Read Online Gather the Sentient by Amalie Jahn - Free Book Online Page A

Aunt Carla thought her life was normal.  That she deserved to be slapped across the face when she was late coming home because of traffic.  Or that getting burnt by a lit cigarette was a reasonable response for not remembering to pick up ice cream at the grocery store.  She thought he was justified in punishing her since he was only trying to make her better.  Because he loved her.”
    As he finished speaking, Andrea didn’t move.  She didn’t blink.  She didn’t twitch.  In fact, he could barely detect the shallow rhythm of her breathing.  It was almost as if she was trapped deep within herself, tucked away from the reality of her situation inside a labyrinth of her own creation.  His instinct was to continue, but he forced himself to wait, sensing perhaps, if he gave her time, she would come back.  After several moments of awkward silence, she finally closed her eyes, took a labored breath, and then released her hushed confession.
    “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
    He felt compelled then to touch her.  To reach out and make a connection, one human being to another.  He hesitated, but was relieved when she didn’t pull away when his fingers touched her forearm.
    “It’s going to be okay,” he told her, because it seemed like the right thing to say, even though he had no way of actually knowing for sure whether things would ever be okay.  And for the first time in his life he wished he could do more than heal the body.  He wished too he could heal the soul.
    “There are places you can stay that are safe,” he continued.
    She shook her head solemnly.  “He’ll find me.  He owns me.  And besides, it would be wrong for me to go.”
    As much as he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, it wasn’t unusual for a victim to feel obligated to stay.  “Wrong?” he asked, wondering why someone would choose to stay with someone who caused them so much pain.
    She looked up from the hangnail she’d been picking and wiped the blood onto her jeans.  “He took me in off the streets.  He gave me a home.  He put food in my mouth, and he never asked for anything in return.  He never sold me out.  Never forced me to do things I didn’t want to do.  All he’s ever asked for is my obedience, and I’m so ungrateful I can’t even give him that.”  She pulled her sleeves down over her hands and wiped her nose with her sweatshirt.  “I can’t believe I’m even saying any of this to you.  Just another betrayal I suppose,” she lamented as tears pooled in the corners of her eyes.
    Jose leaned down beneath her gaze so he was sure she could see him.  “There is nothing in the world he could give you or do for you that would ever give him the right to harm you in any way.  I don’t care if he gave you a million dollars and a trip around the world.  You don’t owe him anything.  You can always walk away.”
    He could see her turning his words over in her head, attempting to reconcile his observations with the jagged reality of her situation.
    She tilted her chin up and cocked her head to the side, a gesture he immediately recognized as surrender, not defiance.  “Even if I had someplace to go, he would find me and drag me back.”  Her eyes pleaded with him.  “He’s got a network of people like you wouldn’t believe.  I’d never get far.  He’d find me and drag me right back.”
    He considered the possibility that what she was telling him was true.  He had no idea what sort of connections her boyfriend had at his disposal.
    “Are you talking about a gang situation?”
    Her shoulders sagged from the weight of the admission.  “Wedgewood Chicanos.”
    Almost imperceptibly, Jose sucked in his breath.  You didn’t grow up in Phoenix without knowing about one of its oldest and most notorious gangs.  Any optimism he’d felt for Andrea’s situation suddenly seemed tragically overrated.
    When he didn’t reply, she managed a weak chuckle.  “Yeah.  I told you I wasn’t going