Throughout the entirety of Annie's story Lonnie hadn't spoken a word. She simply stared and nodded, occasionally writing something that Annie had said down in her notepad. When Annie had stopped for a moment Lonnie spoke.
"I have a question for you. Before, when you were talking about your parents, you mentioned something about 'Paradise'. What do you mean by that?"
Annie was looking at her hands as they rested on the steel table. A small smile spread against her delicate features as she thought over Lonnie's question.
"It's a term I started using a while ago. It was hard for me to discuss the time in my life before Karley died. I hated saying "before my sister died" when people asked me questions. So I made a term for it, I call it 'paradise'.
The time before my world fell apart, when life was filled with wonder and bliss. When life was … vibrant and… Colourful? I don't really know if that makes sense." Annie's voice had become quiet as she thought about it… paradise.
That's truly what it was, she missed the times when Karley would rave about their future and talk about how much fun they would have when Annie got to university. She missed the laughter that filled her house when Karley would burn a batch of cookies and nearly set the house on fire. She missed driving around with Connor and her sister and going to her family's cottage for the weekend.
She missed the times before it all, when her sister hadn't been murdered and whoever did it had decided that she was their next target.
She missed the way her life used to be, but most of all she missed herself. The innocent Annie that truly believed that people were good, that life was great, and that growing old was something to be cherished. The Annie that sat in the steel chair wasn't her.
The Annie in the steel chair was different, in every way possible.
"Ahh, I see, paradise… I like it" Lonnie was intrigued by the term.
Annie had begun opening her mouth but stopped, Lonnie felt her hesitation and felt a sense of sadness. This girl seemed to have been through a lot.
"Never mind, I'll just start from where I left off" Annie took a deep breath and began once more.