Unforgettable (Haven Falls 4)

‘Knowing’ might be a bit of a strong word to use. I don’t particularly want to know her, I just want to meet her and understand her a little better in hopes to maybe understand myself just a little bit more.

All I know is that one minute, I was on my way to the hospital to go through my father’s new diet and exercise routine after deciding to skip school and the next, I was driving the hour and a half into Castle Rock.

It’s not exactly a nice area, but what do you expect from the place which houses some of the most dangerous female criminals in the area? I’d never thought I’d say it, but I think I prefer Haven Falls. It’s not glamorous like Broken Hill or offer much in the way of entertainment, but it’s home and as long as Noah is there, that’s what it’s always going to be.

Noah has been great over the past few days. His family has been looking out for Aria while I’ve been staying with dad and every spare minute Noah has, he’s been right by my side, making sure I’m holding up.

I’m not going to lie, it’s been hard. Seeing dad like that is something I’ll never forget, but the silver lining is that it has opened our eyes to how damn important it is to take care of ourselves. I never want to be in this position again. Handling this at eighteen is one thing, but I can only imagine how terrified Aria must be considering she doesn’t understand what’s going on. In her eyes, all she sees is that one moment her daddy was fine and the next, he was lying in hospital with hardly enough energy to explain to her why his heart was hurting.

Like I said…it’s been hard.

I guess I’m kind of lucky that I have so much going on right now. There’s all my schoolwork which Noah has been making sure I haven’t been lacking in, there’s Rivers being my brother and his mother also being mine, not to mention the whole ‘prostitution ring’ thing. Then, of course, add Anton’s betrayal into the mix.

All these things have ensured that I haven’t had the chance to dwell on dad’s situation too much as that would be a disaster. Though, keeping my mind busy with shit like that isn’t exactly healthy either.

I have so many questions that I still don’t have any answers to when it comes to my real mom and as each day goes by, it becomes startlingly clear that I’ll never be getting those answers from Rivers. He has distanced himself from us and all that seems to do is bring more questions. I miss him like crazy and the fact that he’s my brother and currently at boot camp for the military just seems to make it so much worse. I can’t even begin to think how Tully must be feeling, hell even Noah. They’ve been best friends since they were kids.

I mean, did Rivers know about this? Has he known all along that I was his sister and just refused to say anything? He tried to keep me out at first and maybe that was because he didn’t want me getting too close.

All I know is that I’m done digging for answers. I’m here to get them and I won’t be leaving without them.

I walk forward and make my way through the massive gates before heading on into the prison. Security guards are everywhere and I go through a hundred checks before advancing to each new step, only to go through more checks.

I’m patted down and then I step through a metal detector before getting into a fight with some bitchy woman about not having an appointment. I mean, what the hell is Gina doing in there that’s keeping her so busy as to need an appointment? This is ridiculous and she knows it, but giving me the benefit of the doubt, she allows me through.

Realizing this is actually going to happen, my nerves start getting the better of me. I’m actually about to meet my mother. This is crazy. I wonder if she’s going to look like me. Dad had said that she does, but he hasn’t seen her for eighteen years, that’s more than enough time for things to change. Is she going to be hot headed and have an attitude just like mine or is she going to be completely different?

Shit, I thought I already had too many unanswered questions filtering through my mind. I guess I was wrong as apparently, there’s always room for a million more.

I mean, what’s she been doing all this time in prison? Does she still run her business from inside? Is she treated well? Does she have to work in the kitchen, library, or laundry mat like they do in movies? Hell, I’m even curious what her ranking is with the other inmates. Surely, someone who had the brains to run a prostitution ring has what it takes to claw her way up to top bitch around here.