Chapter 23
"Is your Dad coming?" I sit next to Gemma and she shakes her head, I sigh loudly and put my hand on top of hers.
"It'll be okay, I promise. I better be off, see you soon." I roll my eyes and then wink at her as I stand up, walking over to the crowd of people waiting for their own parents. I soon join them, watching as cars crowd into the large car park, waiting to see my Dad and Mum climb out.
"Rikki!" I look over at them, grinning and running over to them; Forgetting everything that had happened last time, not wanting to remember anything I had said to them and it looked like they had done the same.
"Wow. You look so much better." Mum says as she kisses my cheek, hugging me tightly. I shake my head as I pat her back and then put my arms tightly around my Dad,
"I miss you." He whispers into my ear and I nod,
"Miss you too old man." I poke my tongue out at him, just like the old days. He laughs at me and then walks off, taking my hand as we walk around the grounds of the place I have called my home for two months now.
"How is it here?"
"Good, I get on with a lot of people in my classes, and I am on an average A grade." I grin at them, as I dig into my pockets for my report card, handing it proudly to my Dad.
"Wow well done Rikki, this is the best you have ever done." I nod and then look around,
"There isn't much to do around here except study."
"I always knew you had it in you kid." He grins at me as he ruffles my hair, I laugh at him and then link my arm in his as we carry on walking.
"I will show you my room if you both want?" I smile at them and lead the way when the nod. I need to show them that I am ready for this, I need to show them that I can come home and be safe. I can do this. I just need to make sure they believe me.
---
"Right we better be off to see this Jayne now." I nod at them as we walk out of my room and towards the main building.
"Is she good?" I shrug,
"She thinks she is.." I laugh a little and then sigh,
"She is okay, she is helping me when I want it. But I will have days when I don't really care about anything she is saying." I look down at the floor, kicking a stone out of the way, smiling at them when I look up and open the door for them.
"This should be fun then.." I roll my eyes as we walk into her office, I don't bother knocking, she knows I am coming, she always knows when I am coming.
---
"Today Rikki, I want you to talk about everything you did while you were at home." I look up at her nervously, shooting glances towards my parents and shaking my head,
"Everything?"
"It's better to get off your chest, just try the honesty for once please Rikki." I sigh and nod, knowing she was right, so I take a deep breath.
"Um.. I would drink a lot... I would smoke pot and whatever else I could get my hands on." I looked down ashamed, avoiding their glances,
"I would sell pot for more money and steal from you two when I could... I smoke cigarettes, I do stuff with boys." My Dad shoots a look at me but I shake my head and put my hand on top of his,
"I promise you I haven't done that, I am still a virgin." He sighs a sigh of relief and smiles at me,
"That's one thing then," I nod at my own lie.. I couldn't tell him all the stuff I have done, it would break his heart and I can't do that to him. I can't let him know how many times I was so high I didn't know what I was doing, the times when I was so desperate I would just lay there and take whatever the guy wanted to do to me, just for my next hit. I shook my head and closed my eyes, quickly letting go of his hand and sighing,
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, I am fine.."
"Anything else Rikki?" I look at Jayne and think for a moment,
"Everything?" I gulp and she nods once more, patiently. I look down,
"I sneak out to go to parties, I don't go to school much, and when I do I don't listen, I answer back to the teachers...
"I umm.. I cut myself.. but I haven't done it since I got here.. I am fine now... I tried to kill myself twice before coming here as well.. before going to the camp as well.. I tried it, but I always failed."I look down at my hands, fighting the tears about to fall down my face. I shake my head and then look up at them, to see their smiling faces.
"Thank you for sharing that with us Rikki, it means a lot." My Mum puts her hand on top of my shaking one and nods at me,
"It'll all be okay now." I look at her and nod, trying to believe the words I have told Gemma so many times.
"We are so sorry that we couldn't be here, was it the divorce? I hate the fact that we are to blame for this." She looks down and shakes her head, I grab her hand, squeezing it,
"It has nothing to do with you, it's all my choices. I am the only one to blame for this."
"I am so proud of you." My Dad puts his arm around my shoulders, smiling at me and kissing my cheek gently.
"Thank you." I whisper to him, nodding at Jayne.
I grin as we walk out, "That was better than I thought it would be." They both look at each other and nod, "A lot better."
"Mum, Dad... I don't belong here, please let me come home with you now." I stop in my tracks, turning to face them, begging them with my eyes, hoping they would say 'of course you can come home.' But instead Dad shakes his head and looks me in the eyes,
"You're not ready to come home yet, I promise you that one day soon, we will be able to pick you up from this place and then everything will be alright." I nod, and try to smile at him as he puts his arms around me once more, and they turn to go to their car. I shake my head as they drive away and let the tears fall down my face, barely noticing Gemma besides me, I look at her for a moment when she puts her arms around me.
"I need to get away from here Gemma, please." I sigh as I watch them go back to their lives without me, it wasn't fair while I was stuck in here, I wanted to be happy again but I was never going to be happy here, I had no chance in a place I hated. Gemma just nodded, not needing to question me. She knew exactly how I felt because she felt the same. I smiled at her as I walked off to pack some stuff I would need. Tonight was going to be a long night.
---
"Rikki?" I felt someone shaking my from my warm bed, and for a moment I forgot all our plans for that night. I looked at Gemma, suddenly remembering and scrambling out of my bed, grabbing a small bag hidden under my bed. I nod at her and run after her, frowning when we get to the gates. This was going to be the hardest part, once we were past this point it would be okay. They would have to find us, but it would be near impossible when we didn't want to be found.
I watch as Gemma scrambles to her knees and starts digging at the dirt, making a hole for us to climb under the gate. I soon copy her actions, grinning as I do so. This was our escape route, another half an hour and we would be happy. I smiled and carried on digging, ignoring the pain in my hands. This was the once chance I had and I wasn't going to give it up for anything.
Finally, we got through the small hole and onto the other side. I sighed and looked around, "We need to move quickly, they will notice our empty beds soon." Gemma whispers, I nod at her and run through the trees with her.
Happiness.
Freedom.