Page 53 of Watch Her Bleed
“He’s the exact opposite of Enzo,” Milo says reassuringly. “He’s a good guy.”
“Okay… Like I said, I think it’s only right that they hear this,” I say. Josh gets up and walks to the door.
“You okay?” Kaia asks me.
“Uhm… Yeah,” I say before looking at Sneed. “Can this just count as my statement? I’d like to not have to go through all of this twice.”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” he says with a kind smile. “Are you okay if I record it then?”
“Yeah,” I say. “It’s a lot, so it’s likely easier that way.”
Josh comes back into the room with three men who look like younger versions of my Dad. It’s a bit unnerving that they, just like Enzo, are nearly twice my size. “Sit,” my Mom says to them when they stop and stare at me.
“Who is who?” I ask my parents.
“Nick, Dax, and Sterling,” my Mom says, pointing to each of the men beside her.
“I don’t know where to start,” I say to Josh.
“Start with the basics,” he says. “Who you’ve been the last twenty-two years, who you thought was your family, and then we can go into Paul and Rita.”
“Okay,” I say. “So, I’ve always thought I was Aurora Anderson. I’ve known Kaia since I was three, but I suppose I was actually two and a half.”
“Yeah, that’s going to be confusing,” Kaia says.
“I thought Paul and Rita were my parents. Although, they hardly qualify as parents,” I say. “Until now, My birthday was April 12th, 2000.”
“That was…” my Mom starts to say.
“I know,” Captain Sneed says. “Aurora, You were taken on April 12th, 2002.”
“Lovely,” I say, rolling my eyes. “So, my parents… They’re not my parents… I don’t know what I’m doing right now.”
“They raised you, sweetie. Call them whatever you want,” my Mom says.
“No, they abused me,” I say bluntly. “I raised myself. If it wasn’t for Kaia’s parents teaching us how to cook small stuff, I probably wouldn’t have eaten as much as I did as a kid. The only support I ever received was from Kaia and her parents.”
“They love you,” Kaia says with a smile.
“Well, they helped me more than they realize. All three of you did,” I say before turning back to my parents. “So, Paul and Rita ignored me, for the most part. It wasn’t until I was ten, that it went from simple neglect to physical abuse. Rita never hurt me, but she allowed it. She saw it countless times, as did Paul. He was the one who would hit me.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Mom says tearfully.
“That… That I could handle. It was Enzo and what they allowed him to do that hurt the most,” I say, but stop and look at Josh.
“Would you like for me to ask you some questions, so you have a place to start?” he asks.
“Please,” I say quietly. I am fidgety again which triggers Matt and Kaia to move closer to me as Matt holds my hand.
“Tell me who Enzo is,” he says.
“He is who I thought was my older brother. He’s seven years older than me,” I answer.
“Is he the one who started abusing you at ten?”
“Yes,” I say. Tears well up as memories surface. “He was seventeen.”
“Okay. Can you tell me how it started?” Josh asks.
