All Chapters of Forgiven: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

It was an all too familiar experience, sitting there with nothing but the sound of deafening silence. How many times has it been now? Eight? Nine? Maybe less? Was it sensible to keep count? No, she promised herself she would not entertain such thoughts. She reminded herself that she was here to get better. Yes, that is precisely what Michaela told her. She needed to get better, but was that even possible? Is it possible for someone who had been through what she had gone through to get better? Michaela said she should not give up, that she had made some excellent progress, but her mind knew that Michaela had no idea that it was all an act, a false persona. People need to put an act sometimes to get by. Life demands it. Certain professions would not allow its occupants to survive without it. Her situation was not different. “Miss. Collins, are you okay? You haven’t said anything for a while now.&rdq

 Blinding day light. That was how the nightmare usually began. Rays of sunshine breaking through the windows of the majestic secluded house that would become her prison for the next four days were her earliest memory of the experience. It was strange in a way how every time she tried to dig deeper into her memory, she would reach the same beginning, a ray of sunshine. That was the first thing that she saw when she woke up in that secluded house. She did not know how she ended up there. She had no recollection of what happened the night before. 

 The moment the elevator doors opened, Lesly was immediately greeted by Stacey who true to her reputation as a nervous-wreck was pacing right in front of the elevator. It seemed that leaving the young woman to sort through cases on her own for a couple of hours was a bit too much too soon. Lesly smiled and tried to pretend to have not noticed the glare Stacy was giving her as she walked out of the elevator.“Morning Stacey,” Lesly greeted casually as she walked past the nervous-wreck towards