the fantasy ends || obx

1

I woke up this morning on my parents couch, my head pounding and my eyes barely able to stay open. I sat up, almost passing out again. I barely remember last night, the only thing I could gather up was Rafe yelling at me to sober up so we could have our picture taken. He took me to the bathroom and tried to knock some sense into me, he was coked out and I forgave him at the end of the night, after all, the "perfect" couples never break up, right?

I was sitting on the couch, trying to push myself to actually do something with my life. My parents walked down the stairs and walked into the living room, seeing me, hungover, on their couch.

"Aurora Mitchell, drink some water and go freshen up this instant! We have pictures with the Cameron's in 30 minutes, and don't forget to cover up that scar on your neck, it won't make us look good on the paper." My mother threw a water bottle next to me on the couch and walked outside with my dad.

I waited for the door to close, then I managed to make my way upstairs. I went into the bathroom and got in the shower. I washed off all of the messed up make-up and the smell of weed and alcohol, I need to fix my ways, but how will I?

I got out about 10 minutes later, I had blow dried my hair, which took about 10 more minutes, then I looked at the time and noticed I had 10 minutes to do my make-up and get dressed. I looked at myself in my mirror and saw a hand shaped scar on my neck, I tried to cover it up with foundation but it hurt to touch.

I decided to rub the foundation on with my hands, then the beauty blender, just to see if it would hurt less, and it did. I did a quick, natural make-up look then I got dressed. I wore a v-neck crop top and a basic pair of distressed jean shorts. I walked downstairs and saw my mom waiting for me at the door.

"We're barely going to make it, get in the car. Now." She demanded as she pushed me out of the house, walking behind me to make sure I didn't go anywhere. She walked me out to the car and I got in. She sat in the front with my dad and I sat in the back. "I will give you $500 if you just put a fake smile on for these pictures, I refuse to let you be the reason we go down in the business." My mom grabbed money from her wallet and threw it at me in the back.

I am 18 years old, and here I am, being forced to be a little robot that functions off of money to be happy. I need to leave the Outer Banks, I need to get away from
this family, but I have no where to go.

About 10 minutes go by and we arrive at Wards house, Rafe came over to the backseat and opened my door up for me, I got out and gave him an obvious fake smile. He forced his hand in mine and we started to make our way inside. Once we got away from the adults, he yanked me closer to him and made me stop walking.

"Don't act out in front of the photographers today, This picture will be on the Outer Banks paper, so smile and actually pretend that you love me for once." He let go of my hand and started to walk away, I nodded my head and walked inside with him.

"Aurora, Hey!" Sarah saw me and ran up to me to hug me. "Oh my God.. Pictures are in 10 minutes, wanna come up to my room for a few minutes?" She asked, barely making eye contact with me because her eyes were focused on my neck.

'Yeah sure, let's go.' I said, following behind her as we walked up to her room.

"Are you okay? I saw your neck, did you fall?" Sarah worriedly asked me as her and I sat down.

'Yeah, last night I got a little too drunk and I fell down trying to get in the car, don't worry about it, I just need to cover it.' I sighed and she smiled and nodded. I then sat at her vanity and covered it. She looked at me like she knew I was lying, but how would she know anything? Does Rafe treat her the same way?