picking teams

chapter 12: cady

hello everyone!! happy wednesday welcome back it's been a while lol oops

hope you're having a great day!! also pretty please read the end note for this one i got Stuff To Say™!!

anyway!!
tw for
aftermath of SA
panic attacks
mild gore kinda??
and as always if i've missed something please let me know!!

enjoy!

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Cady feels like she's glowing as she walks through her front door. She pauses to look at her hands and double check that she isn't as she calls to her parents, "I'm home!"

"Kitchen!" her mother calls back. Cady drops her bag off in the laundry room so she remembers to wash her things before she heads to find her parents.

She freezes when she sees them sitting at the table with matching grim looks on their faces. "What's going on?"

"Sit down, binti," her father says gently. Cady eyes them oddly as she pulls out another chair and plops herself into it.

She tries not to worry too much when she sees just how hard her mother is gripping her father's hand. Her parents love each other, but they aren't the most physically affectionate couple. Whatever this is about is clearly weighing on them. Literally, as they seem to slouch under the pressure of their thoughts.

"We need you to decide what you want to do about Shane," her mother explains quietly. "I know it's not something you want to think about, but we're running out of time for you to make your decision."

Cady freezes. She feels like a bucket of ice water has been tossed over her, chilling her to her bones. Just the mention of his name is enough to do that to her, even after almost four months.

Her parents are right. She doesn't want to think about this. She doesn't ever want him or that or anything about that night to cross her mind ever again. She wants it buried as deep as it can go, locked as tight as it can get, somewhere, anywhere she can't find it. She's done everything she can to not think about it over the months since she was released from the hospital.

But they're also right in that she's running out of time. If she chooses to make a police report, they won't be able to do anything if she waits too long. That's if they even believe her. If it isn't already too late.

"Cady?" her dad asks softly. Cady looks up and blinks back hot tears burning her eyes. "Do you want to press charges?"

"I don't know," Cady hisses, digging the heels of her hands into her eyes. All it does is make the burning worse, but she relishes in the peaceful dark behind her eyes for a moment.

"We have to know how to move forward, binti," her mother reminds her gently. "It's up to you. Whatever you want to do, we'll support you. But we have to know what you-"

"I said I don't know!" Cady sobs, slamming her hands on the wood of the table with such force that her palms burn and her fingers tingle. "I can't... I..."

She doesn't finish her thought before she's running upstairs and locking herself in her room. She heaves sobs so heavy it makes her chest ache as she wrenches her phone out of her pocket and opens her messages. Tears blur her vision as she taps Janis' contact and desperately types out a message, willing her fingers to just do this one thing for her before everything inside her shatters beyond repair.

caddycat: Can yoi come over
caddycat: Please

She lets out a desperate, relieved sob when the little dots start bouncing in the corner almost immediately, signaling that Janis is typing.