| Subject: Traumatic Amnesia 138 |
Author:
Nikita507
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Date Posted: Sunday, June 14, 04:29:17pm
In reply to:
Nikita507
's message, "Traumatic Amnesia 135+" on Saturday, June 13, 05:03:29pm
Adrian put the turkey back into the oven and closed it carefully. She looked at the timer and rubbed her neck as she walked back into the dining room where Belinda was counting the chairs. “Walter really goes full out for Thanksgiving…”
“Yes, he does,” Belinda nodded her head as she looked outside to where the guests were outside either participating in some sort of touch football game or, in Nikita’s case, laughing at the comedy show. “I hope he never slows down.”
“That’s fine,” Adrian looked out the window and swallowed. She had to wonder how Nikita and Michael were handling this holiday. They might have enough distractions from things to not have any thoughts about past holidays, but still, Adrian worried – especially about Nikita.
“She is doing fine,” Belinda commented as she could recognize the look on Adrian’s face. She worried a lot about Nikita and Belinda admired that. Adrian was there to support Nikita and had kind of stepped into that mother role that Madeline vacated when the truth came out. “I’m glad that no one pushed to bring Madeline here today.”
Adrian nodded her head. That would have been too much and Adrian was sure of that. “I’m also glad that they didn’t bring Fusayo here.”
Belinda dropped her head as she knew that Walter was torn up about that decision. Fusayo was going to have Thanksgiving with Madeline and Karl as they had taken the young girl in as the authorities still tried to figure out who she was and where she belonged. But no one wanted to open up the discussion with Nikita that Paul may be brainwashing again. “You know that it was the right decision, Belinda.”
Nodding her head, Belinda knew that it was right. However, she didn’t want to dwell on that topic right now. “And I heard that Madeline is going to go back to Wolfe Institute on Monday.”
“But Davenport is in charge,” Adrian commented with a nod of her head. She liked Davenport and was happy that the large man was going to back to work as being a therapist. But more than that, he was meant to be an administrator. Rene thought that he had made the decision, but it was clear that Michael had strongly suggested Davenport take over Wolfe Institute, which was retaining the old name for now while the takeover was still not being publically spoken about.
“But it’s good for Madeline,” Belinda declared as she had spent some time with Madeline since Michael and Nikita had left the house. Madeline was just as much of a victim as Nikita was. Madeline was still getting through her own issues but she wanted to help others. Karl felt that there was no harm in her trying to do that and he felt that it was ok to go back to work. Of course Madeline would be going in with Karl by her side, just in case.
Nikita was cold and she was tired of standing there. She only had one crutch and right now she felt like she needed a walker. The cold was just seeping into her body and she wanted to stay and watch. She loved watching Michael running and playing. He was so graceful and elegant with his movements that Nikita found it hard to think of this as being a scrimmage of touch football. She loved how he broke free from the back and ran down the length of the yard.
Kate, who was out there playing football, had warned Nikita to not push it on this day and Nikita knew her limits. It was time to get inside. Nikita had completed a mile walk, with her one crutch this morning as part of the city’s “Turkey Trot”. Kate had been against it, but Nikita had been doing very good in therapy. She had relented and allowed Nikita to do it as long as she used the one crutch. Kate walked with Nikita, along with everyone else. No one was going to do the long five mile walk if Nikita couldn’t.
Turning towards the house, Nikita started up the stairs, smiling with the thoughts of the holiday that she didn’t anticipate enjoying this much. She had a sense that Thanksgiving was just about turkey and gathering as a family, but this was much more.
Nikita looked at the door and things started to change.
The door was battered and bruised from the bad elements outside. There was a young child pushing it open, no heavy clothes to protect his body from the weather outside. Turning to the side, Roberta was there, dragging Nikita forward. “You want to be thankful for something… be thankful I don’t leave you on the side of the street…”
She was pushed down the stairs to find it not much warmer inside than it had been outside in the snow. Nikita got to her feet and looked around the dark. Turning, she could see two men walking towards her.
“Nikita?” Michael called out as he saw Nikita just standing at the door, staring at it. She didn’t respond to his call and he called out once more as he stepped closer towards the porch, knowing that he was shouting now. Still there was no response.
Belinda and Adrian heard Michael’s second shout of Nikita’s name. They looked at each other and glanced out the window to only see Nikita’s arm that was supporting her up on the crutch. Both women knew that this wasn’t good.
”Please… don’t….” Nikita begged as her mother pushed her down to the ground. “You know how things are…. You cost me money… you need to make me money…”
The men laughed as they handed over bills to Roberta and looked down at Nikita. “She looks little, Ro…”
“She has plenty of breaking in…” Roberta laughed as she pushed her hand into her pocket and handed over a bag to the second man. “Your extra perk…”
“Damn right…” the man smiled as he bent down and squashed Nikita’s face with his hands. “I think you are going to enjoy this shit….”
Michael got to the porch as he could feel that everyone who was watching the game had stopped playing. Mick was probably moving towards the porch, but Michael didn’t have a moment to worry about that. He saw Belinda and Adrian opening the door in front of Nikita and both of their faces told him enough. Michael placed his hands on Nikita’s shoulders. “Kita…. Kita…”
Adrian opened the screen door and stepped forward. Nikita was lost in thoughts and they weren’t pretty. The tears were streaming down Nikita’s face from her blue eyes. It was awful that the holiday had brought this on, but Adrian had been prepared for it. “Nikita… it’s a memory… just close your eyes and look at Michael and me….”
Nikita’s mouth was moving as she was stuck in the memory and Michael looked at Adrian. She knew that Michael wanted to believe that Nikita would never like this again, but it had always been a chance. Nikita’s mother had damaged the girl badly before Paul got his hands into Nikita’s mind. There was bound to be things that Nikita had already pushed away from her memories before Paul started to erase them. Now that she was in a safe relationship, supported to deal with these things, she was able to start dealing with them. But to deal with them, Nikita had to remember them first.
“Not today…. It’s thanksgiving….” Nikita spoke but it was clear that it was what she had said at some point in her childhood. She had to be young. Adrian was sure of that.
”Oh, I’ll be giving thanks….” The man lewdly rubbed his hand against his crotch as he walked over to Roberta and kissed her deeply. Roberta tilted her head back and Nikita realized that her mother was high yet again. It always got to be this bad when Roberta was using. She had thought that this time, it was getting better. Roberta had been under control for a couple weeks. They had had a place to stay.
“I’m thankful that you have cash…” Roberta declared as she ran her hand down to the man’s pants. “And I’m grateful that you are going to show myself and my girl a good time with that love stick that you have…”
“NO! NO! NO!” Nikita shouted and then almost collapsed. She would have hit the ground if Michael hadn’t been there. He had her and slowly lowered Nikita and himself to the ground. Adrian pushed Belinda back into the house and Mick approached from the yard.
“She passed out…” Adrian spoke first as Michael cradled Nikita in his arms. He didn’t care what had happened, he just cared that Nikita would wake up and not be stuck in the state that she had been in moments ago.
Nikita started to curl forward and cry even more. Mick reached out and rubbed the spot on her forearm that Michael was protectively guarding. “It’s ok, Popsicle… it was just a memory…”
Nikita nodded her head up and down and Michael felt like he could breathe again. He realized that he had been holding his breath from the moment that Nikita shouted out the word no. He bowed his head and pressed kissed against Nikita’s forehead. “I’m here, Kita… I have you…”
Nikita leaned her head back and opened her eyes. She saw Michael and shakily nodded her head. “Thank you.”
Michael held her tightly and Nikita touched Michael’s chin. “I’m cold…”
“We’ll get you inside…” Michael agreed as he looked around and Mick helped him to stand before he picked Nikita up. Nikita looked at Michael. “I can walk…”
“Please don’t act like this was nothing, Kita…”
“I’m not…” Nikita defended herself immediately. “But I don’t need you to carry me… and I’ll tell you everything that I remember…”
Belinda opened the door for the couple and Adrian stopped Mick from following the couple. “It’s between them right now.”
“Bullshit,” Mick hissed and Adrian turned and stared at Mick. Mick groaned. “How do you know?”
“I don’t want Nikita thinking that whatever happened ruined Thanksgiving… this is probably one of the first good Thanksgivings that she is having… let’s not let these past couple minutes ruin the happiness of the day.”
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