Metamorphosis

Chapter 4: Watch out for that Deer

"So, are you willing to give it another go?" Brad said as he snaked his arm and my shoulder. I meekly smiled.

"Sure, we can try," I said, but in the back of my mind, there was a little tingle of suspicion. It never really went away. In fact, I just pushed through it thinking if I held on long enough, he would realize what he was doing. And maybe this time, he knew he had gone too far. 

"Let me take you out tonight. We'll go somewhere fancy-" Brad pulled out his wallet, "Here." and gave me one hundred dollars. My eyes widened, and I started to reject his offer of the money.

"Brad, I can't-"

"Please, get yourself something nice for tonight." I couldn't help but smile, and I took the money from him. 

"Come back home with me, I'll give you the car, and you can shop around, okay?"

I agreed. He drove me back to his place. I called it his home because it really didn't feel like my own. I never really had a place. The first time I moved out on my own was with an ex, which didn't go so well. 

As we drove, I could feel my stomach fluttering. I looked over at Brad, who glances over and smiles at me. This feels like the first time we met; he was so sweet and kind, but he had changed somewhere along the line. He started to get suspicious of me going out with my friends. I just thought it was his way of showing he cared, but my friends said he was just an ass. 

As we parked in the garage, Brad hoped out of the car and rushed to open the car door for me. I raised a brow at him.

"What?"

"You never do that. You are usually trying to get in the house before me."

Brad smiled, "New me, remember?"

I rolled my eyes playfully as I got out of the car. Brad opened the door to the house, the smell of a musky cologne hit me like a gust of wind.

"Oh, Jesus-" I said as I covered my nose. I didn't remember his cologne being this strong.

"Yeah, sorry about that; I was getting ready to come to get you." He said as he rubbed his neck. "Anyway, have fun, and I'll see you tonight," before Brad left, he kissed me on the cheek. 

This felt so surreal. Was it really happening? Brad was actually trying to be better for me. Sadly I was so us to our toxic ways that it felt weird for him to be this nice to me. I never had parents who had a stable relationship before, and maybe that's why this was so weird to me. I placed my hand in my pocket and found the little piece of paper I had tucked away to read later. I opened it.

"To whoever finds this, know that I am more than grateful that you took my baby girl into your care. Once she is grown enough to understand, please let her read this so she may have some solace that I did not want to give her up, but I had no choice. Let her have the necklace I have placed in the basket as well, and you may change her name if you wish, but her birth name is Dove.

I am so sorry, my sweet girl, maybe one day we will meet again."

My hands started to shake as I tried to understand what this note meant. My mother had said she had found me in a wooden basket but...I thought she just said that to get a rise out of me...

"Oh my god..." The world around me felt like it was spinning. If this was true, then, she was never my birth mother?

I sat down as the harsh reality set in, my birth mother had left me on a doorstep and only left a note and a necklace. A necklace I didn't even have, which lead me to question, what happened to it? 

This couldn't be happening, this had to be a horrible prank, but deep down, I always felt like there was something off about my life; I looked at the note for a while, my eyes started to burn as tears dropped onto the letter.

"What kind of mother gives her own child away..." I said through my teeth as I threw the note on the ground in a fit of rage. Lies, I have been fed lies all my life. I wanted answers, and I wanted them now. I hastily made my way to the car Brad had left for me and pushed the pedal to the floor, skiting out of the garage and onto the street. My tears started to blind me as I drove, not caring about the speed limit. I was so hurt it felt like a hot poker had been punctured through my heart.

Was I that hard to keep around? Did no one want me? My own birth mother gave me away. I was in a blind rage of emotions as I sliced through the road; as I rounded the corner, something ran out in front of me; I screamed and yanked the steering wheel to the right. The car skid, my bladder jumped into my stomach as the vehicle tumbled down a hill...

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My ears were ringing; my body hurt everywhere. 

"I-I can't move..." 

My head was pounding as I realized the vehicle was upside down. Time seemed to slow as the high pitched sirens made their whooping sound as they sped towards me.

My eyes were so heavy; I couldn't keep them open anymore. I could feel a warm thick liquid snake down my arm; I watched as the crimson blood dripped like I was counting sheep. I let the heaviness of my eyes lure me into unconsciousness.

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"Miss Heartlock!? Miss Heartlock, can you hear me?!"

The echoing of someone calling my name roused me awake; blinding lights on the ceiling passed by quickly.

"W-Where am I?" I asked, my voice raspy.

"You in Carter Hospital, Miss Heartlock," a man in a white coat said, surrounding him were people in blue scrubs. "What? but I-"

"Take her to room 34, I'll be right there," the person I suspected was a doctor said.

Somewhere along the line, I fell out of consciousness again but was woken up by a panicked voice.

"Where is she?! Where's my daughter-" My mother's voice was on the verge of tears. She raced into the room and hurried to my side. "Oh, my baby! Are you okay?! What the hell were you thinking?!" 

"She wasn't thinking," Patrick's voice intruded.

I leered at him, the nurse came in behind him, "Get him out of here, please," I asked. Patrick gave me an ugly look as the nurse escorted him out of the room.

My mother furrowed her brows at me. "What is wrong with you? Patrick did nothing to you!?"

I stared at her like she was out of her god damn mind, "Are you kidding me? Patrick is the reason for everything!" I shouted; my emotions were everywhere, but this gaslighted the fire that already sparked within me.

"I hate him! He took you away from me! I never had f*****g mother because of him! You love him more than you do me! And I'm not even yours!" I screamed.

A hard slap set my cheek ablaze; I froze, not wanting to believe that she actually hit me.

"You watch your mouth, young lady, I AM your mother, and you will do as I say. Got it?"

If my nostrils could spitfire, they would have, "No, your not my birth mother." 

"I raised you!"

"No, you didn't! I taught myself everything because you were too drunk on men to cure your unhappiness!"

My mother got in my face and gave me a death stare, "And look where you are...doing the same damn thing."

My eyes burned because I realized she was right. God, I didn't like her, but she was right. I had never really been alone with myself. I've always been in a relationship, and I've never been alone. Neither has she, and look where that got her. Was I staring my future in the face? Because if I was, I hated it.

"Good luck trying to make it on your own, you ungrateful brat," she said through her teeth before leaving me alone. I was not too fond of this feeling of hollowness when I was alone, but I was left to dwell in it.

I started to sob; It made me hate myself for being so weak and vulnerable. It made me wish that car had just kept rolling; as I got lost in my toxic thoughts, a flash of pink caught my attention by the chair in the corner. 

"W-Whose here?" I asked as I gripped my sheets.  A pink flash revealed a man, one I had met before. "You?" I asked as the man with curly brown hair, and emerald green eyes smiled at me; my jaw dropped.

"Your quite the reckless one, aren't you?" He said in a smooth, honeyed voice. I could do nothing but blink as the strange man I had met before appeared out of nowhere in my hospital room.

I think I'm going crazy...