Found Missing

by Lily Jill

We hear it outside again. Tentative steps. Contemplative. Calculating. It's the sound that tells me it's him. It's the sound that tells me he's found me. Except he doesn't find me dead like I wanted him to a year ago when I left him. It doesn't matter now. I'm no longer missing. I'm found. And now, I'm as good as dead. DRABBLE.

14. Chapter 14

Thanks to Fran for her beta skills and Dani, Ariel, and Gemma for prereading.

It starts with a smile and a wave.

It's not much, I realize, and another jab of self-pity threatens to make me retreat into my wicker seat on the porch. I'm so out of practice of just talking to people.

I feel awkward, but her responding smile is incredibly welcoming and friendly.

It's a start.

To what, I'm not sure. My escape? My alibi? My freedom?

I know I haven't thought this through. I know he'll see me talking to her on the cameras and ask me what we talked about. I'll lie, of course, and make up something I know he won't care about.

Or maybe he will, depending on his mood.

He knows he can't stop Alice from passing by our house on her walks, and even though it bothers him to no end that Alice and I wave pleasantries as she passes, there's not much he can do. Alice isn't the one he's controlling - I am.

I think quickly, and the first thing that comes to mind is the flash of purple I see out of the corner of my eye.

I point to the purple butterfly bush I had planted. "You have these in your yard too, right?"

Something purple on her lawn, similar to these, had caught my eye as he drove us to his parents' house last weekend.

I'm not sure if she's stunned I'm initiating conversation with her or impressed I took the time to figure out which house she had moved into.

"I do, yeah. Just planted them last week," she says excitedly, and now I see it. Plants! We can bond over plants! He can see for himself on camera as Alice and I both point to the butterfly bush periodically as we talk.

I wish I could get closer to her. I wish I could talk to her through my eyes like I used to be able to with Rose.

I need your help.

I'm not close enough yet. Physically. Mentally. I'm not ready yet.

In order for me to be ready, really ready, I need a plan.

I don't have one yet.

But this, as Alice walks away to continue her exercise and I'm left standing on my porch, bruises hidden beneath my braid, is a start.

And it's more than I've had in what feels like forever.

Anyone else feeling...hopeful? Dare we use that word yet?

Those of you reading my other WIP, The Muse in the Shadows, your wait for Chapter 25 won't be for much longer :) I've posted the teaser in my facebook group, Lily Jill Fics. Join if you haven't already!

See you tomorrow!