Chapter 13

The next morning, Nathan gave me his phone to call Carolyne.

"Hello, Nathan." Carolyne's voice came through the phone.

"…. Nathan, you there?"

With a soft voice, I answered. "Hi, Carolyne it's me, …. Mia."

"Mia? O MY WORD MIA!!" I could hear her start crying.

"I…I…I thought you were dead! Where are you? I want to come to you right now?"

"I'm in Myrtle Beach."

"Really!!! Give me your address, I will come to you now."

Once I gave her my address, she immediately dropped the call.

Walking to the porch, I took a seat on the swing chair waiting for Carolyne, having mixed emotions. I am happy to see her again but, I'm feeling guilty for not reaching out to her. I wanted to leave my old life behind so much that I also left behind the people who once were there for me, giving me love and support.

Looking up to the clear blue sky, white clouds moving at a slow pace making all different kinds of shapes.

"Can I join you?"

"Yes…" I scooted over making space for Nathan.

He looked up "What are we looking at?"

I looked at him. "Nothing, just in deep thought."

"Are you okay, Amore?"

"I… I don't know what to feel. I don't even know why I waited so long… I am the one who should have called her back then. I feel so…. so…. guilty, and after that, I was so focused on my studies, and I didn't want to disappoint Joe." I ruffled my hair with my hands, closing my eyes with my hand still in my hair. "I really care about Carolyne. I just didn't …. I just didn't … AHH forget it."

"You didn't want her to get involved in your past, because she was there and you, here. You didn't want to cause her trouble. You were scared she would do something that could get her hurt." I looked at him shocked.

"YYes exactly, hhow did you know? I mean… do you know something about my past?"

He looked away into the distance. "Mi… Amore everyone has a past."

Everything went silent between us. "After we met your father, Carolyne thought he killed you. She went hysterical. Nick and I were so confused as, to why your father would kill his own daughter. She started telling us a bit about your past. She didn't want to at first, but after much convincing, she told us your dad used to hurt you badly and you two don't have any relationship even though you're his blood. We wanted to report it to the police, but Carolyne stopped us. Told us your dad is friends with the chief of police and nothing will come out of it, it will only cause problems for us." I nodded my head.

A car pulled into the driveway. Carolyne quickly got out, I stood up and walked towards her.

"MIA." She called out, running up to me, almost knocking me over, engaging me in a big hug. She started crying. "Do…. do… you know wwwwhaattt you put me thought" She said through her crying.

"I know Carolyne, shhh." I patted her on the head. "First calm down then we can talk."

I walked her over to the swing chair. Looking around, Nathan already left.

We sat down. Carolyne wiped away her tears. Her eyes are puffy from all the crying. "Hey, stop crying now, I'm alive, look I'm not dead."

She looked at me and started crying again. "I…I…I know, that's w…why I'm crying."

"Aija Carolyne, come here." Wrapping her into a hug."

When she calmed down, I slowly released her. Her expression turned from sad to angry.

"MIA!! Four years have passed, four years!! You haven't phoned me once." She stood up and started passing up and down. "I THOUGHT YOU DIED MIA!! DIED!! You're like a sister to me. I thought I lost you. I cried for days!! I'm so happy to see you but I'm so mad at you I can just strangle you, UGH!!" She said through gritted teeth.

Tilting my head, looking sadly at her. "I'm sorry Carolyne. I never intended to hurt you. That was not my intention, that night I lost my phone, so I could not call you. It was the worst night of my life. After everything, I thought… maybe it will be for the best… to not call you… to leave you in my past. I did not want you to get involved in my mess, Carolyne." I looked down. "I was so scared, Carolyne… what if, what if, he thought you knew where I was and did something to you, to get to me… it's better to know you are safe than to know you are in danger." I looked at her with tears running down my face. "I'd rather let you hate me than see something happen to you."

She punched me on the shoulder.

"OW CAROLYNE! What was that for." I rubbed my shoulder.

"That's for being stupid. Never think such nonsense again. What could your scumbag of a dad do to me? Did you forget who my brother and dad are? Never do that again. You scared me to death! OH, Mia I'm so happy your safe."

She looked me up and down, her eyes growing big. "OH, MY MIA!!!" Her finger pointed up and down at me. "Look at you. You look so AMAZING. You were always beautiful but now, look at you!! Your SO WOW."

I shook my head. "Carolyne, how can you quickly change the topic like that? Aren't you mad at me? Don't you want to know what exactly happened?"

She looked at me and frowned. "A duh of course I do, but first let's talk about the good stuff."

Confused I looked at her. "What good stuff?"

"You and Nathan, and how you became this…" She pointed up and down at me again "And what good stuff happened to you and..." She rambles quickly.

"Carolyne calm down, I will tell you everything, but first I want you to meet someone very important in my life. Come, follow me." I stood up and went inside the house, seeing that Carolyne continued to follow me I headed to the kitchen.

Nathan leaned against the kitchen door, smiling weirdly at me. What's up with you? I thought to myself.

"Joe is not in the Kitchen… AMORE…. He's in the study room." He emphasized the Amore more than needed. Seeing him being too smug with himself, I frowned. What are you up to?

"AMORE? Who is Amore?" Carolyne asked looking behind her

Oh… I knew you were up to something … you. Narrowing my eyes at him, I said through gritted teeth. "ME."

"What do you mean you?" ….. "OH" she slapped her forehead with her hand. "You changed your name!"

Still narrowing my eyes at Nathan. "I wanted to tell Carolyne myself, but you…. you." Pointing my finger at Nathan "You could not wait to blabber it out."

He narrowed his eyes at me pouting his lips in a silly way.

"Did I hit a nerve there, Amore?"

"NO, you did not. Why are you still here, by the way…don't you have a home?"

"Why can't I stay? I don't need your permission." He gives me a weird smile.

I pointed to his lips. "Why are you smiling like that?" Looking at him suspiciously.

"Do you remember Joe asked me to take you to Dr. Martin? Well now…." He put his index finger to the side of his mouth.