Chapter Twenty-Four

Bette Porter narration

I was so excited. Finally, I was getting out of here. I had begged Marina to take Moira as well. It just seemed like my life was going to be right again.

I didn’t expect my dad or my sister to be really glad I was back. I didn’t know where to go. Tina, I wanted to see Tina. Her picture was oxygen to me. But I didn’t know if she would take me back after my sudden absence.

I knew I was a jackass. I knew I didn’t treat her right, I had left her just as Fiona – or Jodie, or Henriette, whatever her name was – snapped her fingers. Tina deserved better than that. But the fact was that I wanted her. More than that, I needed her. I couldn’t live without her. I wouldn’t have survived the horror without the thought of her.

I didn’t want to give up. I would beg her every day to take me back and I would give everything of myself, I would do anything she asked me to do. She was my life and I had to convince her of my love for her. She had to know that a second did not pass without me thinking about her.

Moira was sitting next to me as we were disappearing in the night. I knew I wouldn’t miss Fiona for a second. I knew that running away wouldn’t stop what was going on there, that others girls would be the victim of these people, but I also knew that I couldn’t do anything about it.

This stuff would always happen, however cruel it was. I couldn’t feel bad that some other girl had to take my place now. If I had been able to save any girl, I would have, but I wasn’t. I was already glad that Moira could escape as well.

Through everything, we had become really good friends. We shared every secret. Moira wouldn’t go home, she wasn’t wanted. Her parents could just deal with the fact that she was gay, but when she had told them later that she wanted to be a man and was planning to go through with that if she had the right age, they had kicked her out.