I opened my eyes, finding myself alone in bed. I lay there for a while, thinking about yesterday.
I scooted to Melissa's side of the bed and picked up the phone, dialing.
After a few rings, someone answered. "Hello?"
"Nathan?"
"Jackson?"
"Is Daley there?"
"She's mad right now. You really hurt her feelings."
I sighed. "I know. I was calling to apologize. Can I talk to her?"
"Sure. Hold on a second."
"Okay."
A waited, hearing distant footsteps coming from the phone.
After a moment, I could just barely hear Nathan's voice. "Daley? It's Jackson. He has something he wants to tell you."
"I don't want to talk to him." Daley was crying. "Tell him I'm in the shower."
"But Daley-"
"I'm not talking to him!"
"Okay. Fine." Nathan's voice was louder now. "Jackson, she's in the shower."
I sighed. "Can you tell her to call me when she gets out?"
"Yeah. I'll tell her."
"Thanks."
"Bye."
________________________________________________________________________
"Jackson? What are you doing here?"
"I needed to talk to Daley."
Nathan sighed. "She's upstairs. Follow me."
I stepped inside, walking behind Nathan.
We went upstairs, then into a room.
"Daley? Jackson's here to see you."
"What do you want, Jackson?"
"I'll leave you two alone." Nathan walked out, closing the door behind him.
"I wanted to apologize."
"Jackson, you really scared me."
"I know. I didn't mean to yell at you. I was out of place. I was rude to you for trying to
help me. And I'm sorry, Daley."
"I forgive you."
"If there's anything I could do to make it up to you, just let me know."
"Thanks."
"And I was thinking that maybe, if you wanted to, we could do another session."
"I don't know, Jackson."
"I won't yell at you this time. I promised. And I'll answer all your questions truthfully, no matter how annoying they may be. Just give me another chance, Daley."
She gave in. "Okay."
________________________________________________________________________
"So, Cody? You wanna tell me what got into you yesterday?"
"Well, I was thinking about something, and it really scared me."
"You mind telling me what it was?"
I was quiet for a moment before answering. "When I was little, my father would lock me in the cellar. He had some friends that he let live there and he would tell them to beat me up."
Daley listened closely.
"And when I was sitting here yesterday, I felt like I was locked in the basement again.
That's why I wanted out so badly."
"Cody?"
"Yes, Daley?"
"I think what you should do is put all those bad memories to rest."
"Yeah, but how?"
She thought for a moment. "I got an idea."