𝑀𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎

Chapter 23 ~ Blame

Mayella

I'm sitting in my hotel room with Fay bawling my eyes out. She hasn't said anything yet and her face was growing pale. I put an ice pack on her forehead to stop the heat from growing. With shaky hands, I had to call mom down here to help me because I was freaking out.

Luckily she made it before I could break down and is now trying to get her to speak up. She says the hospital is not necessary until she faints and stops breathing.

I feel bad for Willow and Maddox though, they are stuck watching Rory and Grey as we all sit here digging up some of mom and dad's past. I have no clue where Reece is, probably heading over here with Elias.

"Fay, breath, please tell me what happened." Mom tries to be as calm as she can. I feel like this is all my fault, I didn't know how much a name could trigger someone.

My door opens and all three boys come in and rush over to us. There is no end to my tear streak as I stand on the side and watch it unfold. Reece sees me and rushes to me pulling me in a hug. "It's not your fault." He whispers.

I cling to his shirt and cry trying not to think about how much I screwed up. Elias is bent in front of Fay with his hands on her hot cheeks trying to calm her down and get a word out of her. Mom and Dad are sitting on the couch waiting for something to happen.

After what feels like an hour Fay finally speaks. But she looks at me while she says it. "Dylan, Dylan came up to May in the café this morning. He saw Abby in her and talked with her! What is wrong with him!" She yells out the last few words.

It falls dead silent as Fay is now in tears and hunched over. I look up from my hideout in Reece's shirt. Observing the room, I see three pairs of eyes on me, not including Reece, or Fay.

"What?" Dad gets out. "Dylan? Are you sure his name was Dylan?" I nod my head. I mutter sorry. Dad and Elias exchange looks as both faces grow hard.  "What did he say?" Eli asks and I shrug. Gosh my mind is so blank at the moment.

"He just stared at me and said I looked like someone he knew, which was mom..." I say. I'm still clinging to Reece's shirt as I try to contain my tears.

"I'm going to actually beat him to the ground." Dad says as he grabs his phone and leaves the room. Mom tries to stop him but is unable to. He comes back a second later realizing he shouldn't go anywhere.

"Baby Peach?" Mom calls to me as I look up. "Dylan is the one who hurt us." She says in a low whisper that makes my heart drop faster than the actual words coming out of her mouth. Me and Rec both freeze up.

The room falls silent once again. Reece steps out of his trance though and turns my body to him. He cups my face and examines my body like he is worried the same thing happened to me and I'm just not speaking about it.

"He didn't touch you right?" He whispers and I shake my head. "No"

"Let's call it a day, I'm going to take Fay out for a little to clear her head." Elias stands her up as they leave the room. "Abby, I think we need to have a talk." Dad says and she nods. Smiling at me and Reece, they leave the room.

I make my way to my bed and sit down. I don't hear the door open and close so I assume Reece is still here. I get under my covers and try to sleep even though it's so early to be going to sleep. "Mayell?" A voice calls and I look up to see Reece standing above me.

I nod my head and look him in the eyes. The same eyes that bore into me every time we give each other eye contact. "I don't wanna leave you." He whispers but I hear it. I scoot over for him to get in the blanket and he does. He spoons me from the back as I sigh in content.

🎀

"Well this was one hell of a trip." I say as we arrive back home in Minnesota. The rest of our time there was spent with family.

But now we are home and I'm ready to just throw my suitcase on the floor and plop down in my bed. I had to eat first though so I made a sandwich as I watched some tv. Mom and Dad have not been the same since that day.

They are just a little off and overprotective like that man is going to come and snatch me away. It hasn't wrapped around my mind that the man that I sat with and thought was nice, was actually the man who assaulted my mother, and Fay.

I feel like it's all my fault, maybe if I didn't give him the time of day, he would have left me alone and this whole thing could blow over. I take out my paint and easel and head out to the balcony to paint.

I saw a really cool flower in Seattle and thought I would draw it and the background could be the Washington state outline.

So that's what I drew to keep my thoughts away from reality for a moment.