random asks / literally always accepting!
@walridiing asked: He didn’t want to keep her cooped up, but if the cabin’s walls are the only things keeping her from Jacob then so be it. But Miles has had enough of the fighting. Of the constant back-and-forth regarding Sara and what’s best for her. So he opens the front door and stands aside. “You wanna go back so bad? Fine. Go right the fuck ahead. I’m tired of stopping you, trying to keep you away from him — maybe you really are too far gone. Do you want to grab Pratt, or have you fucked him over enough?”
Weeks had gone by, perhaps even a month, but Sara had lost count. The days blended into one, monotonous blur. Staci’s arrival at the cabin helped somewhat, but every time Sara looked at him she felt nothing but a surging guilt, the kind that burned from the inside, seething like liquid iron beneath her skin. He forgave her too quickly, and Sara saw in those damaged eyes that his forgiveness was forced, a stretch of the truth neither of them wanted to bring to light. She failed him. They both knew it.
Her anger at Miles evened out, but never faded. Every chance she got, she begged for release, to be free of the walls a few minutes longer each day. He stubbornly refused. Staci fought with them, but his arguments fizzled quicker than Sara’s, begrudgingly accepting the situation. Silently, Sara was grateful. Staci couldn’t go back to Jacob. Not after he was treated. He belonged far away from the veteran center. Sara on the other hand was still convinced she should be back at Jacob’s side, that there was the only place she’d be accepted, that she could live. Her old life was gone, the woman she once was lost in a sea of Bliss, and she needed to go home.
It called out to her... or maybe the leash Jacob had her on was pulled a little too tight.
After awhile the threats and begging slowed. She was far from comfortable in the cabin, but she found some sense, enough to carry on a conversation that didn’t involve the Project. For a small window of time, things were... normal. Normal as they could be. The three tolerated each other’s presences and the tension began to slowly seep again within those wooden walls. It didn’t last. Sara’s need to return to Jacob plagued her, burning in her veins like a bad drug. She couldn’t rid herself of it. It followed her into her sleep, the nightmares potent and unyielding. Jacob’s fury rained down on her and she woke up gasping, cold sweat clinging to her. The nightmares continued for the next week and during the day she withdrew, keeping to herself as the frustration built once more.
She was relapsing. And when Miles confronted her, forcing her out of her silence, she snapped at him, lashing out like a caged animal. The demands for her release began once again, this time with more potent venom. She needed the freedom, thought she would suffocate without it, and despite noting the frustration building on Miles’ face, she pushed. She pushed and she pushed until he was on the edge. The door was shoved open. No barriers. No tricks.
For a moment, Sara was frozen, the lingering threat still hot on her tongue. Miles was serious. She saw it in his face, the hard glare in his eyes. And the last of his words stung, piercing her like a knife between her ribs. Shoulders sunk as she looked towards the open door. Already she was formulating a plan---how she’d get back to the vet center unharmed, the routes she’d take. She knew the mountains well, but without any defense or a ride, her survival was... unlikely. If Whitetails didn’t find her, the wildlife certainly would. But that wasn’t the only reason she stood frozen in place. She was given a choice. For the first time since she stepped into Hope County, a choice before her was her own. No one was forcing her to comply, to fight with or against, to kill or to harm. This was her choice and hers alone.
And it threatened to tear her apart.
Sara didn’t cry, though her face burned with the promise of tears. She couldn’t will her legs to move, to carry her through that open door, but she didn’t want to stay here either. Her body fought itself until she thought she might be sick. Jacob would want her back, demand her, and she wanted to comply, to be at his side and yet... something else told her not to go, something buried deep in the back of her mind. It begged her not to return, to realize there was more than the Project, there was more to her. She wasn’t someone’s tool. She was her own person, worthy of love and happiness and a life where the choices were always hers.
“I...” Sara began, choking a little on her words. “I don’t... I don’t know what to do. I can’t... I don’t know!”