Read Before The Storm for Free Online Page B

like he’s been spending some time in the gym or something. He’s wearing a suit I’ve never seen before.
    It looks like it could be Armani, maybe even Gucci. He would wear something so extravagant to see me getting out of a prison he put me into. He’s all about appearances.
    I suddenly want to cry. It takes everything inside of me not to break down right then and there in the middle of the entranceway. I want to scream, and yell, and ask him how he could do this to me. I want an answer to all of the questions that have been running through my mind for the past three months. Seeing him is the closest I’ve come to receiving those answers.
    It’s Dr. Morgan and Mrs. Newington who stop me from doing anything I might later regret. They’re standing behind my father, studying me carefully. If they expect me to have a nervous breakdown, they don’t show it. Dr. Morgan is the only one who really knows anything about my relationship with my father, and even what she knows is not the full truth. She knows our relationship is strained, but I think she blames it mostly on my mother’s death. And to be honest, at first, I did the same thing. But after having this time to think about it, I really can’t imagine that this is the main issue with my dad’s and my situation. I mean, what kind of father sends his daughter away to a teenage psych facility in the middle of the night? This isn’t the plot of a badly written short story or something. It’s my life, as hard as that is to believe.
    His eyes show no emotion, but I burn mine into his anyway, trying to communicate with him without speaking just how much pain I feel in my heart for him. I doubt it works since the icy frost in his gaze doesn’t soften at all.
    “Victoria,” he says, looking me up and down.
    “What Dad, no hug?” It’s the first time I’ve lost control of my emotions in what feels like so long. But I don’t regret it. The words slip out almost without my permission, but they’re out there nonetheless.
    Mrs. Newington raises her eyebrows as Dr. Morgan clears her throat uncomfortably. My dad glances at the two of them and then in one swift motion moves toward me, wrapping one arm around my shoulder and pulling me into him.
    The hug is stiff and he smells like Gucci and freshly brewed coffee. It’s obviously just for show and doesn’t make me feel any better. If anything it makes me feel worse than I did before.
    “Well, let’s get started shall we?” Dr. Morgan says happily. She turns on her heels and walks into a small office toward the back of the hallway.
    It’s so tiny inside that I feel like it should be some sort of storage closet instead of an office. There’s a small desk and two chairs on either side, a few filing cabinets in the corners of the room, and a number of flowerpots scattered about as if they were an after thought.
    The first thing I notice about my aunt is her hair. It’s bright blonde. The kind of blonde most people can only accomplish with a bottle of bleach. Her complexion is pale, almost as if the thought of stepping out into the sun is too much for her skin to bear. The blue of her eyes makes me feel like I can see the ocean through her gaze. The pure ocean, when it’s clear and blue and sparking. She’s absolutely beautiful and it’s hard to believe something so beautiful would want something like me under the same roof as her. Good thing she didn’t know what I looked like before she got here, she might have turned and ran for her life at the sight of me.
    She opens her mouth to speak and I notice right away that her teeth are perfectly shaped. A perfect shade of white, they sparkle almost as much as her eyes.
    “Victoria,” she says, moving her little body over to me as if she’s gliding on a cloud of perfection. “Oh, you’re just beautiful. I haven’t seen you since you were a baby!”
    She pulls me close to her. Her hair smells like strawberries and cream, and her body like an old scent of Chanel my