The Unseen

16- Sleepless Nights

Grace POV

Drinks after drink my mind still races through these thoughts that I no longer can control. I leave empty bottles everywhere as if they were to guide me home later. I don't know how or when I got up to the rooftop but I did. Currently, I'm sitting near the rail looking at the Toronto skyline in the dark. I must be so drunk because I didn't even hear Mason come out until I see his shadow come near me. I jump backbit as he sits beside me. He sticks his hands out to catch me.

"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you." "You didn't scare me. I'm jumping like a frog. Hehe, Frog." "Grace" "yeessssss" "how drunk are you right now." "Drunk...drunk... Oh drunk. I'm not drunk at all. I'm sober like a flower. Ohh Pretty flowers." I start to sway as the alcohol starts to hit me harder than it did before. I bring the bottle to my mouth. I ditched the cups maybe around 5 bottles of whiskey ago. "Grace what are you drinking?" "special juice." "Ohh and what is in the special juice " "Whiskey!" I say loudly like a 5-year-old who just got their favourite present. As I bring the bottle back to my mouth yet again. This time Mason grabs the bottle away from me. "Heyyyy I wasn't finihsh with that yet." I say as I stumble on a few words "Oh I think you are finished with it. Grace how many fingers am I holding up." He holds up 8 fingers but from the current state, I'm in I can't tell. I try and count using his fingers but he pulls his fingers out of megrim and starts laughing. His sweet laughter starts filling up this starry night and I laugh along with it. "Okay seriously now how many fingers am I holding." I give him my best fake serious face like how a 5-year-old would and we break out it a laughing fit again. Once we calm down I stare at his fingers "there-I've" I say accidentally combining three and five. He laughs at this. "So close Grace. You wait here okay. ;m going to tell the group that you're wasted and get you some water. Stay here don't move." "yes sir," I say as I salute him off. He gets up shaking his head while he laughs.

After a few moments in silence, I look over to see Mason coming back with water. " Here you go." "Thank you," I tell him. I struggle to open the bottle in my drunk state. I look at the bottle and pout because it's refusing to open for me. I hear Mason laughing quietly at me. I turn to him and tell him it's not fun."Don't you want help?" I look at Mason and then to the bottle and then back to Mason. I huff and hand it over to Mason. He quickly opens it and hands it back. "I loosen it that's why you opened it easily." "Sure, we can go with that. The group said we can have the meeting tomorrow morning about what happened tonight. " "yippie," I say as sarcastically as I can. "Hurry up and drink your water." He sarcastically demands. I drink my water. The quietness swallows us and all we can hear is the birds softly communicating through the silent night.

"Grace?" "Yes, Mason" "I have a question for you" "what is it, Mason?" "Why do people call you Ana instead of Grace" "It's something that happened in the past." "What happened." "Have you ever felt broken, or that you're barely holding on?" I question Shawn. "No not really" "Well then you're lucky because thats what my life was full of." Before he gets the chance to say anything I cut him off. "I've been brought down to my knees. And I've been pushed way past the point of breaking. I was down but I got up again. There's just something so strong somewhere inside me. Or so I think. But I know that they can't count me out just yet. Those people who call me Ana don't know me. To answer your question I was Ana before I was Grace." "So you lied" "I never lie because I don't fear anyone, the only time you lie is when you are afraid." He nods his head slowly since he is a bit confused about what I said. You can tell he ponders in thought over what I told him.

"I'll be back, Back on my feet, This is far from over, they haven't seen the last of me. They said that I wasn't going to stay around. But I'm going to stand my ground. No one will stop me. There will be no fade out. This is not the end. I'm down now. But I'll be standing tall again. Times are hard but I was built tough, I'm gonna show you all that I'm made of." I say out in the open to anyone who would hear me. I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying right here, You won't see me begging. Can't stop me because it's not the end. They haven't seen the last of me.

I take a few breaths to breathe in the fresh air that surrounds us. "Ana is a person filled with scars and stories. Grace isn't. Grace is power." "But scars are a good thing. They show the fights we won and other things too." Shawn tells me. "Yes, but our scars are also filled with secrets. Secrets thats can't come out." I add. "Mason? Can I ask you a question now?" "Sure what is it." "Am I a bad person for doing all this?" Mason looks at me and takes in what I asked him. He then starts to explain. "Grace your..... immediately