My Name is NOT Cupcake

Chapter 9

I walked out of the room and down to the car. I hoped in, both excited and nervous to see my brother

and father again. Elias held a cloth bag up.

"I'm sorry, I have to do this," he said. I sighed and allowed it. At least he was letting me see my family.

Elias drove straight to my house. He stopped the car in front of the house and took the bag off. I turned

to him confused.

"How did you-"

"I do my research, Nova," he answered before I even finished. The way he said my name made me

sigh. It just rolled off his tongue like the sweetest desert. I cleared my head. I had to stop thinking that

way. I sighed and looked at the house. The lights were on. They were home. "Here, wear this," he said

handing me an earpiece. © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

"Why?" I asked.

"I'll feed you what to say, and I'll be able to hear what you say. It's best they don't look for you at all.

People will get hurt if they try," he explained. I sighed before I put the earpiece in. He put one in

himself.

"Can you hear me?" he tested. I nodded. He held my hand gently.

"You'll be okay," he assured me. It felt weird having him reassure me; my kidnapper. I hated more that it

actually worked. I nodded before I walked up to the door. I rang the doorbell and waited. My brother

answered the door. He eyes watered immediately when he saw me.

"Nova," he breathed. He wrapped me up in a suffocating bear hug. I returned it with my own.

"Nolan," I said softly. I peeked over his shoulder and saw my dad standing, watching on shocked.

"Nova," he whispered.

"Dad," I smiled through my tears. Nolan let go of me and I rushed to my dad. We hugged each other

tightly. I felt a wave of relief sweep over me.

"Novalyn, we thought you were dead," he cried. He pulled away and looked at me.

"I'm alive," I smiled gently. "I'm fine," I said.

"Nova, I'm here. Be careful what you say next," Elias said in my ear.

"How? What happened? Where have you been?" he asked quickly. They pulled me into the living room

and sat me down on the couch. I shook my head, not knowing what to say.

"Nova, say this..." Elias said in my ear. I listened before I turned to my dad.

"I went for a walk a-and I got lost. When I finally got back, everyone was gone. A man found me and

helped me out with clothes, food, everything. He finally figured out how to get me home," I lied.

"God, Novalyn, we were so worried about you," he said. My smile dropped slightly.

"I know but there’s something else," I continued.

"Breathe, Nova," Elias said sweetly. "Here comes the hard part and you only have a little time left," he

informed me. I sighed and listened before I felt my eyes water. Nolan was staring at me curiously.

"But... I can't stay," I continued. They both looked at me confused. "I just wanted you to know I was

alive. I didn't want you to think that the same thing that happened to mom happened to me. It's

complicated, but I love you both. Don't worry about me. I just don't want to be here anymore. The

people there treat me well, and I want to stay. Just know that I'm alive and I love you guys. But I hate it

here and I was planning on leaving anyway, so I already have."

"Nova, no, don't leave, please. We just got you back," Nolan said. I sighed and shook my head, sliding

a piece of scratch paper and a pen towards me.

"Well, what's going on? Why do you have to go? I'm sure whatever it is we can fix it. We always have."

Nolan asked. I wrote 'help me!' on the paper. They read it and looked at each other before I saw them

start to panic. I wrote 'Rigor Moon' on the paper, praying they would figure it out.

"I can't tell you, and I can't stay. I don't want to," I whispered. The words felt like vomit.

"Breathe, Nova. You're out of time. Stand and leave," Elias said in my ear. I almost forgot he was there.

I stood on shaky legs and wiped my tears.