Ghost Me Once More And I’m Gone Chapter 06
After the long flight across the Atlantic, I wasn’t tired at all.
It was already evening when I landed in London.
I pulled my suitcase through customs and turned my phone back on.
Calls and messages flooded in.
My parents had left so many messages I could barely see the end of them.
I deleted them all without reading.
The message requests were all from Ethan.
Emma, we need to talk.
Talk about what?
There was nothing left between us to talk about.
I put my phone away.
A new coworker met me outside the airport.
She helped load my suitcase into the trunk and spent the drive telling me about the office and the neighborhood.
For the first time in years, I truly relaxed.
I checked in at the London branch, then moved into the company apartment that night.
When I opened the window, the smell of butter drifted from a bakery on the corner.
A mild evening breeze moved through the room, carrying an oak leaf past the glass.
It felt like a sign.
My life was finally turning a new page.
During my first month, I took over a major project and pulled several all-nighters.
The result was strong enough that my boss took the whole team out to celebrate.
In my second month, I met Maya, an Asian American woman who lived next door.
She invited me to markets, exhibitions, and coffee shops.
She became my first real friend in London.
No one here deliberately pretended I didn’t exist.
People remembered what I liked.
They asked for my opinion.
If I got too busy to eat, someone might bring me a sandwich without making a big deal about it.
Being wanted.
Being noticed.
Those were things I had almost never experienced before.
Now I had them.
In my third month, an unfamiliar number called.
My parents were crying on the other end.
Hearing their voices again stirred almost nothing inside me.
Mom spoke first.
“Emma, why did you go so far away?”
“Do you really not want this family anymore?”
“How are you supposed to take care of yourself alone in London? I’m worried about you.”
Funny.
No one had worried about me when I was trapped alone in the woods.
“I don’t want it anymore,” I said. “And I can take care of myself.”
Dad took the phone.
The man who had always been so hard and prideful sounded like he was choking back tears.
“Emma, I saw the DNA report.”
“I’m sorry.”
“We failed you as parents. You will always have a place in this family.”
“Chloe moved out. No one will ever deliberately ignore you again.”
I laughed softly.
I had secretly arranged the test in college.
One day, I had come home and overheard my parents arguing behind a locked bedroom door.
Dad said looking at me reminded him of his old suspicions and made him uncomfortable.
Mom said she was exhausted and didn’t want to deal with it anymore.
A suspicion that had never been proven had become a chain around my neck for twenty years.
Chloe was not innocent.
But the reason she had been able to hurt me without consequences was because my parents had allowed it every single time.
Their apology was twenty years too late.
“Chloe moving out is her decision.”
“Whether I come back is mine.”
“You always loved pretending you couldn’t see me, right?”
“Don’t worry. Now you really never have to see me again.”
The other end went silent.
“Emma…”
“That’s not what we meant. We were wrong.”
I had run out of patience.
“I have work to do. Goodbye.”
Just as I was about to hang up, Ethan’s urgent voice came through.
“Emma, wait!”
I didn’t answer.
“Are you doing okay over there?”
I flipped through a project file.
“What answer are you hoping for? That I’m miserable?”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
“I have a good job, I’m busy enough to sleep the second my head hits the pillow, and I’ve made new friends.”
“Ethan, my life without you is actually a lot better.”
His breathing changed.
“That’s not possible.”
“I know I screwed up, but I never meant for you to get that badly hurt. You can’t erase five years over one mistake.”
I let out a short laugh.
“One mistake?”
“Who left me stranded on the day of my SAT?”
“Who deliberately put a trap on the trail I had to take at the campsite and nearly got me killed?”
“That wasn’t one mistake, Ethan. It was a pattern.”
“Stop using the word love. It makes me sick.”
Panic finally entered his voice.
“Emma, that’s not what I meant. I didn’t know it would—”
Too noisy.
I hung up.