21 - Alone!

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Sorry :p

Everyone has gone out, leaving you on your own. They're going somewhere boring, and you wanted to snoop around in Paige's room to get to the bottom of this situation.

You decide first to see what happened to Tony's old room.

It looks exactly as it always has. The creepy thing about Tony's room was that it was full of clocks. Like, every inch of the wall had a clock with the exact same time, down to the second. All you could hear was the soft tick tick tick. A lot of gem are old and broken and have long fell out of sync. If he could see it he'd have a cow.

You can tell someone has been in here. You suspect it's Paige: the room has been more or less untouched otherwise. However, one clock has been knocked off the wall in anger. You doubt Tony would break one of his beloved clocks purposely.

You leave, and wander into Paige's room. There is broken glass on the floor next to a picture frame, which she'd obviously knocked down. You pick up the picture, and see it is Tony and Paige's wedding photo. You sigh softly and return it to the ground. When you look on her bedside table, a photo of you and her is lying there.

One of her many little notebooks has been left astray on her bed. You pick it up and flick through it.

Each picture she's drawn has been labelled with a date. It goes all the way back from 3 months ago, and as it gets closer to recent times the pictures depict more disturbing, violent things. The painting on the wall is beautiful. This is horrifying.

It's an outlet. Art isn't just an interest of Paige's; it's how she expresses herself and how she deals with things. And you must admit, the skill and effort in even the darkest picture gives it its own beauty.

You continue until something catches your eye. A letter.

Tony,
I'm so sorry for everything. I'm so sorry I'm not good enough and I'm so sorry I'm not well enough.
I'll go to therapy. I'll take the meds. That's a promise. I'll be as normal as possible. I've never been more serious in my life.
If that's not enough, at least let me see my daughter. If I can't be anything to you, at least let me be something to her.
I'm a mess. I need you. Please, Tony.
-Paige

Therapy? Meds?

Your heart sinks at the thought that Paige is unwell; that she's struggling mentally.

"What are you doing?" You jump at a voice behind you. You turn and see Harry. "Why are you going through Paige's stuff?"

"Oh, hi. Why are you back so early?"

"Manny was feeling sick so I brought him back. Now, why are you going through Paige's stuff? A bit of a breach of her privacy, don't you think?"

"Because I need to make sure she's okay. I'm really worried about her, Harry."

"She's told you multiple times she doesn't want to talk about it. It isn't an invitation to ransack her things. And anyway, it's not because you're worried, not fully. You're just nosy, aren't you?"

"What?! Harry, I was worried she was getting abused! If that was the case, I wanted to make sure Tony wouldn't do it to some other person!"

"Well, was he?"

"I... I think he's made a mistake... not exactly..."

"Well, it's all okay, then! Do you go through people's stuff when you're here alone? Is that why you like to stay at home by yourself so much? So you can find out everyone's dirty secrets?"

"No! I only did this because I was worried!"

"How can I trust your word, Y/N? How do I know you dont have dirt on all of us? That if things went sour, you could just blackmail us?"

"You're just assuming things now, Harry. I would never do that."

He shakes his head and starts walking away. "Whatever, Y/N."

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