"I was sick of letting the world run me so I decided to run the world."
~~~
Isabelle Cane was taken from her family at 6 months old, leaving behind 7 older brothers and a twin sister. In the 12 years she's been away, Izzy has faced hardships no chi...
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LIAMS POINT OF VIEW
I remember the first time I saw Finley have a panic attack when he was 10. He had gotten in trouble at school for throwing something in class and one of us had to go in and talk to the principal. I was 19 at the time, and the older two were at work so I had to leave my college class to go pick him up. I remember he was crying when I got there. I now realize just how hard he was crying. More than a child should be even in those circumstances. I didn't think much of it at the time. Until he began to hyperventilate so rapidly it was a wonder he didn't pass out on the spot. I can still picture the look of pure terror on my little brother's face as he tried and failed to get some air into his lungs. I managed to get him calmed down after a few minutes.
That was the second scariest thing I had ever been through with my siblings.
Until Logan called and told us about the car accident. I've never felt so scared as I did while I drove to the hospital, my brothers and sister dispersed in separate cars as we made a mad dash to the hospital. Logan was crying on the phone. His boyfriend was in the car too. He said no one would tell him anything at the hospital about either of them. I knew he was panicking. We all were too. I may not be Izzy's favorite person but the idea of losing her made me sick to my stomach.
We just got her back. Well sort of. We got her physically back, but the girl I thought would come to Harlan, never did. She was a shell of a child. And that's what made me the angriest. It was clear to the dullest of people that Izzy had never been a child. Just the way she carried herself I could see she was wise beyond her years. It made me sad, but more than that, it made me angry. I had never been close with my Mom, not even as a kid, but after she took Izzy away at only 6 months old, I couldn't help but hate her more than I ever would have if she had just left. It wasn't right. The way she treated us and the way she treated Izzy. I think about it all the time.
When Izzy flinches away from one of our touches, cowers into herself when things get too loud, or even when she bites her lip until it bleeds. All habits that are all too consistent with kids who've been through trauma.
My arms were practically shaking from how tight I was gripping the steering wheel. I'm not the type to panic, but this was a new level of stress and anxiety I haven't experienced in a long time. I knew Jace was feeling it too. He had jumped in next to me as soon as I had climbed into the car, claiming that the other one was too full. I just think he wanted some quiet, and he knew I wouldn't force conversation on him.
"Do you think she's okay?" He asked quietly.
I gulped. "I have no idea J," I answered honestly. Logan had been crying too hard to tell us exactly what happened, and Tyler didn't push. We all knew how much Logan loved Izzy and Teo. It would kill him to lose either one of them. It would kill us all to lose Izzy.
"She has to be okay," He whispered to himself. I could see a tear roll down his cheek. Jace was never an emotional person. In fact, we always used to make fun of him for not showing any feelings. He was caring and kind, but a polite smile or stone face was all you could get out of him most of the time. But this was new territory for all of us. We've managed to keep all of our family out of harm's way for as long as we could, but with Izzy, we had failed long ago and now we had failed her once more. "I can't lose her again,"
