Shadows of the Past by Katie Brethorst (book recommendations website txt) 📖

when I arrived. I could call the limo driver from where I got dropped off.
"Of course it was, even an ugly, stupid, inconsiderate girl like you could pick that up. You know it must be bad when you figure it out." I was really wishing for a bus for two reasons. One to get me away from him, and two, to run him over when I do get away from him. It makes me feel worse when he insults me because I know it's true.
"Yep, I know they must have been horrible because I knew it." I turned toward luggage to grab my purple suitcase. I saw it and reached for it, when Rick yanked me back. If I could, I would've hit him right there in that air terminal. Instead, I turned and asked, "What did I do now?"
"I'm getting you a new suitcase as soon as we're out of here. That one is so loud, it wakes the dead." He did not just hate on my suitcase. It had my favorite outfit, books, and a necklace my great great great grandmother had worn during the Civil War. The story was she had given it to her boyfriend when he went off to war, and when he died, she got it back and died of a broken heart. I loved the history to it. It was a sapphire in the shape of a heart. There was an 'S' on one side and a 'D' on the other. In the middle there was a plus sign. I always thought it was romantic. I was named after her. I always knew I would never part from that necklace, and I most definitely not going to lose it in an airport because of my evil boyfriend.
"Fine, get me a new one, but I'm getting mine now." I twisted out of his grasp and grabbed my suitcase right before it was going to go back under the awning.
I walked back to Rick, and looked at him with a smirk on my face. He just smiled, and then he slapped me so hard, the sound echoed through the terminal. I didn't even flinch. In fact, I smiled back cruelly.
"Sorry Rick, you don't scare me anymore." All he did was continue to glare. People in the terminal were staring. I hoped he left a bruise, because I could still feel the sting. Some lady started to walk over, and I was the first to turn away. I knew I won because I was only doing it to turn him in.
"Are you okay miss?" the lady asked with a Scottish accent. "That man hit you pretty hard." She cast an evil glare at Rick. He looked shocked anyone would notice his imperfections.
"Oh no, I'm fine. I'm actually used to it. He has hit me basically every day since we got together." Rick went wide eyed at this. Probably because he could get into trouble this time. He spun on his heel and ran. I glanced at the woman and sagged.
"Oh man, could you get some ice. That hit really hurt, but I couldn't show him any weakness." The lady nodded and yelled for someone to get help. A security guard ran over and asked what was wrong. Can you get me ice or something." He nodded and ran off. The lady glanced me over quickly.
"Why are you with him if he hits you?" she looked curious but sympathetic at the same time. I didn't really want to talk about it with some stranger, but I didn't really want to spend one more waking minute with Rick.
"It's kind of a long story miss," I began."Might I ask your name?" She looked embarrassed for a minute before she regained her composure.
"My name is Charloette ma'am. I am an undercover cop from Scotland and working on a drug ring. I saw someone in distress, and needed to help. Now onto your story." She looked at me expectantly.
"My name is Sienna, and my dad is the senator of Iowa. Rick, the man who hit me, his dad is the other senator of Iowa. Our dad's thought it would be good publicity if a Democrat and a Republican's children were together. Rick thought it was a great idea, but I want my first love to also be my first boyfriend. I didn't like Rick from the beginning. I now know my intuition was right. He beats me and calls me ugly and stupid. He's done worse, but since he's the son of a senator, he doesn't think he'll get in trouble." I glanced up at a Charloette. She was already on the phone with security.
"This is Agent Scarborough, and I've got a girl here who is abused by her boyfriend. We think he's still in the airport. Block all exits and keep watch for him. He's about 6'1 with blonde hair. Blue eyes and wearing designer clothes carrying a black Louis Vitan suitcase. Stop anyone with that description and ask for a name. His name is Rick. Keep watch boys." She clicked off, and looked down at me. The security guard returned with my ice pack, and handed it to me gently.
"Why did Rick hit you, Sienna?" Charloette asked me. She kept glancing at her phone like it might magically ring if she looked at it enough.
"He likes to control me like a puppet. He said he didn't like my suitcase, but it has family heirlooms in there. He tried to get me to leave it behind, but I went to get it. I told him I wasn't scared of him, and I guess he had to have his ugly stupid girlfriend trained to obey his every will." I was close to tears and my cheek hurt really bad.
"Sienna, you aren't any of those things he calls you. He's a liar and is hurting your self esteem because he wants to be your master." At that moment her phone rang. "One minute, Sienna." She walked briskly to the other side of the terminal before she answered the phone. I saw she was having a heated discussion with whoever it was. She hung up and walked back quickly.
"He got away Sienna. He was able to get away from the guards and out into a waiting taxi. I'm sure he won't come after you now, but be on the look out." I knew he'd be back for me. The question was, when?
Manassas

"James, you can come back around five. I want to be away from Washington for as long as possible." He nodded and sped off. I stepped into the cool airconditioning of the Manassas Visitor's Center. I was in awe of my surrounding area. I was at Manassas National Battlefield. This was the first combat battle of the Civil War. I grabbed my necklace that was swinging at the base of my throat. I was holding a piece of history that was in that era of history. It was amazing. I wanted to take the driving tour, but was currently without a car. I went to the information desk and asked for a map. The lady behind the counter handed it to me with a flourish and smiled kindly. I headed out into the heat and started walking towards the old wooden house up a hill from the visitors center.
I passed some cannons used in the actual battle and it was very interesting. I reached the house and saw a small cemetery outside. I glanced at the names, whispered a prayer, and kept walking. I was walking thigh deep in tall grasses. I had to keep looking out for snakes and the sun was beating down on my black hair making me sweat. I loved every second of it. I was always inside at home and I loved to be outside. I tucked my necklace into my shirt so I wouldn't have it continuously swinging against my chest and keeping beat to an unheard song.
I reached the crest of a hill and looked down on the scene that unfolded before me. There was the grass of course, but there was a dense forest off to one side, and right in front of that forest was a small memorial looking thing.
My feet were automatically taking me there. I was careful to place my feet so I wouldn't accidentally wake a snake from her beauty sleep. And trust me, they needed plenty of it. I kept my hazel eyes trained on the grave markers in front of me. I finally reached the gates and saw a sign in front of it. I bent to read it and it said that this memorial was actually the resting place of hundreds of Confederate soldiers. There were small stones naming the state from which they were from. The state stones went in a circle around a hill, that I'm only assuming was hundreds of people stacked on top of one another. There was a giant grave marker in the middle of the hill stating that this was the site of hundreds of unnamed people. It made me kind of sad that their names wouldn't be remembered. I walked around the circle and looked at all the states they were from. I was walking up the hill from the back, when I saw a shadow move behind a tree.
It was outside the gate, so I couldn't run and investigate. It was probably just my imagination. I went back to the big statue, and just stared at it. It was kind of weird really. Looking at the two simple sentences stating they will be missed. Those soldiers had lives, families, girlfriends, mothers, fathers, friends. They were missed, but now no one even knows their names. I wanted to pay my respects, but didn't quite know how. I looked at my watch. 3:44. I still an hour and sixteen minutes. I would have to leave around 4:30 to reach the visitor's center in time. I sat down on the hill in front of the stone and just looked at it.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" a voice next to me whispered. I jumped, and turned to look at the newcomer. There was a boy sitting there. He was wearing a Confederate soldier uniform. Weird.
"Um, hello." I said. " It is beautiful. What's... What's you're name?" I asked quizzically. He had just popped up out of