I woke up early, making my way downstairs hoping my parents would be having breakfast, I always miss them as they wake up super early every morning, way before I climb out of my bed. I walk into the dining hall to see them both sitting at the table eating, they look up surprised to see me.
“I was worried you would already be gone,” I say, holding the teddy behind my back so they couldn’t see it.
“This is great Savannah, why don’t you take a seat and get something to eat? ” my father asks with a smile, but I shake my head smiling.
“I’m not hungry, I just wanted to show you something maybe you’d be able to remember more about it then I do,” I say, they nod as I pull the teddy out from behind my back, they both hold their hands to mouths my mum tearing up.
“Your old teddy, you’ve had it all along,” my father says standing up, I hand him the bear which he looks down at smiling.
“You took him everywhere, once you lost him and wouldn’t stop crying, everyone had to look for him,” my mother says staring at the bear, I walk over taking a seat beside my mother my father across from us.
“I actually didn’t take him with me, Ryan did,” I say, which makes my father look up at me confused “Ryan and his parents came here a few days before they took me, I had a flashback, in it I gave Ryan that teddy when he was feeling scared and he gave it to me back when, I was scared of his parents,” I say looking down remembering the flashback, as someone else walks in the dining hall, it was Ryan who walks straight over to me.
“Savannah’s up early,” he says acting shocked but sent me a smile, placing his hand on my shoulder “trust me, this won’t happen again for ages” he laughs, he wasn’t lying.
“It’s true it won’t”I laugh as my uncle Jessie and Racheal walk in arm in arm.
“Good morning everyone, oh Savannah you’re awake” Jessie smiles giving me a little hug, but Racheal stays near the door her arms crossed.
“I’m actually about to head out” I smile standing up to walk, out but a hand stops me.
“I’ll come with you,” Jessie says, I nod walking out with him leaving everyone else staying for breakfast.
We make our way outside sitting on one of the benches, just chatting along the way, I sit down he takes the seat in front of me so we were facing each other.
“I’ve wanted to sit down and just have a chat for a while, 15 years,” he says looking down a little from the flashbacks I keep getting, it seemed like him and I were close.
“I spent years looking for you, only to find out you were only 30 minutes away,” he says basically to himself “I felt like I let you down, I wasn’t there when you needed me, I let people you didn’t know just walk in and take you,” he says his head still faced down, so he wasn’t looking at me.
“This wasn’t your fault and I knew that even when I was little, I don’t remember much about my life here, but I’m getting little flashbacks and I seemed really happy when I was with you,” I say, holding his hand he smiles a little but looks back down.
“Whenever you got scared about something, for instance, when you had nightmares I had to drive from my house here because you wouldn’t stop crying until I got there” he smiles, sparking a flashback.
I was a little girl back in my old bedroom crying sitting in bed, I must have had a nightmare, Ryan’s parents walk in coming straight over to me.
“Honey don’t cry it’s gonna be okay,” Ryan’s mum says sitting on the bed trying to hold my hand, but I pull away.
“Uncle Jessie” I cry looking around, Ryan’s dad walks over.
“We’ve been over this I’m your new daddy, not uncle,” he said sitting next to Ryan’s mum.
“No, I want uncle Jessie, uncle Jessie!” I cry over and over again.
I snap back to reality where Jessie was saying my name over and over again, I look up smiling.
“You spaced out,” he says concerned, but I shake my head.
“I was having a flashback,” I say, but I look down it wasn’t a very nice one.
“Care to share,” he says but I shake my head, I didn’t want him to know I used to cry about him “come on, you can always count on your uncle Jessie to make you feel better” he smiles, that’s what he said on another one of my flashbacks.
“I wasn’t here, it’s after I got taken I was with Ryan’s parents, I woke up from a nightmare I think, they tried to calm me down but they couldn’t I just kept shouting for….” I say but stop before I could say his name, he pushed me pushes me to say I think he already knew the answer ” My uncle Jessie” I say, he looks at me tears beginning to prick his eyes he puts his hand to his mouth sitting back, he looked like he was trying to stop himself from full-blown crying.
“You were crying for me and I wasn’t there,” he says a few tears rolling down, which just makes tears prick my eyes.
“You couldn’t be there you didn’t know where I was,” I say holding back the tears that were fighting to get out.
“I should have found you sooner” he cries putting his head in his hands, I get up from my seat walking around to hug him.
“This wasn’t your fault, you’ve spent 15 years looking for me, you didn’t live at the castle when I got taken so you didn’t let anyone take me,” I say he pulls away looking at me.
“I don’t know how you do it, you even did it as a kid, you have a way of making everyone feel better” he smiles holding my hands in his making me smile “you were more like a daughter than a niece, I spent more time with you then I did my own kid,” he says, staring ahead v
“You did?” I ask, he just nods that’s a bit strange
“Racheal used to get so annoyed I couldn’t help it, she always tried to pull me away from you and make me stay home but it never worked,” he says looking towards me “when your father gave me the job to look for you, I actually questioned Racheal first I just had this feeling that she had something to do with it, but she always kept the same story so I had nothing on her,” he says which just causes another flashback.
I was laying in bed when the door opens and someone walks in, I thought it was my mum or dad but it wasn’t it was Racheal.
“Come here,” she says picking me up walking towards the door, I was so tired and I knew her that I never fought her.
“These people are gonna take care of you, then maybe Jessie will start paying attention to his son more and forget about you,” she says, carrying me through the castle.
She starts walking down dark steps, she looks so nervous she kept looking behind just in case someone was walking down the hall, once we reach the bottom we take a few more turns before an opening appears, where a man wearing dark clothing was standing in the opening, pouring rain behind him.
“We have to be quick, they check on her soon,” she tells him as the man pulls the hood off his head, it was Ryan’s father.
“We have her a change of clothes so she doesn’t stand out,” he says passing them to Rachel who takes me around the corner changing my PJs.
“Are you sure you don’t want us to pay you?” Ryan’s dad asks as we walk around the corner.
“No I just want her gone, so I can have my husband back,” she says passing me to him, where he wraps me in a big blanket.
“Goodbye Yasmin,” she says looking at me in the eyes, before Ryan’s father walks me out into the wet night.
I had tears rolling down my face as I come back out of the other flashback, Rachel took me.
“Savannah are you okay?” Jessie asks but I stand up walking backwards.
“I gotta go,” I say running back towards the castle, tears still running down my face.
“Savannah stop, is it something I said?” He asks running after me, but I don’t stop even when I pass Ryan and my parents, were walking out the dinner hall.
“Savannah? ” Ryan says but I run up the stairs away from him, but he soon runs after me Jessie staying with my parents.
I soon make it to our bedroom where Ryan closes the door behind us, I just pacing up and down full-blown crying still.
“Savannah what’s wrong?” He asks walking over stopping me pacing “come on, you can tell me” he says, looking me in the eyes.
“It wasn’t just your parents that took me, I had a flashback, Racheal Jessie’s wife gave me to your parents, because she wanted to get rid of me, I can’t tell Jessie so what am I gonna do” I cry, he looks at me pulling me into a hug holding me tightly, while I just cry.