Free As a Bird

Everything important to Ella was in a small backpack she wore beneath three layers of shirts and the only jacket she still had that she even remotely liked, a jean jacket with a rip in the sleeve she’d brought with her from France. The rip looked cool now, but that hadn’t been the way it’d looked when she bought it. She’d been wearing it one day when Anna and Drew were in an even more foul mood than usual and had taken it out on her, knocking her down and ripping her jacket. The pants she’d been wearing also got ripped and had ended up in the trash.
It was past 6:00 when she heard footsteps on the stairs. Normally, she was let out around 6:00 to go to dinner, but sometimes it was late. That evening, every second felt like an eternity as she waited to see if she’d be released. When a servant finally opened the door, Ella realized why. She could hear Tim’s voice all the way up the stairs to the third floor.
Ella walked out of the attic and didn’t look back.
The closer she got to the foyer, the more she could understand what her cousin was yelling about. He was mad--maybe livid was a better word--and Ella could hear Teresa trying to calm him down, but it was clear she was getting nowhere, and Ella realized there was no way of avoiding confrontation. He had already taken it to a new level.
“I mean, really, for me to drive all the way over here to see her, and you to try to keep me from doing so, it’s just unforgivable!” Tim was shouting as Ella made it about halfway down the staircase. She went faster, hoping that she could get him to calm down.
“Oh, here she is,” Teresa said, gesturing at the stairs with a grand sweep. “Ella. I see you’re feeling better.”
She looked from Teresa to Tim and then back again, noting that Drew and Anna were also in the room but hanging back as if they were afraid Tim’s yelling might reach out and slap them.
Ella waited until she was nearer to Tim, nearer the door, before she said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m fine. I’ve been fine.”
Teresa’s eyebrows narrowed so she had one dark line across her forehead. “What do you mean, Ella? Don’t lie. Tim knows you weren’t feeling well, and that’s why you didn’t come out of the at--your room.”
She’d tried to catch herself before she said attic but enough came out that Tim pounced on it. “The what? Were you going to say ‘attic’?”
“No, no, don’t be silly. I was just confused. Her room. She was in her room. She told me earlier she didn’t feel good.”
“I didn’t say that,” Ella replied, no longer caring if she made Teresa mad. Tim would get her out the door, she was certain of that. “I wasn’t sick. And my room is the attic.”
“Your room is the attic?” Tim repeated, shock taking over as he stared from her to Teresa. “What?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s a nice space. Completely redone. Ella, be careful what you say, now,” Teresa said, folding her arms. “Come along. Let’s go eat dinner before you start feeling ill again.”
“Actually, there’s been a change of plans,” Tim said with a shrug. “I’m going to take Ella out for dinner tonight.”
“What? No, you can’t!” Teresa said, forgetting she was supposed to be hiding behind a facade. She recovered. “She might start feeling ill again.”
“I’ll be fine,” Ella said, taking Tim’s arm.
Teresa’s breathing was heavy. In through her flared nostrils, out through her flared nostrils. “Ella, don’t be out late. When you get back, the two of us need to talk about something very important.”
Teresa had no choice but to let Ella go with Tim. What she didn’t realize was that Ella had no plans to return whatsoever. She decided not to tip her stepmother off to that at the moment. “Okay,” Ella said, refusing to ever call her mother again.
“Okay… what?” Teresa’s eyes were so narrow, it was remarkable she could even see.
“Okay… Teresa. See you later.”
Tim glared at Teresa, gazing over her shoulder to include Anna and Drew in his anger, then turned to open the door. As they went out, Ella heard Anna ask, “Are you really going to let her go?” Tim shut the door, and she didn’t hear the answer. What could she do? He was bigger and stronger than any of them, and any threats she made to Ella in front of Tim would be countered. Ella walked briskly to Tim’s car, the backpack swinging slightly as she went, thumping against her as a reminder that she was free and everything she needed was right there--except two things. She pulled out her phone to withdraw her money from the bank. That was one important thing. The other, she’d have to wait until later to secure because Tim might love her, but he hated Rome.
Once they were in his car, Tim took off out of the circle drive as Ella transferred every cent of her money out of the shared account she had with Teresa into a secure account Rome had set up for her earlier and texted her the information for. He’d cautioned her it might take a day or so to transfer. Hopefully, Teresa wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop it, but who knew what she might’ve put in place to keep that money from disappearing.
A few blocks away, Tim pulled the car over and took his phone out of his pocket. “Who are you calling?” Ella asked, putting her own phone away.
“I’m calling Uncle Lloyd,” he replied. “I just heard his wife say you were living in the attic. He needs to know that. Something tells me it wasn’t actually redone either.”
Ella sucked in a deep breath before she said, “Maybe you should let me talk to him first.”
“Nope,” Tim replied as Ella could hear the phone ringing. “Clearly, you don’t see the gravity of this situation. I’m sorry, El, but at the moment, I can’t trust your judgment.”
Ella quickly did the math in her head and realized it was the middle of the night where her dad was. Chances were, he wouldn’t answer anyway. Tim would leave him a message, and maybe by the time he called back, her cousin would’ve calmed down.
Except, she heard her dad’s very groggy voice on the line through Tim’s earpiece. “Tim? What time is it there? Is everything okay?”
Her father’s tone made Ella think that this wasn’t the first conversation the two of them had had recently. Had Tim been calling her dad with his suspicions about Teresa? If so, had her dad believed him?
“Uncle Lloyd, I’m sorry to wake you, but something disturbing has happened. I wanted you to know so perhaps you can talk some sense into your wife. I’ve just come from your house. I intended to eat dinner there with the family, but when I asked Teresa where Ella was, she said that she wasn't feeling well and didn’t want to come down. I knew that wasn’t true because I’d spoken to Ella earlier. She finally managed to get a phone from a friend that didn’t get broken or lost. At any rate, it took me ten minutes of demanding to get Teresa to allow Ella to come show me herself she wasn’t feeling well.”
“And how is she?” her dad asked, his tone conveying concern.
“She’s perfectly fine. When she came down, she told me she hadn’t been sick at all.”
“Perhaps Teresa just misunderstood,” her father offered.
“No, I don’t think so, Uncle, because while Teresa was trying to convince me that Ella had been sick, she accidentally mentioned that Ella’s room is the attic. The attic! Your wife has been keeping your beautiful, intelligent, sweet-natured daughter locked in the unfinished attic. For over a month!”
“Now, calm down, Tim. I’m sure that’s not true. Teresa can be strict with the girls, but she’s not a monster.”
“Not ‘the girls’, Uncle Lloyd, just Ella. And she is a monster. Believe me, I now know what’s been going on, what I’ve been calling you about. I wish you would’ve listened to me before! She’s been living in that filthy attic this whole time while Teresa convinced her that it was for her own good, that LA would eat her alive if she came out, and that if she tried to escape, she’d put her in a mental institute!”
Ella’s father was quiet for a moment before he said, “You had to have misunderstood, Tim. Where are you now? Where’s Ella?”
“I’m a few blocks away from your daughter’s prison on the side of the road. She’s here, and she’s never going back there again. Never.”
“All right, Tim. Let me speak to her, please. I’m sure we can get this all straightened out.”
Tim took a deep breath and lowered the phone. His face was ashen as he looked at her. He turned to Ella. “Did you hear any of what he said?”
“Yes. All of it.” She wasn’t surprised her father was trying to explain away what Teresa had done. He hated to think someone he loved could be so cruel, but it was time for Ella to come clean with everyone--about this anyway. She certainly wouldn’t pick now to tell her father about Rome.
“He wants to talk to you.”
Ella sucked in as much as air as her lungs could hold and then nodded. “Give me the phone.”