Chapter 42

Mason Hart

We'd travelled for hours, and night had long since invaded the sky. The car was dark, so I stared blankly out of the window. Occasionally we would pass by a streetlight and I would instantly look down as the orange glow lit up Freya's sleeping face. Her expression wasn't one that I was used to seeing. Whenever I had watched her sleeping before, her face was always soft and peaceful, but now, well now, it was harsh and troubled. Every so often she would begin to whimper, and tears would slide down her cheeks. I'd gently wipe her tears away, then stroke her hair and in less than a minute she would relax and fall silent.

I wondered to myself what she had been through the last few years. I was so consumed with my own feelings of anger, sadness, and abandonment, that I didn't bother to think about how she was feeling or coping. I just assumed that she didn't care, that she was getting on with her life and having fun. How wrong I was. I