Indigo Ch. 5

Sam took a long time to process all that had happened to her in the span of two short days. She had met Amanda, almost been captured by the blonde, and now was driving Northwest with a strange man who had just saved her life. She sat silently for several hours. Questions were swarming in her head. The past forty-eight hours left her exhausted and drained. However, she needed to understand what was happening to her and where they were going.

Sam set herself to analyzing the young man who drove the SUV. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties, short black hair, and tattoos peeked out from underneath his clothing. She got the feeling that he was ready to go home but that returning was also causing him a great deal of sadness. Sam started to feel a similar dread creep into her own psyche.

The pair drove through the night, only stopping to get fuel and for Edward to stop and make whispered phone calls outside of the vehicle. When the sun started to rise, Edward stopped at a gas station to fill-up and take another phone call. Sam quietly opened the passenger door to walk around the back of the vehicle.

"She hasn't really spoken to me since the hotel. What do you want me to do, start interrogating her after she suffered such a huge trauma?" he hissed.

"I said no. She isn't ready. We have several hours until we get home. Let me handle this part please." His voiced was slight raised.

"I don't agree. This is exactly why I should…" out of the corner of his eye he saw Sam walking toward him. He cut off the conversation abruptly and turned his complete attention to her.

"Why don't you walk in and grab a snack or something? We have about six hours to go and we have to talk." He silently hoped that she had not heard much of the conversation. The less confusion that he caused her at first, the better it would be.

Sam knew she was the object of their conversation. She felt certain that Edward wanted to use their car ride for her to rehash everything that had led her to this place. Sam didn't want to entertain him. Her journey was private and she wanted it left in the past. She walked into the station and picked up a bottle of soda and a protein bar. She took out her remaining cash, now almost completely depleted. Luckily, this place still accepted cash. With the passage of the new Credit Law, it would be obsolete within a few years. Hopefully they would have free food wherever they were going because now she was completely broke.

When Sam re-entered the car, the mood had all changed. What was once a feeling of anticipation mixed with dread, had now shifted to curiosity and calm. It immediately put her at ease. Maybe she was ready to talk about it after all. Maybe this would prove to be some kind of release and then she could forget it completely. Maybe sharing could convince him to tell her what was going on.

"I am sorry that you were able to hear my conversation. It may be for the best though." Something was dramatically different, Sam thought. Maybe getting chewed out on the phone was enough to make him change tactics. He grinned at her slightly, "Now that the cat is out of the bag. We can get down to business. I am sure you have a lot of questions, but so do we."

"I guess you want to know why that woman was hunting me down?" Sam asked with guilt.

"Actually, I have already read your file. I am well aware of why she wanted you."

"Oh. " Relieved that she would not have to re-live her time at the hospital and explain what was wrong with her. Now she was more concerned that he had a file on her. They must have hacked the hospital or stolen it. "Then what more can you possibly need from me?"

"I actually want to know why you ran away. Your family went to some significant lengths to find you. It seems that they love you. But yet, you evaded them for over a year." The young man did not actually seemed convinced of the line he was feeding to Sam.

"They aren't my family," she responded flatly.

"Oh, really?"

"I was adopted. My mom and dad abandoned me at a homeless shelter when I was five. This family was looking for a little girl, and I was available." It sounded a little clinical, but it was honest.

"They adopted you into their family. They loved you and took care of you for quite a while."

"They didn't love me." Sam said. "Honestly, they didn't even want me."

"Don't be so dramatic. Why would they take in a daughter that they didn't want?"

"That I can't tell you. But, I am fairly good at knowing the intentions of others. For eleven years they thought of me as an obligation and not as a daughter." Sam was calm as she said this. She had expected herself to be more emotional, but she wasn't. She had refused to admit this, even after years of therapy. It seemed wrong to be so critical and mean toward those who provided for her, but now the Noble family seemed like such a distant memory. Saying the truth out loud was cathartic.

"If they didn't really want you around, then why would they spend so much money looking for you? You do realize that our blonde huntress was a private investigator trying to bring you home, don't you? A particularly talented one if I might add. She had almost nailed you down. If we hadn't found you when we did, she would be driving you back to Virginia now," he continued.

"I don't know what to tell you. Mr. and Mrs. Noble always made sure I was taken care of, but they never really loved me. Not the way that my parents did. I can tell you that for sure." The guilt of speaking ill of her adopted family was completely gone. It was the truth. She no longer had to hide from that truth.

"Your parents must not have loved you very much, to leave you abandoned in a shelter," he stated in a cool tone. The pain of this statement stung Sam deeply. It was her deepest fear that somehow her memory of her parents was incorrect, that they had not loved her.

"They didn't want to leave me. I know that they didn't. I just don't know what happened. Why are you asking me all of this? You were looking for me too, you know." Sam was starting to feel desperate.

The black-haired man smiled gently, and darted his eyes toward her. "I am sorry if I upset you. Truthfully, I just wanted to see if you were going to try to go back to them. Those who miss their families often try to return. The consequences of returning home are usually disastrous."

"So you mean that the expectation is that I never return to them again?" Sam questioned.

"Precisely." His voice was definite and yet reassuring. Almost as if he knew she had no intentions of returning. "Can you live with that?"

A sudden rush of peace swept over Sam. This is exactly what she had wanted all along. She wanted to get away from the Noble's. She wanted far away from that hospital. She wanted freedom. This seemed to be exactly what he was offering her. It was the best option she had been presented with in a long time.

"I think I can live with that." If Sam was honest with herself, she was more than capable of living this way. She could be safe from the reach of the hospital and far from that family. Maybe she could finally rest.

"Now, can you tell me where we are going?"