𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 - kiara carrera¹

𝒙𝒗. 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌'𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON, TATE?"

Tatum Quinn couldn't meet the fierce eyes of Kiara Carrera. She had never been so ashamed in her life. She hated herself for what she did. Every day since then, she waited for the confrontation to come. Every day, she sat at the beach and waited. For JJ, for Pope, for John B - but nobody came. Now was the time, though. 6:55. Kie had snuck into her room, the same way she did hers only a week ago. But it was 6:55. She had five minutes.

"Kie, you need to go," she said urgently. She knew she needed to apologise - no, she needed to do way more than apologise - but right now there was only one thing on her mind. 6:56. Four minutes now.

Kiara's eyes widened at her audacity. She crossed her arms and stood firmly on the dirty floor. The four - three - Quinn siblings all shared a tiny, square room. There was bearly any walking space, due to the two shabby bunkbeds on either side, and the four huge piles of clothes; they didn't have wardrobes, and hadn't picked their take of Joe's stuff yet. There were more holes in the walls than Kie had seen in her life, covered up with ripped out pages of porn magazines. Women, of course, so the boys could make their homophobic father proud. "I'm not leaving until you tell me why the hell my mom was breaking down over your brother sticking a gun in her face."

Tatum snapped her head upwards in shock. It was her who held the gun. It was her who pointed it at Mrs Carrera. "What?"

"You've been MIA for days," Kiara went on, not seeing the problem. "Me and the boys have been so worried, especially after you threatened to kill those men." Every word that came out of her mouth only made Tatum feel more sick. Should she tell her the truth? What did she think happened? Why did Mrs Carrera lie? "We know you don't like us coming here, so we waited a few days more, until we couldn't handle it anymore."

"We?" asked Tatum.

Kiara pointed to the window, where the van was waiting in the dark. "The boys are out there," she said. She looked at Tatum softly. "When my mom told me about Leroy robbing her, she said you were with him. She said you were scared, and that he...pointed a knife at you."

Tatum gulped. Mrs Carrera had really lied for her. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know whether to tell the truth or keep quiet, and wait for it to come out itself. Secrets never stay secrets. But for now, Tatum decided, that was okay. Because it was 6:58, and Kiara needed to go.

"Are you safe?" Kie finally asked, holding the girl's forearm comfortingly. "I told the boys about Joseph - I didn't know what else to do - we were all so scared. JB said you can stay with him for a while. Until Leroy gets himself thrown into a cell again."

Tatum had never felt so guilty in her life. Scratch that - Tatum had never felt guilty in her life. But what she did to Kiara's mom would haunt her until the day she died. She wanted to cry and say yes. 'Yes, I do want to stay with John B. Yes, I can't be in this house anymore. Yes, I'm terrified." But it was 6:59, and her father would be there in a minute. Kiara needed to go and she needed to stay. She would never escape from this haunted house, no matter how hard she tried. She was trapped here forever, binded to it by her last name.

She shook her head, slowly taking Kiara's hand off her. "I'm fine, Kie," she assured her sweetly. "Leroy's just a dick, and Dad's had me on house arrest all week to help out with his pregnant whore."

Kiara searched her face for any lie. She knew it wasn't true. She knew Tatum wasn't nearly as as strong as she let on. She knew her family was slowly killing her. But there was nothing she could do about it, and that killed her. "Are you sure?" she asked softly, desperate for the girl to admit her pain.

"I'm sure," lied Tatum, melting under the girl's calming gaze. "I've lived with these guys my whole life; I know how to handle it."

7:00. The front door opened. Footsteps.

Kiara nodded slowly, leaned close and planted a warm kiss on Tatum's cheek. "See you tomorrow, okay?" she said with a smile.

Tatum nodded, her hand over her cheek, mesmerised. Kiara climbed out the window and faded into the distance.

The door opened. "Ready, princess? Work today was stressful. Luke was being a right cunt."

Tatum's snapped out of her daze. "Hi, Dad."