Break Away

chapter 15

He hesitated for a little bit too long, "No. Where would you get such a crazy idea?"

"It all makes sense. I was blind before. Don't lie to me Alex. I'm Alexis. I figured your plan out. That time I was in the hospital, remember Alex? The time you brainwashed me into thinking I was Raine. You wanted me all to yourself didn't you?"

"But Raine, that was your cho-" He started, but I interrupted him.

"Don't even try and fix this. I already have seen the suicide note you wrote to make it look like I killed myself."

He was silent for a couple of seconds and then he spoke again, "Where did you get that note?"

"It was in your car. You should have hidden it in a better spot," he clenched his fists and I continued lowering my voice, "See, I just have you all figured out. Now we're even. I could take all this evidence to the police, but I'm not going to. I'll make it completely hidden and unknown. I only want one simple favor."

"What is that favor?" He asked I could tell he was getting worried.

"I want you to stay away from me. I don't want to ever see you again, Alex. After today, I don't know who you are anymore," The words hurt as I said them, but it was all for the best.

"Okay, any more favors?"

I thought it over, "Just one more. I want my parent's address."

"Fine, I'll write it down for you," He said unlocking his car and scribbling down an address on a piece of crumpled paper he found in his car.

I grabbed it out of his hands, glancing at it slightly and stuck it in my back pocket.

"So this is it?" Alex said frowning.

I nodded my head, "This is it."

I turned around and stuck out my hand motioning for a taxi. One pulled up next to me and I opened the door for it, I turned back around towards Alex, but to my surprise, he was gone. I sighed in relief and got into the taxi. I pulled out the address and gave it to the driver. He just nodded and I pulled my bag out, suddenly realizing there could be a problem.

I didn't think I had any money, I searched around in my bag for a while and I couldn't find anything. Not even any change. I groaned and the driver looked back at me. He had brown eyes, light brown and dirty blonde hair. He was kind of cute and he looked a few years older than me.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Uh- I kind of have no money," I saw his expression change to confusion, "but I promise, I will pay you as soon as we get to my parent's house. They will give me the money."

"It's fine miss, as long as you can give it to me when we get there."

The rest of the ride consisted of his radio playing old music that I had never heard of and radio static when we hit bad zones. Alex was finally gone and I felt sane; it was a good feeling that I hadn't felt in a while. I looked down at the crumpled paper with the address on it and I looked over what he had written, he had written down my mom's name. Her name was Marissa. I felt tears come to my eyes. But I didn't let them fall, not yet at least.

The taxi stopped in front of a small house, it looked like a two bedroom house. It had white shutters and it looked ordinary. But of course, I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary. I told the taxi driver that I would be back out with his money in a few minutes and I walked up to the front door, scared of what I was going to see.

I knocked on the door and a small lady opened the door, it looked like she had been cleaning because she was holding a broom.

"I'm here to see Marissa," I said to her.

She stared at me for a few moments trying to figure out who I was. Suddenly her mouth dropped open and she dropped the broom on the floor.

"Marissa!" She yelled.

I saw another lady walk to the front, she was probably in her mid-fifties. She had brown hair and a few grey hairs stuck out of the roots. She looked over at the younger lady with an annoyed look on her face and then her eyes moved over to me. I started to vaguely remember the pictures I had of her in my memory and then realized that it was her, it was my mom.

"Alexis?" She said in a shocked voice.

I nodded my head yes and she ran towards me, pulling me into a hug. I felt her burst into tears and her gasps of breath into my shoulder. I felt tears fall out of my own eyes also, I finally found her. I never thought I would see them again and this whole time I thought they had just forgotten about me.

"But- how is this possible? I thought you committed suicide," She said pulling me out of the hug and looking at me.

"No, I didn't. We have a lot to talk about."

She gave me the money for the taxi and then after I had given it to the cab driver, she pulled me into the house. I quickly explained the whole story to her in the shortest amount of time that I possibly could. She followed along and listened until I finally stopped talking.

"So he made it look like you were dead and got you to think you weren't Alexis?" She asked after I had finished.

I nodded and she continued, "That's really a lot to take in. I'm just so glad you're not dead Alexis."

Tears started pouring from her eyes again, she wiped the tears away and then looked at me, "You have grown up so much. I wish your father could see you now."

"Why can't he?" I asked quietly, already expecting the dreadful answer.

"Honey, your dad died last year from an unexpected brain tumor."

I felt tears come out of my eyes, I know I had forgotten about everything, but it still hurt knowing he couldn't ever know that I didn't commit suicide. I had wanted to see the look on his face when he realized that they had never done anything to make me want to do such a thing.

We made small talk for a while, it was kind of weird talking to her. She kept on mentioning stuff that had happened a while ago that I hadn't remembered. She said when I was eight I used to climb a tree in our backyard and sit on the branch, but one time I had fallen and broken my arm. Then she said another time I had cut myself open accidentally on my arm and she pointed at the exact spot. I looked where she had pointed and traced a faint line of an old scar with my hand. I had always wondered why that scar was there but thought nothing of it.

We quickly decided that I would stay as Raine instead of Alexis, because of the fact that I had all the documents for Raine at my old apartment. But she had my documents for Alexis, but we quickly blew that idea out of the water when we realized that Alex had changed my legal name.

My eyes flickered over towards the fire burning in the fireplace. The red flames of the fire danced on top of the old wood. It gave me a sudden idea, I needed to erase my past, or at least try to. I slipped my hand into my bag and took out the journal.

I saw my mom wrinkle her eyebrows in confusion, "What are you doing?"

"My diary, I want to burn it. Do you mind if I throw it in there?"

She shook her head no and I threw it gently into the fireplace. I felt joy as I saw the flames devour the book, turning the pages black and quickly into ashes. The diary was gone, every single page was burned to the point of no return. No one could possibly read what had happened.

"So are you going to move in here? I know it's really early to think about this, but you could move in with me, just for a little while. So you can leave your old apartment," She asked me.

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea," I said.

Later on during the day, we drove back to my apartment and I went around the apartment gathering everything I wanted to keep. I walked back downstairs for the second time arms full and I put the stuff in the back of my mom's car. It still felt kind of weird to call her my mom, just because of everything that happened. I went back up to the apartment for the last time and looked around again, making sure I had gotten everything I wanted.

I locked the door for the last time and knocked on my landlord's door.