Olivia's Trek (1) by DM Sharp Read Free Book Online Page B

in the hospital because she had a crying sickness. My eyes would widen in horror at such a thought and even though I missed my parents and still couldn’t understand what had happened to my mother, I decided to keep my hurts to myself in case I got the crying sickness. It scared me to know that it was possible to cry and never be able to stop and I didn’t want to die like that.
    Then fun times, laughter, Lucien making sure I was safe and settled in at my new school. Lucien always making sure I was okay, checking my homework and carrying my bags for me.
    The movie reel is now showing my and Lucien’s first big bust up at his mom’s stables. It was because he said that I was Carter property and I argued back that I was a person and not a property. I’m sixteen now. I watch as he pulls out a piece of paper from his back pocket that he had found in his father’s study, reading aloud the words written on it.
    “Preston Alexander Carter III is appointed by the court to take care of and manage the property of Olivia Cheyenne Carter(the ward) who does not possess the legal capacity to do so, by reason of age, comprehension, or self-control.”
    “You’re so stupid sometimes Lucien. It doesn’t even say I’m a property.”
    His eyes flash angrily as he walks towards me. “The natural guardian of a child is the child’s parent. A parent can lose this status by neglect or abandonment. In the case of Olivia Cheyenne Carter, the parents, named as Henry James Carter and Kaya Carter (deceased), are guilty of abandonment. They have failed to provide necessary clothing, food, shelter or medical attention, or other remedial care for their child. It has been found that the willful forsaking or forgoing of parental duties is such that the court decides to terminate the natural rights of the parents on the grounds of abandonment to allow adoption by Preston Alexander Carter III.”
    “Don’t you dare ever mention my parents, Lucien Borgia.”
    Tears stream down my face so that I struggle to see if I’m saddling the horse up properly, my hands shaking as I pull myself up. The words abandonment and neglect echo around in my head.
    Lucien shouts in the background, “You’re not Carter property. You’re Borgia property. You wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for my dad.”
    I hear him screaming, “I own you, Olivia,” before the blood rushing in my ears drowns everything out as I gallop off irresponsibly, only to be thrown by the horse. I hadn’t buckled up properly.
    By the time Lucien gets to me, the pain in my leg outweighs everything and he’s forgiven for what he said.
    Scenes in the hospital with Uncle Preston and Aunt Victoria and for the first time realizing how much love they have for me. But it wasn’t just my leg hurting. Lucien getting mad at me, Lucien and I fighting beside the school swimming pool before he pushes me in. The feeling of the water. It’s been so long. It’s like heaven and I refuse to get out of the pool, swimming length after length. My leg doesn’t hurt when I’m in the water, so I spend more and more time there. Coach Duggan watching me day after day in the water. My first swimming competition. My first win and to finally find some peaceful place inside of myself.
    Lucien and I fighting in his kitchen because I want to go home. My head feels funny after we drank some wine and I don’t like how he just kissed me hard on the mouth. He’s scaring me. Screaming. It’s me.
    I open my eyes, and experience the pure whiteness all around me, I’m compelled to go forward and enter the light. Suddenly, my mother, Kaya Carter, is all around me. It’s like the light is actually her. I am completely known and completely loved.
    Her smile glints as she kisses my forehead and walks around me, pure white light being transmitted to me at every part that she touches, “Olivia, my beautiful, beautiful child, don’t let go.”
    It feels so good as I feel her soft hands on my face and head and smell