“What do you mean by freaked out?” She comes and sits beside me.
I make some awkward hand gestures, like I’m trying to explain what happened. My voice gets stuck in my throat, and all I can do is shake my head while tears well in my eyes.
“It’s okay if you’re not ready yet. There’s no timeline or schedule for this kind of stuff, Molly. We’re all different.”
“I feel like I’m defective. Something up here isn’t working.” I tap my head. “I have no idea why I freaked out.”
“You’re putting too much pressure on yourself, Molly. How did Dylan react? Because from what I know of him, I highly doubt he would’ve demanded you to keep going.”
“He didn’t. He was perfect. Honestly, Mom, I don’t know how I got so lucky with him.”
“Your father and I had our reservations about him.”
“What?”
She puts up a hand to stop me from saying anything more. “Let me finish, before you get defensive.” She takes a breath. “We were concerned about the age difference. And we thought he may want things from life that you don’t. But you’re like an old soul. And once we met him, interacted with him a few times, and got a chance to see him with you, we knew you are in good hands with him.”
“Oh,” I say, letting out a long sigh.
“We can’t say the same about Preston though.”
“Have you heard anything from Tina today?” I ask. Mom shakes her head. Her eyes fill with sadness, and I see she’s choking back the emotions. “Me either. I’ve sent her text messages, and tried calling her, but she’s not answering.”
“We went to his parents’ house this morning, trying to see her to make sure she’s okay, but… nothing.” Mom wipes at a tear as it rolls down her cheek. “She’s disabled find my iPhone on her phone, we don’t even know if they’re still at his parents’ house. Her car’s not there. We don’t know. The police called yesterday afternoon to say they went to see if she’s okay, and she told them she didn’t want anything to do with us. There’s nothing they can do. She’s of legal age.”
“Sorry, Mom, but this is absolute bullshit. He’s an abuser. He beats women, how can they do nothing when they know what he’s capable of.”
“Because no one has pressed charges against him.”
“Why can’t we?” I stand and begin to pace. Zhen follows me as I walk back and forth. “We have to do something before it’s too late.”
“I know.”
“Actually.” I stop and turn to face Mom. “I once saw a documentary about a group that kidnaps people who have been brainwashed and they de-condition them. Maybe we can do something like that?” I ask, eager to get my sister back. I miss her so much.
“I know exactly what you’re talking about, because we’re going to do this. We have someone going to their house tomorrow to get her away from him, and put her in a safe house where we and they can help her.”
“Wait. How? When?” I’m speechless.
“We met with someone this morning, and told them about our situation. They have to go in fast, because time is not our friend. And every moment she’s with him, is a moment he could be hurting her. We need to be really quick with this. We’ll do whatever’s in our power to get her away from him.”
I let out a huge sigh of relief. “I can finally breathe. I’m happy she’ll be out of there tomorrow.” I find a ray of hope in these plans, but I won’t truly rest until I know she’s safe.
“We’ll do whatever we have to do, to make sure you and your sister are safe. We love you both with everything we have.” Mom cries, and it breaks my heart to see her like this. I wipe at my own tears.
“I love you, Mom.” I walk over to her, and throw my arms around her. “This has got to be so hard on you.”
“I never wanted you to go through anything like this. But this is what family does. We’re there for each other regardless of how tough the times are.”
“Oh shit,” Dad says. Mom and I pull away, and look over to Dad. “You told her?” Mom nods. “We were going to tell you at dinner.”
“I’m so grateful that you thought of something like this,” I say to Dad.
“We’re going to fight back. That bastard thinks he’s tougher than us, but he has no idea what we’re capable of,” Dad says.
Dad’s determination and passion are in his voice. His eyes say he’ll kill Preston if he tries to do anything to stop us. “No one tears our family apart,” Mom adds.
Dylan walks into the kitchen, and steps back assessing what’s happening. “Um, sorry.” He looks between us. “Am I interrupting something?”
“Only the best news I’ve heard in a while,” I reply enthusiastically as I walk over to him and hug him.
“What’s happening? Can I help?” he asks. I give him a quick run-down of what’s going to happen tomorrow. “You’re right, that is fantastic news. What time are they going in?”
“They’re sending us an email with details of that. From the meeting we had this morning, it’ll be just after his parents leave for work. They’ll go in, take her, and get her to a safe house,” Mom replies.
“Is there anything I can do?” Dylan offers.
“No. Now it’s a waiting game,” Dad says. “But we appreciate that you want to help.”
“We’ve got to finish dinner,” I say as I stand and head back into the kitchen.
“What are we having?” Dad asks.
“Stir fry tonight,” Mom replies.
“I can help,” Dylan proposes.
“Do you want to get the bowls? It shouldn’t take too long.”
“Sure.”
I feel so much better and lighter knowing I’m going to have Tina back soon. My heart has been breaking and my soul has been wracked with anguish and fear. There’s a new lightness in the house. It feels like joy is creeping back in. Mom and Dad are both smiling for the first time I’ve seen since Tina left home. They look as relieved as I feel.
“Tell me about the Smithsonian,” Dad asks as we sit at the table to eat our dinner.
“It’s huge. I didn’t get a chance to fully appreciate it all. But Dylan has promised to take me back, and visit it with me.”
“Which one did you go to?”
“American History, but I want to go back and also see Air and Space Museum and the Art Museum.”
“Both of them?” Dylan asks.
“Hey, you promised to take me back. I didn’t say which one I wanted to see. So suck it up, buttercup.” I tease as I lean into him.
“Buttercup? Really? Do I look like a buttercup?” he says in a flat, playful tone.
I roll my eyes. “Whatever.” Mom laughs. “Oh my God. Last night, Dylan bought Russian food for us. This beet soup I had, um, what’s it called again?”
“Borscht,” Dylan says.
“We have to have it one night. It’s so good. He’s opening my palette to a whole range of different foods.”
“I heard about your homemade pizzas,” Dad says. “You know we have a wood-fired pizza oven out in the garden.”