Chapter Twenty-Seven Two long days had passed since Emily had been able to contact JC, and ever since that moment, Riley had become a permanent fixture at her side. He was becoming clingy...constantly wanting her attention, especially during periods where she was emotionally breaking down. She could feel her strength declining every minute that she was stuck inside of the small cabin. Throughout the ordeal, she had only been outside twice and her insides craved fresh, new air. She was ready to give up. Her hope was running thin and she welcomed anything besides the hell that she was now living in. She had dark circles around her eyes, her face was pale and she knew she was growing thinner. She barely ate and she hardly slept, due to the fact that she was terrified of what might happen to her if she closed her eyes for too long.

She sighed as she looked at the dusty floor where her feet rested. She didn't know what she was going to do. She could feel Riley's eyes on her, a feeling that she was growing accustomed to because he constantly kept his eyes on her. It was like he was just waiting for her to finally break down to the point of where she couldn't build herself back up. "Stop looking at me."

"What else is there to do?" he said lazily, as he stretched his arms above his head. "You won't eat, you won't talk to me and you won't move. All you do is sit around at stare at the floor."

"Maybe I'm unhappy here..." she said coldly as she crossed her arms over her chest and glanced at the clock above the fireplace. "Did that thought ever cross your mind?"

He groaned and stood up, stomping his foot on the ground. "Damn it, Emily. If you weren't so damn stubborn, you might actually see that this isn't so bad! I've not done one thing to hurt you!"

"You have too," she said quietly before biting her lip, refusing to argue with him further.

He looked at her once before simply turning on his heels and walking out of the cabin, letting the door slam on his way out. She glanced up quickly to make sure that he was gone, before sprinting to the bathroom and reaching for the hidden cell phone. She tapped her foot as she waited for it to come on and her heart skipped a beat when she saw that she had a new voice message. She quickly entered her password and bit her lip as the new message began to play.

"Emily....thank God you're all right. Everyone is worried about you and the police is trying to find you. Whitney is standing in front of me and I know that she wants to talk so I'm going to let her speak before she tackles me..."

Emily grinned as she listened to Whitney's part of the voicemail. Until this moment, she really hadn't realized how much she missed Stephanie and Whitney. They were the only two people who she could say had been there for her no matter what she needed. After Whitney's voice ended, she was greeted yet again with JC's deep voice, which sent a chill down her spine.

"Emily...stay safe and know that we are all thinking of you and all of our prayers are directed toward you....hope to hear from you soon...."

There was a pause after those words and Emily figured that the message was over. She hit the key for delete and shut her phone down, not knowing that there had been another line to that message that would have turned her whole world upside down. She turned the phone off, replacing it in the hiding place and walked out of the bathroom to be greeted by a frowning Riley.

"You sure were in there an awful long time," he said in a dry tone as he looked over her shoulder.

She rolled her eyes and pushed past him, hoping that he would drop the matter. "Can't someone use the bathroom in privacy? Oh wait, I forgot that you don't respect anyone else beside yourself so it really doesn't matter to you." He looked at her before turning the light off and walking past her, lightly hitting her shoulder which caused her to brush against the wall. She frowned and continued walking behind him, wondering what he had thought about while he had been outside. "Do we have any food?"

"Oh...so now you're going to eat?" he spat out as he threw down the keys to his car on the table, laughing when Emily's eyes followed to where they fell. "Don't think about taking my car, baby...you'll pay."

Emily cringed as she realized that the angered Riley was starting to come back around. Right now, she didn't need his hateful attitude and abusive techniques. She was weak when it came to fighting his sentimental approaches, but physical was definitely out of her league. "I wasn't trying to take them."

"There is some bread in the kitchen...if you're hungry fix you a sandwich."

"Do you want anything?" she asked, surprised at the nice comment that escaped from her mouth.

"What I want doesn't have anything to do with food," he told her, as she turned to leave the room, but stopping when she registered his remark.

She cringed as she took the double meaning to his words. "You can keep dreaming, Riley."

He laughed and shook his head. "I can see where your mind is. That wasn't what I was implying, Emily. I want to know why you despise me...let me rephrase that. WHEN did you start hating me?"

"Do you really wanna know?" she asked, walking back into the room and sitting on the couch. "I don't hate you...I hate the way you are. I hate the way that you treat me like dirt...how you hit me...how you speak to me...how you bad mouth me to other people...geez Riley, I could go on and on! I hate the way that you assume I'm always doing something that I'm not. I hate the fact that you don't have an ounce of respect for me in your body. I can't stand the way you treat my friends...the only people that I have who have been there for me!" Her voice was bringing out pent up anger that she had held inside for far too long. Riley's face remained static while he sat there and listened to what she had to say.

"I can't believe that you changed from the sweetest teenager in the world, to the most hateful man on the planet. I used to love you, Riley. You were my first love...the first guy that I was ever with who treated me decent...but it disappeared. I started despising you the moment you turned into what you are...the moment you first laid your hand across my face for simply stating the fact that I needed money. I remember that moment...I simply asked you for money for food and you yelled at me...and then you hit me. I don't know what hurts more," she said, pausing to wipe the tears away off her cheeks. "I don't know if it hurts me more that you actually hit me or the fact that you didn't even apologize. You didn't check to make sure I was all right...you just spit on me and walked out the door. My love for you turned cold that exact moment."

He was silent for a moment before Emily witnessed a tear roll down his face. She wanted to continue confessing to him what she had kept inside of her for so long, but she was taken back by the fact that there was an actual tear running down his face. "Riley..don't cry..."

"Emily...I've turned into my worst nightmare...I'm my father!" he yelled as more tears began to fall out of his eyes. "I fought for so long when I was younger not to turn into him...and I have. I've treated you the exact way he treated my mother. I hated that bastard for what he put us through...and look...I've put you through it."

Emily didn't know what to say. She didn't know if this was some kind of act to make her sympathetic to him, or if this was real. Was he really finally breaking down and showing her the part of him that had been hidden for so long? She took a deep breath and slowly walked over to him, placing a comforting hand on his left shoulder. "Riley...you can change."

He looked up at her with reddened eyes and sighed. "I don't think I can...Emily, God...I'm so sorry. I love you...I don't know why I did the things that I did...."

"Shhh," she said as she squatted on her knees and looked into his eyes. "You don't have to explain..."

"Please let me," he asked her, his voice breaking as he fought to hold his tears inside. "Emily...I loved you from the first moment that I realized that girls weren't the devil...I realized that you were the only person that truly understood me...I've just been oblivious to the fact of what I've been put you through. I totally understand if you hate me...I hate myself for what I've done. I don't deserve to live..."

She shook her head and put her hand against his cheek, wiping away a tear. "I'll always be your friend, Riley...and I love you, no matter what you've put me through...but I don't love you in the way that you claim to love me....I don't think I ever could. You have a future Riley, and it doesn't have to be with me. I'll be with you through every step if you wish to get help...I would never desert you through that process...but you've got to want to change...only you can do it."

"Do you promise to help me?" he asked in a small, childlike voice as he stood up and reached for his keys that were lying on the table.

"I promise you, Riley....now lets please get out of here."

"You know," he said as he looked around the cabin. "My Mom and I used to come up here to escape my dad whenever he was giving her hell...I don't know what made me bring you to this place. I guess I needed some type of comfort...I was lonely when you left...I felt like part of me had died."

She gave him a hug and began walking towards the door. "Just let the past go, Riley...concentrate on the future."

He nodded his head and gave one last look around, before following her out the door. As Emily stepped outside, part of her seemed to be rekindled inside of her. She finally was free of her past and she was free to greet a new future with open arms.

Chapter Twenty-Eight