To Be Made Whole (A Christian Romance) (On Hold)

Chapter 8: Eavesdropping and Solitude

It was a cool Thursday night. Jessica and I decided to meet up for coffee after my classes tomorrow to catch up. She was surprised to hear from me and to be fair, she had every right to be. She tried to be there for me after the initial accident, but I had shunned the world away except for my parents and grandmother at the time.

Each day, I felt my relationship with God grow a little more. I had begun reading from the first chapter of the New Testament and made my own daily quiet time to pray. I've been able to think of mama and not completely fall apart as I used to.

Everything truly did seem to be changing. Truly everything. Even my friendship with Rafael.

After that Sunday, it was as if he fell off the map. He wasn't answering my calls or my text messages. The urge to overthink was steadily growing, but I made every attempt to stifle it. So to take my mind off of the hazel-eyed friend of mine, I've instead thrown myself back into school work.

I already re-wrote that paper for Professor Hadrick and would wait until my volunteer work completed before sending it to him. Mother was pleased to hear that I was able to get another chance at writing it. She didn't smile though nor did she hug or congratulate me. She simply said, "good" under her breath and walked off. Yet, I had long since learned her language and I understood that she was as pleased as she'd ever be with me.

My bedroom was silent as I read through the assignment that we were given this week. I could practically fall asleep from boredom, yet I pushed through. I didn't want procrastination to prove itself to be a reoccurring phenomenon within my academic life.

The entire house had been mostly silent-

Clang! Clang!

-until it wasn't.

I could hear the sound of pots falling downstairs. My parents' voice were growing louder and progressing into yells. After awhile, their voices became hushed again, so it seemed as though they were attempting quiet down, yet they were failing at that miserably. It became hard to concentrate on the papers in front of me. I huffed and sighed before pushing myself off of the twin sized bed and over to my bedroom door.

I felt tempted to open the door swiftly, but realized that interrupting them wouldn't be wise. They were noticeably angry or at least my mother was. Sometimes I wondered if they were talking or ranting about me. It caused an ache in my heart to ponder the idea. For years, I only wanted them to be pleased with me and each year felt more impossible than the last.

I pulled my door open and instantly felt grateful for applying some WD40 to the hinges a couple months back. It stopped it from squeaking every time it opened or closed and it allowed me to exit my room without being heard.

I heard my dad's voice clearly first.

"Nora suggested therapy again. She's noticed the family dynamic over the years and she's worried about us." He said.

"Well Nora can mind her own business. This isn't her family, so this isn't her problem." My mother rudely responded as expected. I gasped at my mother's response. She and Nora were once great friends.

Nora had been our neighbor for as long I could recall. She would babysit my sister and I on the rare occasion that we needed one. Due to my grandmother usually being home and available, it happened only a handful of times, but she remembered what we were like as a happy family. I almost cringed with embarrassment to think that someone else witnessed the wreck that we had become.

"I usually agree with you, Ara. You and Arabella were so close. I know she was our rainbow baby, but-" he paused. I waited almost impatiently for him to continue. "But we have to stop treating Annalise like she stole our rainbow from the sky."