly Marsh, who’d just walked in, lit up.

“Dr. Ellison, does that mean Mara’s getting better?”

The doctor nodded.

“Yes. Removing herself from the people and situations that trigger her has helped–along with consistent treatment. I’d even suggest she travel. Scenery helps.”

Holly nodded, took the bag, and draped my coat over my shoulders.

“Come on, Mara.”

I hummed in agreement, watching her. I remembered the night she ran into that burning yard.

I’d blacked out briefly after my head hit the stone. When I came to, half the yard was already on fire.

Survival instinct kicked in–I tried to stand. But my hands were bound to the chair. I couldn’t get up on my legs alone.

Halfway through the struggle, that voice came back.

(Just give up. You wanted to die anyway, right? This is perfect. Why fight it?]

I stopped moving. I stared up at the night sky.

The flames were licking at my clothes.

That’s when Holly burst in./

She didn’t care about her own burned arm–she dragged me out with everything she had.

“Mara, you’re too good a person to die like this.”

Holly was another one of my scholarship students. She came from the same district as Piper.

After high school, Piper moved to Pineville. Holly chose elsewhere.

“The program I wanted was better there. And if I went to Pineville, you’d feel obligated to look after me. I’m

eighteen. You already gave me three years. I can’t lean on you forever.”

Before that, we didn’t talk as much as I did with Piper. I thought she was just shy.

But that day, she earned my full respect.

We still didn’t talk often. But every year, she sent money back to my account.

By last year–three years after her graduation–she’d paid back every cent I’d ever given her, with extra.

She told me on the phone it was only right. She also told me she’d won a big lawsuit and would be back in Pineville in a few months. She wanted to take me out

The day she came back, she couldn’t reach me. She only had my parents‘ address, so she went there.

And she found the fire. She pulled me out.

That was when she learned what Piper had done.

She brought me back to Crestwood, found me a therapist.

That’s how I started getting better.

I turned and hugged her.

“Thank you, Holly.”

She went quiet, then her voice cracked.

“You saved me first, Mara. If it weren’t for you, my father would’ve married me off for a few thousand dollars. Everything I have–I owe to you.”

I stroked her hair.

She wiped her tears and smiled.

“Dr. Ellison said travel. Maybe you should go somewhere.”

I thought about it. It didn’t sound bad.

Two weeks later, I got on a plane.

Around the same time, Holly boarded a flight to Pineville.