For The Love Of You

48

The next Afternoon

Cheryl's POV:
I was trying to get as much sleep as possible considering I tossed and turned thinking the worse about Olivia. There was a knock on the door followed by my daddy's voice.

"Baby girl?" He softly spoke as he entered the room.

"Hm..." I said as I sat up in bed and lightly rubbed both of my eyes.

"You having a hard time sleeping?" He then asked as he sat down at the foot of the bed.

"Yeah...I am." I said as I looked down in my lap and lightly ran my hands across the covers. "Just...can't get her off of my mind, you know?" I added as I looked up at him.

He lightly smiled and nodded his head.

"I know, sweetheart. We are all having a hard time with this but I know that you are having a hard time the most out of us all."

"You're right. No matter what I do, I can't stop thinking about her and how that night went down." I said as I fluttered my eyes a little bit and rubbed them again. I was tried but my brain wouldn't let me rest.

"You know...you did all that you could, Cheryl." He said as he stared at me.

"Why do I feel like that isn't true?" I asked him as I could feel my eyes starting to get glossy.

"It is true, Cheryl. Why do you feel like it isn't?"

"Because, Daddy. I feel like I should have fought harder for her! Every time I think about it- I just-...get mad at myself. I couldn't even help myself, Daddy! After what he did to me and I couldn't-...." I said as the tears started to fall. I dropped my head and felt my heart start to go numb.
"I couldn't save her." I then added as I started sobbing silently. "I couldn't." I said once more as I wiped my cheeks.

"Cheryl, listen to me- you act like you can't do anything else for her. You WILL get her back!" He told me in a stern voice.

"HOW?! As of right now, I can't do anything! Everybody expects me to put it all in the polices hands and I can't do that. If I did that, I would let her down and you know it." I told him out of frustration.

As I looked away from him, he stood up, walked over towards me and sat next to me in bed. Next, he pulled me into his arms and I turned around, wrapped my arms around his neck and cried.

"Let it out. I know it hurt." He said as he rubbed my back. I just continue to cry into the crook of his neck and he held me tightly.

There was something about my Daddy holding me in his arms that made me feel safe. Safe to cry and safe to be mad as hell. I didn't know what to do but him holding me is what gave me a little bit of strength back. I have never felt this weak in my entire life. Having my child taken away from me not once...but twice and being raped in my own house? I was so full of hurt and rage. At a point, I wanted to be done with but I couldn't do that. Even though I don't feel like it- I know that I'm strong enough to go through this. I have to be.

It's all for Olivia.

         THE NEXT DAY

When I woke up the next morning, I felt as if my heart was heavier today than it was yesterday. Every day without her is getting harder and harder. There's moments when I just cry and not even realize it until I snap back into reality. Recently, I've been stuck in my head and as usual- it's hard to get out.

Once I sat up in bed, I reached over to grab my phone off of the nightstand and read my notifications. Apparently, Mike had called me 5 times and he even left a text message telling me to call him as soon as I could.