𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝗱𝗲

11. 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗼 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘆 (end)

Stef's POV

I sat on Lena and I's bed with Mariana sitting in front of me. Lena was sitting on the chair next to our bed. Mariana was looking down and fiddling with her fingers. Silence filled the room.

At this point, I had no clue what to say let alone do. My first reaction once I found out about her self harming was to yell. But I didn't. My next reaction was going to be to cry. But I didn't. I felt nothing. I didn't know what was wrong with me.

"Mom, why aren't you saying anything? It's scaring me. Aren't you going to yell at me like you did with Callie?" My daughter asked me.

I paused for a moment before thinking carefully what I wanted to say. I was at my wits end. Not with Mariana, not with my family, but with life. I had 5 kids who were teenagers, a demanding full time job that could be stressful at times. I had to pay bills along with many other things. My wife I loved so dearly and I wanted to put time aside for her in all this chaoticness. Each of my kids had their own problems to deal with and I had to be there for them. But sometimes I didn't always know how. It was hard enough with Callie. I wanted to split my time with all of theme evenly and sometimes I feel like I just couldn't do it. Now Mariana. I wanted to break down right there and then. Everything seemed too overwhelming and I didn't know how to handle it. But I couldn't break down now, not in front of my daughter who needed my help.

"Mom, aren't you going to yell at me like you did with Callie?" I heard Mariana repeat herself.

I looked over to my wife. Her eyes were set on my daughter. They were filled with fear and sadness along with confusion and worry. I looked back over to Mariana.

"Why do you want me to yell at you?" I asked in a trying to stay calm voice that came out as more stern then I intended.

"I don't know. I guess that's what you always do with Callie when she does something bad."

I gave her a confused look. She wanted me to yell at her? The last thing my kids wanted was for me to yell at them.

"No, I am not going to yell at you." I said with an edge in my voice very confused on what my daughter was asking.

"Oh, so this is it? I'm off the hook? I can just go back to my room as if nothing happened?"

"Where are you trying to go with this conversation?" My wife asked just as confused as I was.

"Never mind, it's not like you even care about me anyway. Didn't even clean or put a bandaid on it." Mariana said sounding almost angry as she quickly stood up and began heading to the door.

"Hey, you do not walk away from us." I said as I raised my voice. My daughter stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder at me.

"Get back here." I said in a low threatening voice.

To Lena and I's surprise, she did just that. She then plopped herself onto the trunk at the end of the bed.

I just stared at her. My mind was spinning with so many thoughts right now. My wife didn't even know how to respond to Marianas behavior.

"Mariana, what is really going on here." I said as I just wanted some answers. Some real honest answers. A thing Callie couldn't come up with for the life of her.

"I don't know." Mariana said as she looked back down at her hands.

Behind all of the hair covering her face, I could have sworn I saw a slight smirk or somewhat of a smile.

"Tell me what is going on through that beautiful mind of yours." I said as I reached over and tucked some of her hair back from her face. Indeed I had been right, she was smiling. I now was starting to get a hint as to what was going on.