Chapter 6 - A New Horizon
Three months later, the air was crisp and smelled of pine needles and damp earth instead of salt water.
We had relocated to a small, quiet town in Oregon, nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. I had sold my car, broken my lease, and legally changed both of our last names to Vance—my grandmother’s maiden name on my mother’s side, the only member of that family who had ever shown me genuine kindness before she passed.
Our new home was a cozy, two-bedroom cottage with a wrap-around porch and a small garden in the back. Mia had her own room, painted a soft lavender, filled with new stuffed animals and books.
The physical scars on her wrists had faded to faint, almost invisible white lines, but the emotional scars were harder to heal. In the first few weeks, she would wake up screaming in the middle of the night, convinced that Victor was hiding in her closet or that her grandmother was waiting outside the window.
But we were working through it. Every Tuesday, I took her to see Dr. Evelyn, a child psychologist who specialized in trauma. Dr. Evelyn used play therapy, helping Mia express her fears through drawing and sand-play.
One sunny afternoon, I sat on the porch, watching Mia play in the yard with a golden retriever puppy we had adopted from the local shelter. We named him Barnaby. He was a clumsy, joyful ball of fluff who took his job as Mia’s protector very seriously.
“Look, Mama!” Mia called out, her voice ringing with a pure, unburdened laughter I hadn’t heard in months. “Barnaby found a giant stick!”
I smiled, my heart swelling. “That’s a great stick, sweetie! Bring it over here, let’s see if he’ll play fetch.”
As Mia ran toward me, her face bright and her cheeks rosy from the cool air, I felt a profound sense of peace. For the first time in my life, the suffocating grip of my family’s expectations and secrets was completely gone. We were free.
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But the peace was shattered the following morning when a certified letter arrived in the mail.
It was from the District Attorney’s office back in California. The trial was set to begin in six weeks. They needed us to return. They needed Mia to testify.
