𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓷𝓼 • 𝒜𝓇𝓇ℴ𝓌

0.6| 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒞𝓊𝓇𝒾𝑜𝓊𝓈 𝓉𝒶𝓁𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒞𝒽𝓁𝑜𝑒́ 𝒜𝓇𝒸𝑒𝓃𝑒𝒶𝓊𝓍

-🌹-

Chloé could not move, arriving at the top of the stairs, she could hear the voices talking from downstairs. Arguing, though the other voice, older and sharper was far more restrained than Vivienné's voice was.

'They don't want to see you.' Vivienné declared firmly in French, in the tone that always left no room for argument. 'Matthéo's... It's been hard on them, seeing you only reminds them of that. You should not have come here Charléne.'

Yet this voice dared to argue back. 'So you keep saying.' She retorted with a thick French accent, 'but I'd like to know why one moment Lys is sending me letters every week then suddenly nothing. Why neither Théo or Chloé won't even return my emails!'

'Just what exactly are you trying to accuse me of?' Vivienné questioned voice as sharp as steel.

'Don't treat me like I'm other people, Vivienné.' Charléne hissed through clenched teeth, 'One minute Matthéo's leaving them with me every other week the next he tries to kill himself. I know well how much he suffered mentally, which is also exactly how I know when he is suicidal and when he isn't!'

'Or maybe you just aren't as sharp as you think.' Vivienné shot back, 'you never knew that he thought you blamed him. That's exactly why he crawled back to drugs.'

'You know damn well why he started doing drugs again and I know for a fact because I was there along with Timotheé and Aurélie to pull him out of it.' Charléne declared louder this time, 'while I was convincing him to stay clean you where off-' She stopped mid sentence as Chloé reached the bottom of the stairs, even though she was hiding herself behind a wall. 'Chloé, come out dear.' Her voice became much softer.

How she'd even known she was there Chloé didn't know. But her grandmother always seemed to know these things, sneaking up on her was near impossible. Charléne smiled at her as she edged out from around the corner, she was a short woman, much shorter than Vivienné easily, with greying-almost white hair which fell loose around her shoulders, a face marked by only a few wrinkles despite the fact she was in her late 60's as well as faded freckles, a pair of golden rimmed glasses on her nose, her soft brown eyes staring at her warmly.

'How long where you there?' Vivienné questioned immediatly and her voice softened too but not in the way Charléne's did. Rather in a way that let her know she'd be in trouble for it later.

'Papa did drugs?' She asked before she could stop the question from slipping out. She'd meant to lie, to act like she hadn't heard any of it. Glancing to Vivienné whose stare sharpened.

That was what Vivienné meant when she'd said she was just like him? Because he had done drugs too? But he'd never said anything about it. Of course he hadn't, because he expected better of them. Expected her to be stronger than she was.

But Charléne simply stepped towards her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder one guiding her softly not pushing or harsh the way Vivienné always was. 'He did.' She said, 'he had a problem and you deserve to know about it.' She lead her towards the sofa, taking her hands as she sat her down. 'When he was a teenager, your father fell into drugs and struggled with it for years, now, this didn't make him a failure or weak, just a person who had a problem for which he got help.' She brushed a strand of Chloé's hair behind her ear as she could only stare at her wordlessly. 'I know you love your father but he's just a human, he had faults.'

Chloé pulled away from her soft hands, almost falling over as she stumbled backwards, breath faltering. 'I-I have to go. I have to-to fill out school-uh-uh stuff.' She stammered, backing away from them, blinking back the tears as Charléne watched after her eyes wide with fear and Chloé knew she knew but she could do nothing, could not look her in the eyes. 'I'm sorry.' She turned bolting up the stairs, ducking around the corner, slamming her bathroom door shut.