Chapter 4
Hot tears just poured down my face as I stared at her, totally shocked.[]
“Lindsey! Do you even HEAR yourself?! You’re supposed to be my best friend!“[]
She just yanked her hand away from me, all grossed out, and her face was like… totally blank, no emotion at all.]]
“I meant every word. You brought this shit on yourself!“]]
My heart felt like it’d been torn to bloody shreds. Like someone took a knife to it and just… ripped.]
She was my bestie since childhood, and I couldn’t believe she’d transformed into… whatever the hell this was.]
When we were little and my dad punished me by withholding food, she’d sneak bread rolls and wait outside my house to pass them to me so I wouldn’t go hungry.
She promised she’d always be my sister for life and would never let me down.[]
Just weeks ago, we were holding hands during our evening walk.]
“What if I never get married?” I’d asked her.
Her eyes used to shine with so much loyalty–now just thinking about it hurts like hell.
“Who cares if you don’t? I bought that apartment, remember? You can move in with me! I won’t get married either–I’ll take care of you forever. We can adopt a kid together! We’ll be our own little family!“[]
She used to comfort me after each breakup, saying those men changed their minds so easily, they couldn’t have truly loved me—I was lucky I hadn’t married any of them.[]
But now? She was exactly like all those men. No–worse.
My heart was a shattered mess, smashed to pieces by a sledgehammer–pain seeping into every bone. That suspicion? A deadly wire tightening around my throat, each breath a struggle.[]
What the actual fuck was in my dad’s study, huh? How could it make everyone who used to love me flip like a switch–like, literally hand someone a knife to kill me?
After that day, my bestie and I stopped talking completely. Total strangers.[
No physical scars, sure–but my brain? Felt like it’d been slammed with a sledgehammer, y’know? Just… pulp. []
Months on that therapist’s couch. picking through fragments of who I was, hoping for one tiny spark of the old me that could still smile.
Dad and my sister couldn’t give less of a shit about me–all they cared about was controlling and using me.[]
Finally, my mom came home for her yearly vacation. Every year she picks a chunk of time off work to actually be with us.]
When she found out I was seeing a shrink, she was totally crushed.]
Chapter 4
She came to my room and stood by my bed, staring at my empty, lifeless eyes until tears streamed down her face.]]
Then she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tight.]
“Fiona, baby, it’s all my fault. I’ve begged your father so many times, but he just won’t listen to anything I say.“[]
Mom looked wrecked–like she’d trade places with me in a heartbeat if it meant I didn’t hurt anymore.[]
I knew how hard things were for her.]
If this house didn’t have her love in it, I honestly don’t think I could’ve kept going.[]
Back when Dad would lose it and either scream his head off or try to hit me, Mom was always there–she’d stand right in his face, yelling back until he backed down.]
They’ve been together for decades–she knows how stubborn he is. All she could do was love me harder to make up for his cruelty.
But she’s always working at her shop from dawn till midnight, getting home after I’m already asleep.[]
It’s okay, though. I still feel her love, and that’s how I know there’s still someone in this world who cares about me–someone who won’t stab me in the back over whatever fucked–up reason is hiding in that study.
