A Mystery's Knowledge

24- Anxious Confrontation

So, I may have been listening to some Noah Kahan while writing this and might have paraphrased (not copied) some of the lyrics.

Emma's P.O.V

It was currently the middle of the night. I couldn't sleep. Again.

Grayson knew that I used to have nightmares and trouble sleeping, but he wasn't yet aware those problems had resurfaced.

I had fallen into an illusion of peace the past few days. It was nice, wrapping myself in the false cocoon of security. But that's all it was. I could feel the looming sense of doom, of a mystery to unravel. 

I had always lived an empty life. After it first happened, I'd never been able to see the world the same. Sure, the grass was still green, but my color was bleached from me. My hope had fallen and eventually, I'd given up on receiving my parents- or who I thought were my parents- love. Love was a strange, unknown topic.

Until Grayson.

He ran my mind in circles, confusing me with his behavior. It was addicting and what had eventually destroyed me.

But now I had another purpose.

I know I wasn't exactly welcome in the house, that I'd flipped the Hawthorne's life upside down. Although I could sense Hawthorne's spirit and the old man welcomed me home, there was tension between everybody. All the confusion, the mystery, had everyone involved, regardless of whether they agreed with Hawthorne's ways. But it was real, and that's what we all needed.

So, I needed to face Avery,

She had been hurt, that was true. And in some small way, it may have been slightly my fault. But she was going to make it through and we would solve this mystery. Together. 

No more hidden secrets. No more lies. 

That was why I had put off visiting Avery after my original panic. If she asked questions, I knew I would answer them this time, regardless of whether I wanted to or not. But now was not the time to be scared. I had lived through and put Avery through several tragedies, so if she asked questions, she deserved answers.

So, here I was now. Up in the middle of the night, sneaking my way to Avery's room after taking a dosage of my prescribed medications. My concussion was almost completely healed, but extensive movement would sometimes give me a painful headache and dizziness.

(And if any of this is wrong, please do inform me. I'm not a doctor, nor have I ever had a concussion, so this could be completely wrong for all I know).

I quietly snuck my way into Avery's room, wincing when the door squeaked a bit. I didn't want to wake her but was surprised when she said, "Don't bother trying to be quiet, I'm awake and the walls are soundproof Jameson"

"Really, Jameson? You can't recognize your creepy sis anymore" I said, bleeding out my slightly developed country accent for sarcastic hurt. Being back home had drawn out my countriness and I was surprised to find I actually missed it.

Avery bolted upright in bed, eyes wide. "Em? I- you- Are you ok?"

"Well, I was just called Jameson, so I'm not quite sure," I said, taking a seat in a chair by her bed.

"What's so bad about that?" She pouted, it was so obvious that she liked him.

I let out a small chuckle, "He's been my best friend fo' years Ave's, there's a lot I know about 'im. For starters, the bastard doesn't know how to keep a shirt on. Although he is a nice heater, sometimes it's just startling. Like your first encounter with 'im, right?" Jameson had told me about his shirtless drunken entrence into Avery's life one night while we had been drinking. 

"How would you know that?" Avery had a slight tint of possessiveness in her voice and I figured it was the perfect opportunity to tell her everything.

"Do you wanna' know the whole story?" She shifted in the bed, turning to face me more directly.

"I'll listen to whatever you want to share" Avery, unfortunately, had not yet developed the same southern accent I had.