Who: Heather Miller What: A Phone Call When: Sunday, July 24 Where: Her home Rating/Warnings: Low/Light cursing, and thoughts about dream death Status: Complete Narrative
Heather's stare alternated between the number she held in her one hand, and her cell phone in the other. Her thumb hovered over the number pad, ready to dial but Heather's heart was still beating too fast in her chest, and butterflies seemed to have taken up residence in her stomach. She let out a long breath, and then collapsed back onto the couch. God, she was a fucking idiot.
In her dreams she'd faced off against her cousin, and bad cops that wanted her dead. She'd fought hard to get free, to make her life her own in them and yet here she was, afraid to call the woman that'd given her up out of fear.
Fight or flight, she'd chosen to do one or the other to survive her dreams but here all she wanted to do was toss her phone back down onto the coffee table and watch Netflix for the rest of the night. Or you know, drink away her memory.
No, she couldn't do that. She sat back up, and turned her phone back on. The worst thing that Loretta Sawyer could do to her was tell her that she didn't want to talk to her, and to never contact her again. If she said that, then Heather could justify drowning herself in a bottle tonight, and maybe again some other time later this week if she felt so inclined.
Still, her thumb hovered over the screen, her resolve waning with each passing second. The words that Killian said to her came back, if she never called, she'd never know exactly how her mother felt and would living with the regret of never doing it outweigh the actual outcome? Her adopted parents, as crazy as they were, still loved her. They were far better people here than they were in the dreams, and if Loretta rejected her she would still have them.
Finally she hit the numbers, then send and held the cell phone up to her ear. Her heart was hammering in her chest with each ring, and then a soft voice with a clear Texan twang answered.
"Hello?"
Heather paused long enough for the woman on the other end to say hello again, and that pulled her out of her shock.
"Um, hi, sorry." Heather cleared her throat, "Are you Loretta Sawyer?"
"Yes, I am." Loretta's voice sounded a bit confused, and Heather could tell she was about to say something else when she spoke up.
"This is going to sound crazy," she stood up, and began pacing around the small space between her couch and coffee table, "but um, I'm your daughter." Well that'd come out abruptly.
There was a pause on the other end, and Heather held her breath. "Oh my goodness." Loretta breathed out, and Heather could hear that she'd come a little choked up. "I'd hoped you'd call one day."
Heather's lips turned up into a wide smile, her shoulders finally relaxing. "Well, I'm sorry that it took me so long to get into contact with you." She still stood there, listening to the sound of Loretta crying on the other end, "It's okay. I'm okay really. My adoptive parents were good to me," here, "and I know you did what you had to do." Heather had never thought that her mother had abandoned her, well once she'd found out she'd been adopted.
"I was so young." Loretta spoke, still sniffling, "I didn't know what else to do and they...I thought you'd hate me for what I had to do."
Heather shook her head, despite the fact that she knew Loretta couldn't see her. "No, no. I don't hate you. I was actually terrified to make this call." She laughed, and Loretta did the same on her end.
The two of them talked until the battery on Heather's phone was nearly drained, and they made plans for Heather to fly out to Texas to meet her. Of course, Heather would go see her adoptive parents during that time too, but she was excited about seeing her birth mom.
She plugged up her phone, sent a quick text message to the person that'd helped her and she took a sip of a celebratory beer. Even if the dreams were shit, and Heather could die in them at any second, right now she was happy she'd made the right call and faced her fears.