Darkness Within by Lizzie Vega

Author:Lizzie Vega [Vega, Lizzie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-05-11T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

As Shannon walked into the loft, both Eliza and Terra stared at her, quickly finding a telling clue as to how the meeting may have gone. Olivia came to a sliding stop in the living room archway, her stocking feet sliding on the polished floor, “How’d it go?” she gushed, “Did you yell at her? Did you have a fight?”

“Ollie,” Terra sputtered, putting her fingertip to the corner of her eye, “Lay off your Mom. Let her land.”

Olivia looked at her mother’s splotchy complexion and backpedaled, “I’m sorry, that was really tacky of me.”

Shannon was quick to play down any drama, “I’m fine. Actually, really good.” She glanced at Terra, “I uh, got pretty worked up by the time I got there and laid into her pretty hard.”

“Uh-oh,” Terra winced, “Clash of the Titans, huh?”

“Not quite. I said some things, she said some things…I made her cry and it went downhill from there, then,” She pointed to Eliza, “We talked about your experience with her.”

“What experience?” Olivia chimed in, “Wait, you made Angela cry?”

Eliza raised her hand as if she was thinking the same as Shannon, “I was just starting work in Oregon and Angela came to visit for a…conference. I got a little overwhelmed by her and I sorta checked out right at her feet.”

“You fainted?” Olivia filled in the blanks, closing her eyes, “How embarrassing. Where you okay after that?” The look on her face was of deep concern. Eliza grinned, thinking she had diffused the issue. “I was fine. When I came to, Angela was taking care of me, the noob historian.”

“Ha, that’s cool. Noob,” she snorted, “I’m starving. Let’s go eat.”

As Terra raced Olivia out to the car, Shannon held Eliza back, “I have every reason to believe that Angela did that for you to protect you, but I have to ask-”

“I had seizures when I was young,” Eliza offered suddenly, “not very often but if I got overstimulated, then well. I hadn’t had one in a long time and with all the intensity? To be honest, Shan. I haven’t had one since.”

Shannon sighed in relief, “That’s our secret, but it completely lines up with Angela’s story. We’ll chat more when Olivia goes to bed. There’s way more to this story that I would prefer she doesn’t hear quite yet. I think we should talk about anything but the coins and all that.”

During the quick dinner out, Shannon found herself content to sit back and listen as the conversation flowed naturally from subject to benign subject. Olivia’s school project was front and center as was Eliza’s painfully funny story about her first tattoo. It kept them in stitches. While Shannon joined in occasionally, she mostly just sat and enjoyed how normal it all felt. The soft smile across her began to fade as she fought against what she had witnessed that afternoon.

Arriving home, Shannon had grown increasingly quiet. Earlier than usual, Olivia gave out her goodnight hugs and went to her room. She caught Terra’s eye with a nod just as she closed her bedroom door.

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