What Brought Us Together

Blow Out.

Same Day...

It was just them now. Virtue, Exodus, and their dogs. The dogs were temporarily in their cages while Virtue and Exodus were in the bedroom. Currently, Virtue was in the bathroom that she locked herself in and Exodus was on the other side of the door trying to make sense of it all.

"Talk to me," He offered and Virtue smacks her teeth.

"What if all of this is just a phase? You know, a moment in time?" Virtue says carefully.

He knew that she was trying to deviate from the issue at hand but he rolled with it. "How do you mean?"  He clasped his hands together and tuned in.

"What if I am not supposed to be loved wholeheartedly? Like I'm supposed to be loved in phases; to be loved for just a moment? Carryn and Tarryn are just permenant beings and I'm just a temporary placeholder in peoples lives. I'm just a moment in time," With tears in her eyes, Virtue twiddled with her ring.

"Virtue you're not a phase, especially not with me," Exodus said sternly.

"Then why do I feel expendable? My life is rooted in lies and secrets that's covered up in warm kisses and hugs," She wipes a tear.

"Baby you're not expendable," He tried to comfort.

"Your life is not a lie Exodus," She rolled her eyes, covering her face. "You have a mother 24/7 around the clock, my mother isn't really my mother who's actually someone else's mother. My actual mother wants to be an actual mother because when she had the time to be an actual mother, she thought that it was too late. I don't have anyone!" She exclaimed.

"You do have someone baby. Me, Mama Carryn, Tarry—" Exodus touched his chest like she could actually see him and Virtue shakes her head.

"You think Mama Carryn is going to talk to me after this?" She now touches her chest, thinking about the negative 'what ifs'.

"She's still your mother, Virtue," Exodus frowned.

"I don't have a mother, not anymore," She shrugged, mentally thanking Vanessa for that.

"Baby Vanessa holds no value or stock in what you and Mama Carryn have. That's a personal connection that you and her have and it can't be duplicated or renovated. Blood mother or not, she's still your mother. You love her as if she's your own," Exodus tells her and she was silent for a moment.

"She stabbed him you know," Virtue reveals, speaking of Mama Carryn. "She stabbed Sterling in his sleep. He fought back and survived and got away. Till this day me and Mama Carryn don't know if he's alive." She shakes her head recalling the memory.

"You and Mama Carryn? As in Tarryn doesn't know?" He raised a brow.

"She doesn't. Tarryn was at cheer practice and I decided to wait for her at the house and when I walked in, a knife was jabbed into his gut and Mama Carryn's hands were on it. He started fighting back and I was too scared to intervene. He pulled the knife out and ran out the house. We haven't seen him since."

"So Tarryn never...?"

"Absolutely not. For what he did to her, she doesn't care if that man lives or dies. She asked about him once and Mama Carryn just simply said that he won't bother her anymore. After that, Tarryn didn't talk to her, and for a very long time," Virtue wipes another tear.