Chapter 14

Callie walked into her old room and glanced around it, taking in just how different it looked compared to less than two years ago. Her bed wasn't there anymore for starters. It was just Mariana's bed, smack in the middle of the room with all of her things surrounding it.

Mariana came in directly after, noticing how strange this must've felt for her foster sister. There was an awkward silence as she glanced around the scene, wondering what the right thing to say would be. "You were gone for a while… I wanted to leave your stuff up, but Mama-" Mariana paused, not wanting to admit to Callie in much words what she already confessed by not saying much.

"No," Callie said simply with a nod to ensure her sister that everything was okay. "I get it. It's fine."

Mariana squeezed her lips together as she really thought about it. It wasn't. The Latin girl didn't know what she would do if her mother would completely give up on her as she did on Callie. She even had some restless moments just thinking about the possibility that Lena would do the same to her since it all went down.

"I owe you an apology," Callie broke the silence again. "I owe everyone in this house an apology. I shouldn't have left."

"Yeah," Mariana said as if Callie wasn't completely to blame. "But we all know why you left…" She shrugged her shoulders. "I think most of us get it now."

"Really?" Callie asked with a sarcastic smile. "Because I still don't even get it."

"Well, yeah. It was totally stupid… and selfish," Mariana admitted. "But it's all in the past now, right? I'm pretty sure everyone's mellowed out since then. And besides, you're here now. You're making an effort. I see no point in dwelling on what happened like... ten years ago."

"Two years," Callie corrected. "It was almost two years."

"Trying to make a point," Mariana said. "We're still your family, regardless of whether or not your posters are on the wall. No one is going to screw that up because of a stupid mistake you made because moms sent you to that god awful place."

Girls United, Callie remembered.

It was like a small glimpse of a memory now. She barely spent half a day there before Amanda convinced her to escape with her. She wasn't even sure the place would've been that awful, considering the mess Amanda turned out to be.

Callie's phone began to ring, cutting their conversation quickly short.

She knew it could've been only one person. She already called her boss and informed him that she wouldn't be coming into work for a few days.

Callie pursed her lips and breathed out hard before she grabbed her cell phone from her back pocket and glanced at the screen.

"Who is it?" Mariana asked curiously.

Callie shook her head as she stared down at the screen and listened to the tone. And with every ring after the first, she began hearing the phone getting louder and louder.

Still, she felt obliged to answer Tommy's phone call despite everything.

"I'll be right back," she said as she walked out of the room and toward the bathroom. She closed the door shut before answering. "Tommy, what do you want?"

"Where. The. Hell. Are. You?" he asked in a stern and demanding tone.

The teen shut her eyes tight, hating the sound of his voice when he was more than upset. "It doesn't matter," she said simply.

"Callie, don't you dare fuck with me right now. I have been calling you nonstop for days and you've been ignoring my calls? Who the hell are you with?"

"No one."

"You better bring your ass back here right now before I–"

"NO!" Callie shouted back into the phone without hesitation. She couldn't bear to listen to any more threats spewing from his mouth.

She was tired.

She was tired of being the victim.

She was tired of everyone taking advantage and taking complete control over her no matter where she ended up.

It had to stop.

And what better time than now, she thought.

"I told you… I told you that I was done with this. I'm done with us," she ended with hopes that it would be the last words of their conversation, but knowing fully well that that wasn't likely, considering Tom's personality.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean? You think you're leaving me bitch? Are you fucking crazy? Do you have any idea what I would do to you?"

"I already left. I need you to stop calling me," Callie answered. "Good bye, Tom," she finished as she quickly and boldly hung up the phone. It wasn't until directly after doing so, that she felt an overwhelming sense of fear take over her body as a shiver when down her spine and goosebumps filled both of her arms.

She felt proud of what she'd done but she wasn't sure if her fear was much stronger than that. The teen shoved her phone back in her back pocket and glanced at herself in the mirror.

She wanted to cry.

Normally, she would cry.

But she couldn't even force herself to shed a single tear right now .

Perhaps it was the relief of being free from Tommy's grasp, or perhaps it was from all the emotions she had dealt with in just the past few days that had her emotionally drained. Or maybe it was something else.

She didn't know anymore. What she knew was that she felt completely detached from the person she was before this moment. And she didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

It was as if she felt almost invincible now. She began turning her fear into something else. Something that wouldn't make her feel weak. Something that was bigger than Tommy's wrath.

A soft knock on the bathroom door took her out of her own deep thoughts.

"Callie?" she heard her mom ask.

To be continued…