| TWO YEARS LATER |

Ambrosia sat in her car, nestled under the shade of a small tree. Her hands gripped the steering wheel as her eyes burned holes into the pavement. Her thoughts were reluctant to line up with the reality of her situation.

The events of her past had been hard for her to come to terms with and of course, would never leave her but somehow she had made it.

However, sometime she wondered if she would have been better of dead then where she was now.

Ambrosia ha survived all but emotionally. There was a oddness about her now, a sudden paranoia and depression that hung off her like an iron cloak. As the days continued it felt as if it was growing heavier and heavier.

How long would she last like this?

Ambrosia stiffened as another car rolled past her and stopped crooked in a parking spot. No matter how many times she did this it always managed to scare her.

A reasonably muscular man in grey sweatpants and a black jacket stepped out of the driver's seat and looked around before striding over to her car. Ambrosia rolled down her tinted window and stared blankly at the man. He pushed his beanie back on his head and smiled leaning his arms against the top of her car.

Ambrosia sighed and pulled out a three crinkled one-hundred dollar bills. The man took it and held out a small pouch.

"So how's your day been, A?" he questioned.

Ambrosia frowned and grabbed at the bag and the man pulled it back. She glanced at him clearly alarmed and he laughed.

"Ricky, stop playing and give me the pills," Ambrosia huffed.

Ricky tapped the top of her car in thought and glazed over her as he usually did with his muddy brown eyes.

"What do you say about coming over to my place tonight, I could lend you some other stuff too."

Ambrosia shook her head and held out her hand pointing to the small bag dangling from his fingers.

"No, we are done hooking up remember?"

"Really, a two week break and we are done, now?"

"Ricky, stop-"

"Ah c'mon A, your getting to used to Vicodin anyway," Ricky insisted.

"You don't know that."

"Oh, are you just buying double your usual amount to share with friends?" Ricky teased.

"Just give me the fucking pills!"

Ambrosia smacked her steering wheel and frustration and tried to adjust her trembling hands as she glanced away from him nervously, more so ashamed of her uncontrollable mindset.

"Please," she whimpered.

"Alright, alright," Ricky flicked the bag into her lap. As Ambrosia fumbled to retrieve it. He tapped her cheek with his cold thumb.

"It's gonna cost you next time, babe."

Ricky jogged back to his car and with a loud rev from his engine he sped out of the old parking lot and swerving onto the main road.

Ambrosia shoved the pills into her shirt and slowly drove home. Dating Ricky was a mistake, with the exception of discounted drugs, Ambrosia hated his higher than life personality. Especially when he demanded her attention. She had tried several times to get out of their wacko relationship but he had a certain way of...forcing them back together.

It was a matter of time before Ambrosia would give into him, in her mind there was really no way out.

Ambrosia had found work at a small bookstore after dropping out of college. There wasn't much drive in her spirit anymore. As young kids came to volunteer at the shop she could only sit complacent in her job, the only thing keeping her alive at this point.

Well, the pills helped as well ironically enough and as she dragged herself up the steps of her apartment building at searched for her door she realized Ricky was right. The pills were beginning to feel like nothing and this urged her to use more.

The outcome of overusing was obvious, but was it a way out?

It was.

Ambrosia fell back onto an old red sofa couch and pulled a blanket over her legs. On the table in front of her, she flung her phone and keys beside a bottle of beer and two suspicious lines of white substance.

Those were leftovers from a few nights ago. From a serious breakdown she had, Ambrosia hadn't touched cocaine since the incident at her grandmother's house.

The thought of her relapse only pushed her back down the rabbit hole of memories.

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Brianna had rushed Ambrosia to the Emergency Room.

A nurse had her put swiftly onto a hospital bed and everything around her soon became unrecognizable. Ambrosia had been only slightly receptive the day after the surgery due to a immense blood loss. As she recovered, distant family members came to visit only offering solemn words of comfort. It had been a week when the news was finally disclosed to her, the information that would settle in her mind and cause her to spiral downwards to the level where she was now.

Ambrosia vividly remembered when Brianna stepped into her hospital room joined by a man, only days after her procedures.

"Ambrosia how are you feeling?" Brianna asked softly placing a bouquet of fresh flowers beside her window.

"Horrible," Ambrosia replied.

The smoothly-dressed man pulled a chair up beside her bed and pulled a small black wallet out of his coat. He glanced at Brianna and sparked a memory from Ambrosia's mind.

He was the man from the house. The man that took Elias away.

Ambrosia tried to sink deeper into the white pillows as he flipped open the wallet.

"Agent Jackson, I work for the-"

"FBI..."I whispered.

The agent nodded and clasped his large tanned hands together.

Brianna could not look at Ambrosia, her eyes lingered onto the flowers. Ambrosia felt a rush of tears overcome her and the heat of frustration and sadness filled her face. Tears came down in groups along her cheeks.

Agent Jackson leaned forward, "Relax Ambrosia, your not in trouble here, all I need is to ask a few questions, if you're comfortable with that in this state."

Ambrosia nodded numbly and wiped her eyes. Still at this very moment she was not worried for herself but for Elias.

After her small interrogation she questioned the agent on Elias' whereabouts, to which he only replied vaguely.

"He's safe, he is with the right people."

At last both visitors were forced to leave as the doctor wanted to explain some information to Ambrosia in a personal environment.

That is when Ambrosia slid her hand down over her stomach and felt a sharp pain. Looking down her lower abdomen had been bandaged and was flatter than it had ever been.

The baby had been lost.

Ambrosia asked the doctor to take the flowers out as he left.

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The nightmare replayed itself in different ways. The strangest occurrence was the pain she felt every morning. Realizing again and again the one thing she had been holding onto was taken away from her, her child. A seed lost before it could even have the chance to sprout, and her, flower crushed before it had the chance to fully grow.

These mishaps and these undesirable events were all caused by the ill actions of someone. No matter who's fault, the road of blame is never black and white it is always grey.

So what justifies our choice as people to decide what happens to another life with or without aiding our own benefit?

Is it selfishness? We justify our selfishness for comfort over other people, other lives?!

These trivial questions were the things that wrestled with Ambrosia to the point where she felt complete indifference now. The only way she could pass time without losing her mind was withe the drugs.

She took out two pills from the bag and began to reach for her drink beside it as her phone began to ring for her attention. She set the pills down and squinted at the caller displayed.

It was an unknown number.

She slowly picked up her phone and placed it to her ear letting the cold air from the nearest air vent hit her forehead as she leaned back.

"Hello?"

"Hi yes, may I speak to Ambrosia Hill?"

"This is she."

"This is the Oceanside Institution, we are calling on request of your visitation!"

Ambrosia frowned her head tilting to recall her days actions and she sat back up.

"I didn't request visitation..."

"Oh no not you, the patient has requested your visitation and we've been trying to get in touch with you for quite some time," the woman on the other end replied.

Ambrosia blinked, she had replaced her phone a while back but didn't remember any calls from the number before. She looked up down at her table, as if some clue to ease her confusion would appear.

"Wh-who requested me?"

There was a moments pause filled with ruffling papers.

"Er...Elias Henway, he says that you are family, is this correct?"

Ambrosia dropped her phone and stepped off the couch her hands flying up to her neck. For some reason her throat had tightened her breathing became sparse and she began to shake. His name, the name she hadn't heard for three years had some how wedged itself back into her life.

Fuck!

She grabbed the phone and hastily listened.

"Hello...hello are you there?" the woman questioned.

Ambrosia ended the call and fell to her knees. Large tears began to come down and she attempted to count on her fingers to calm herself down. She rested on her back and stared and the ceiling hoping this panic attack would end quickly.

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