Family Stories - the Sequel

chapter 26

Monday, 19th September

Owen: 58; Amelia: 52; Luca: 23; Leo: 16; Lily: 16

Ryan: 27; Katie: 26; Riley: 10; Ian&Connor: 8

Liam: 24; Robin: 24; Victoria: 6; Audrey Blake: 4; Madelyn: 9 months

Finn: 24; Dennis: 24; Mason-Anthony: 2

Ruby: 24; Ethan: 25

Mira: 20; Harriet: 21; Eva-Maeve: 3

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"An inmate from Seattle prison is trying to call you. To take the call, please press one.", the female voice said once again. Carter had been trying to reach Amelia multiple times ever since he had started calling her on Friday.

She was sitting in her office, busy with paperwork. Well, now she was staring at her phone and taking a deep breath. The brunette knew he wouldn't stop until they had had a proper conversation, so she locked the door and took the call. Her heart was beating so fast, she could hear it in her ears.

"What do you want, Jacob?", the neurosurgeon immediately questioned, taking a seat on her couch. She grabbed the fabric with her free hand, trying to hold on to something while she waited for the man to respond.

"You. I miss you, Amelia.", her ex-fling answered. She could think of other words for him, but those would hurt her much more than him, so that was how she referred to him in her head, figuring that was the better phrase than her rapist.

"Are you kidding me? I don't miss you, though!", the brunette replied harshly. "Stop calling me!", she ordered, but both of them noticed the quivering in her voice. He was breaking her, again.

"You should come visit me. For the sake of the ten years that I have lived rent free in your head.", Jacob nonchalantly suggested, hitting another nerve. He could hear her trying to take a deep breath to stabilize herself.

"Shut up, just SHUT UP!", Amelia begged upset. "I am going to change my number.", she threatened, aware of the fact that this wouldn't change anything. "I'll throw away my phone.", she made another plan.

"Oh, come on, we both know you won't. If you wanna change your number, fine. But I'll find out the new one rather soon. You'd never live without your phone though, Baby.", the brunette made fun of her. "Please come visit me."

"No!", the neurosurgeon basically yelled. "Why would you even think that I want to visit you? How are you still alive?", she questioned, which was followed by silence from the other side of the phone.

"Woah, ouch.", Carter said, actually sounding a bit hurt. "When I tried to kill you, I didn't truly want you dead. Why would you say something like this to me?", he wondered confused.

"Because you are a monster, Jacob. And you are currently acting like I owe you something. Like we have actually been together for a while and there's history between us that needs to be talked about. But there is not. I am not even sure why I am having this discussion with a criminal. The only reason why I took this call was that I was hoping you would just leave me alone after. But obviously, I was wrong.", Amelia argued, too overwhelmed with the situation.

"Obviously.", her ex-fling agreed. "Because I love you and I am not going to give up until you and I have a future together. Everything I ever did to you was because of love and-", he continued, but suddenly she was gone after ending the call without saying goodbye.

For a while, the brunette just sat there, silently crying. She hated this. Every single year, he would make her life hell, and now she realized that Carter wasn't going to stop until he was dead. He would always find some way to contact her. She sniffled and opened the chat with her husband, who was supposed to still be at the hospital for two more hours today.

Amelia: Are you free right now? I did something bad.

Owen: Yeah, I am. What happened, Love?

Amelia: Just come here please. I'm in my office, I don't wanne be alone, I just wanna drink.

Owen: I'll be right there! <3

Amelia unlocked the door and waited for the redhead, sitting back down on the couch in the meantime. Her heart sank when her husband walked in with two coffees and a box of donuts about five minutes later.

"Couldn't get alcohol, so I figured we should just enjoy donuts and coffee together.", he tried to lighten her mood, actually getting his wife to chuckle. "So, what happened?", Owen wondered after putting the food down on her desk. He sounded more serious now as he sat down next to her on the couch.

"I took Jacob's call, because I thought he would stop pestering me after.", the neurosurgeon explained. Fresh tears were filling her eyes. "He's so obsessed with me. I asked him why he's still alive, that's how upset I am."

"Well, that is a harsh but very legitimate question, Babe.", her husband pointed out. "I know it is not easy, but you will have to start ignoring him completely. We can block the prison number or something. Maybe we can even call the prison and have them watch Carter whenever he tries to make a call. If he is typing your number, they can stop him.", he suggested softly.

"Maybe.", Amelia shrugged helplessly. "I mean, we can try.", she lamely agreed, before there was silence between them. Owen knew she wanted to say something else and gave her time to do so. "I am scared of falling back into the hole I was in right after it happened ten years ago. I mean, my annual depression is also right around the corner, but I feel like it's going to be worse this year. I don't ever wanna be the completely broken person I used to be back then again."

"Ames, you won't be. And I can prove this to you.", the trauma surgeon answered. "Back then, you would've just left this office after the call and gotten a drink. But this time, you didn't. You asked me to come here, and you even told me about your urge to have alcohol. That is progress. You just have to continue letting me help you, and we will be alright."

"Can I have a donut?", his wife mumbled, letting him gently wipe the tears off her cheeks with his thumb before he got up and grabbed the box. "So, are you going to call the prison tomorrow?", she wanted it confirmed.

"Of course, I will.", Owen promised and offered her a reassuring smile. "I love you, Honey. We've got this. Would you like to stay home from work tomorrow?", he asked since she would be home around 11pm and had to leave around 5 in the morning.

"No, thank you. I need the distraction. But thank you. I appreciate everything you're doing for me, Owen. Sometimes, I can't show that because I am so overwhelmed. But I want you to know how much I appreciate you.", the brunette said, receiving a kiss to her forehead.