My body was different.
Hell, the person reflecting back at me in the mirror was different.
My fingers hovered over the third degree burns across my torso. They were actually worse than the direct burns to my palm. The blister on my hand was now left only mildly scarred.
However, enduring proximity to the fire over a longer period of time (instead of actually being on fire), cooked me alive slowly.
My stomach was pink and leathery, resembling a wrinkled beef jerky. Skin split and curling away from the tissue beneath it. Blisters stretched over the wound and filled with liquid.
Although I could clearly see where I was marked the pain had no point of place. It echoed through my body as if it was coming from everywhere.
Sometimes I convinced myself the pain wasn't even from my burns, it was from my memories.
Those blisters might disappear, the skin might join back together but I will still be left with this ugly scar.
This ugly, constant reminder of everything that happened inside that mansion and everything that happened in the month that followed.
"What are you doing?"
His soft, sing-song voice scarred the absolute shit out of me. How long had he been standing there?
"Nothing." I mumbled, fastening the robe tie so he could no longer look at my disgusting body.
He sat down on our bed, a stack of papers readily in his hand like he was about to discuss the next steps of our life.
And don't get me wrong, I get it. The world needed to keep on turning, I was just too caught up on the last steps to even think about whatever comes next. Everyone has moved on and if I don't get over everything that happened quickly I'll get left behind.
"I need your mom to sign here so I can transfer temporary management of the company to one of my team members."
I shook my head, still feeling disbelief over the whole situation. River was crazy.
"All those years ago before you left town, why would you give my mom a share of your company? She was an alcoholic, erratic as hell and you barely knew us both."
"I don't judge Millie, I never have." He shrugged nonchalantly. "Nobody would ever suspect a multi billionaire would hand over a share of his company to a small town alcoholic. They'd never even think to check if she was written into my will. She was nobody to me so it was the perfect cover."
During the height of Everly's medical expenses she kept telling me she had a 'rainy day fund' tucked away if I really needed it. I always declined because I knew what that 'rainy day fund' was. Or at least I thought I did. Since my father she collected a 'rainy day fund' and kept it hidden away incase she ever needed to escape another abusive relationship.
"I always trusted she would keep my money safe, addiction or not." He added.
"How could you just put so much trust in her?"
The decision to put so much trust into my mother was absolutely insanity. I didn't even trust her that much.
"The day she invited me over for dinner, you remember that?"
"How could I forget? She fed you spaghetti hoops and pre applied the ketchup. It's scarred into my brain." He laughed.
"Yeah, not the exact memory I was recalling but remember how you invited me up to your bedroom and I expected things to get sexual between us so that you'd let me stay for dinner?"
