a perfectly good heart ::: graham

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Graham led her to where the juniors clothes were "ok. Have at it. If it fits and you like it, grab it"

[Destiny Juliet Sullivan]

Destiny followed her brother and looked around. New. It had been so long since the girl had brand new clothing. It had been forever since she had even set foot inside a store. She walked over to a rack and pulled out a denim skirt and held it up to her. It was cute. She nodded to herself and grabbed a white blouse to go with it. But she made sure not to grab a whole lot. She was never the type to be greedy. She was the type to try and be happy with what she had. She she grabbed 3 pairs of blue jeans, and a pair of blue jean shorts and two skirts. And then grabbed a different type of shirt to go with each of them. "Okay." She nodded and looked up at her brother.

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Graham watched her "you sure? That's not a lot" he commented when she returned. He just wanted her to be able to have whatever she wanted. He was prepared to buy hundreds of items for her, if that was what she wanted. And yet, she was only holding a few things

[Destiny Juliet Sullivan]

Destiny looked down at what she had and bit her lip. "I-No. I'm-I'm not sure." she spoke, uncertainly. She wasn't use to doing this. She wasn't use to people caring about her. It was all new to her. Well, new as of late, that was.

[Deleted]

Graham scratched his head "all right. Let's pay and get some lunch then, ok?" he said as he headed to the front register. Over time, she would understand...he hoped

[Destiny Juliet Sullivan]

Destiny nodded as she followed him. "Okay." she spoke, softly. She knew that this would just take time. For the past three years, she was not use to anyone caring about her. And adjusting to normal life, it was not that easy to do.

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Graham took the bags and handed them to his sister. He led her back to the car, popping his trunk for her bags. "what's your favorite food?" he asked, looking at her

[Destiny Juliet Sullivan]

Destiny took the bags and followed her brother out to the car. She set her bags in the truck before looking up at him. "Well...it's been too long since I actually had a desent meal." She nodded and bit her lip. "But I use to love fried chicken."

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Graham nodded "all right, well, we can do fried chicken. There is an awesome place across town that has the best chicken wings ever. It's out by the water" he said, closing the trunk before nodding "we can maybe take a dinner cruise sometime"

[Destiny Juliet Sullivan]

It was harder than Destiny would have expected. Destiny had been gone for three whole years. Three very long yeas. It might as well have been a hundred. She was only 11-years-old at the time. The time of her disappearance. And the only thing that even got her by, that even kept Destiny from giving up, was the fac of seeing her family again. Fr three years, Destiny hoped. She dreamed. Dreamed and hoped that one day she ould find her family. That she would see her family again. Even if it was just for one last time. Even that would have satisfied her.

Destiny just needed to say goodbye. To say that she was so verysorry. That she knew this whole thing was all her fault. She knew it all along. The last time that she had seen her parents, she had gotten into a fight with them. She told them that she hated them. Which wasn't even how she felt. She was just upset and angry and taking it out on her parents.

So the 11-year-old ran up to her room and planned on running away. She just wanted away. She wanted to be on her own. She didn't want to have parents that told her what to do. Destiny had packed a bag and climbed out of her window and down the tree right outside.

So maybe this was all of her fault. If she hadn't have tried to run away in the first place, then maybe the last three years would hve never happened. Maybe in truth, Destiny was being punished for trying to run away in the first place.

She hadn't gotten very far that night. Destiny had been walking for about maybe 15 or 20 minutes when this dark blue van pulled up to the side of the road. And she got a little scared when this man got out. Swallowing hard, Destiny started walking faster before starting to run. But the man was faster and he grabbed er and pushed her into the back seat before climbing inhimself, his hand over her mouth firmly so that the young child could not scream. There was a woman too. The one driving. And she drove off.

Destiny had been so scared. She was sure that she was going to die. But the thing was, they never killed her. They told her that she was going to be their very own daughter. She went to school and she was able to go online. But she was watched at first. They did not want any trouble.

Why did she never try to escape? To contact somebody? Because Destiny was 11-yars-old. Because she was a child. Because she was alone and she was scared and she did ot want to give them any reason to kill her.

The point is that Destiny blamed herself everyday for letting this all happen. It was completel 100% her fault. And she was afraid to say that all aloud.

Smiling softly at her big bother, she nodded. "That sounds...great." He deserved so much better than to have a sister like herself. She knew that. She always knew that. She climbed into the passenger seat and shut the door.

[Deleted]

Graham never once told anyone that he had a younger sister. It wasn't because he hated her, or thought it was her fault. It wasn't because she was forgotten. It was because he couldn't deal with what happened. It had been three long years. And as the detectives had told his family several times, the longer they went without finding her, the less likely they would find her alive. It hadn't been comforting in the least. And if that was what he had to face, then he'd rather pretend. It was the idea of losing her that caused him to lose his faith in God. How could a loving God allow her to be taken? The pain was just too much.

But now, a miracle happened. She was back. And she needed someone. Their parents were gone. So, who cared if he was in a dorm? He'd go back to being a deejay, make some extra money and get an apartment. He would do it all for her. "I can't believe this," he said, an excited tone to his voice. She was actually back. It was like seeing an angel. It was like his mother was saying see, Graham? God does have mercy. But to him, it was still debatable. God? Mercy? Where were his parents?

[Destiny Juliet Sullivan]

Things happen in a girls life. You can not just expect her to be like she was three years ago, back when Destiny was just eleven years old. No. The girl was fifteen now and things could never be like they once were. Never. But was it really all bad? She felt bad. Nobody would ever understand. Destiny...she was happy to have gotten away, to see her big brother again. But she also really missed her kidnappers. Was that messed up or what? Was it screwed up for the girl to miss them? Would anyone understand? Could anyone explain it to her? Destiny tried so desperately to understand. She really did.

They did things to her. Things that was pretty hard to imagine. Sure, some parts of her life were normal. She was taken to school and allowed to go online. She went out in public with her so called "parents". So how come Destiny never called attention to herself? How come she never tried to contact anybody? Isn't that obvious, though? Destiny was just a little girl who was scared and alone and confused. She was too afraid to contact anyone. She was punished when she did something bad. Maybe thrown into a closet and locking the door. She'd sometimes have to spend days in their at a time, with no food or water. She was chained downstairs, in the basement, just like a dog. They'd hit her and beat her when she did something wrong. The first couple months, she fought against being hit. But after months of this, whenever Destiny did something wrong, she would go to her "parents" begging them to punish her. And that was not all that she had gone through. They touched her, almost everyday, in places that Destiny had never been touched before. They never went inside her or anything. They never went that far. But they would take the girl up to their room and have her take off her clothes and lay down on the bed. They did things to her. They did everything to her. Except actually entering her. And Destiny just allowed it to happen. She did not try and fight it.

That had been her life for the past three years. Everything else had seemed unreal, a dream, a fantasy. Even after getting away, it still did not seem like this was all real. She would like to tell her brother what had happened to her, what she had gone through. She just could not. She couldn't. What if he did not believe her? Or what if he looked at her differently? No. She wouldn't tell him. Not yet at least. But...what if he asked to know? Then what? No, she just couldn't tell him. Not yet anyway. "It's good to be back. Everything seems different." She looked out of the passenger window. But when she heard her brother again, she looked over at him. "Can't believe what?"

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In all honesty, if the people Graham hung out with could see him now, they would be shocked. They never knew him to care before. Graham was part of the party scene. Had been since he was eighteen. Never really owned up to responsibilities other than his course work. He had gone through a few dozen women. He was bad at relationships. Oh, he could show them a good time. But when it came to things like those 3 little words, he came up short. One girl had it right on the money and said she thought he was afraid of commitment. She told him she would stay and help him get past it, but she needed to know if that was the case or if it was something else. Graham lied. He scoffed and said ''nope. You're just not that great in bed.'' She slapped him and walked out. Graham never saw her again. He had been so scared of letting anyone get close. Because of what happened to his sister and now? He had no idea what he was getting himself into, trying to play dad at such a young age. If he asked his friends for advice, they would tell him to hand her over to child services. That was one thing he knew he couldn't do.

He looked at her as he came to a stop light. ''This. Right now. You being home. I just- I dreamed about this for so long. It's like I'm still dreaming.'' Tears were threatening to fall. Thank god they were almost there. Graham could hear his voice cracking and everything. If his dad could see him now. That was one area they differed in. Even as a young boy, he wasn't allowed to cry. Men weren't supposed to cry. He told him that every time he was caught crying because he missed his sister. As Graham pulled into the parking lot, they broke free and he sobbed, burying his head in the steering wheel. ''God. I'm a wimp.'' What was she going to think?

[Destiny Juliet Sullivan]

Her brother crying. That was something that she was definitely not use to. But then again, even she did not cry much now-a-days. She learned how to completely shut off all of her emotions when she really wanted to. The only time she cried was when she made herself. If she did not want to cry or to show her emotion, she knew how to keep it hidden. Very well. Destiny had to learn that. She would get punished if she allowed herself to cry or show fear around her kidnappers. And eventually, she just had enough. Eventually, the girl just gave in completely. Basically just gave up. Until almost two months ago. She took the chance and ran away from them.

But what did she have to run home to? Her parents were dead. All she had was her brother now. He was twenty-five. He was so young and had his whole life in front of him. He didn’t deserve this. He deserved to be happy. Not sad. This was all her fault; entirely her fault. She shook her head. “I’m sorry. You should not have to deal with any of this. You shouldn’t have to deal with me. And you don't have to.”

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What was she talking about? Not have to deal with her? What did that mean? Graham knew full well. But it seemed like she was the one who didn't understand. He wasn't upset that she was back. He couldn't be happier than he was at this exact moment. And he needed to make her understand that. He wasn't doing all of this because he had to. He didn't do much of anything out of obligation. Turning the engine off, he unseatbelted and turned to face her. He stayed silent for a moment. But only for a moment, to allow the words to form in his head so he wouldn't sound like a complete idiot.

"I know I don't. And nobody could make me if they tried. But Des, this is something I want to do. I just got you back. I'm not losing you again. We're going to be a family, whether you like it or not." It sounded kind of silly to think that she wouldn't want to be. But hell, that was how it felt when she said you don't have to put up with me. What was that? Self pity? He hated self-pity. And he would tell her to knock it off if she kept it up. Graham didn't get it. Why wasn't she happy? Was he not good enough?