Invisible Halo (MGK Fanfic)

Chapter 8

Monica pov

"Good afternoon Moni!" Colson said as I walked to the bus.

"Hey Cole!" I said.

"How was the rest of your night?"

"It was fine, I actually got seven hours of sleep. What about you?"

"My night went okay. I got to talk to my daughter." He said looking down as he shuffled his feet.

He looked nervous and for a second I wanted to ask him if he was okay. I didn't even know he had a daughter for one thing. Was this why we were leaving so quickly? I got up the steps and sat down in the same seat I sat in last night, and Colson sat next to me.

"Oh wow, you have a daughter? May I see a picture of her?" I asked enthusiastically.

"Yeah! Her name is Casie, she's four years old." He said before pulling his Galaxy S3 from his pocket to show me a picture.

When he opened up his phone he had a photo album with all of the pictures he had of Casie and pictures they took together labelled my little rock star. From the various pictures I saw of them, I could say that I had never seen someone so happy, let alone for it to be him. Slim said he used to struggle with drug addiction and how he was still going through chronic depression but I could tell that Casie made all those things go away.

"She's absolutely adorable!!" I said, trying my best not to sound like a crazed fan.

"Ha, thanks!" He said as the sad look crept back to his face.

I wanted to see the smiling Cole that was sitting beside me outside of the club yesterday, was that too much to ask or was it a façade. I couldn't help it, I preferred when everyone in my presence was happy and his moping wasn't going to cut it.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's on your mind?" I said with a calm voice. I wanted him to know after he was my shoulder to cry on last night that I'd be the same for him.

"To be honest... It's way too much on my mind, I couldn't pin down the one thing that bothered me most if I tried." He said with such melancholy that it almost transferred into my soul.

"Well you can start with telling me what happened after we left the club." I said eagerly, forcing a smile upon my face.

"Damn! Someone's persistent. You really want to know huh?" He said perking back up.

"If its going to make you feel better than shoot yeah!"

"Well the thing that's bothering me started way before last night. It actually started a little after Casie was born, her mother started going through....changes."

I sat there silently waiting for him to finish his story. Where I'm from we all had our share of terrible upbringings but this seemed more complex. The way his hand were shaking and how the words looked like they were physically choking him. This had to be something serious, something that I had probably never even witnessed.

"She used to threaten her parents and I, her parents mostly. She was fine one minute, and the next she had a knife threatening to kill everyone in the room. We knew there was something mentally wrong with her and that's when we found out she was schizophrenic." He continued.

Oh my lord, that was a bombshell I wasn't expecting. I have never had a run in with someone who had a mental illness other than those suffering with PTSD in my old youth group.

After the death of my older brothers, Slim thought it'd be good to meet others who were going through the same thing. While at first it seemed like an amazing thing to be apart of, the meetings drowned me in my depression like an anchor. I spent my days listening to other peoples' sadness and it piled on top of the depression I was enduring myself. Enough about me, I could only imagine how Colson felt about the mother of his child being schizophrenic.

"I am extremely sorry." That's all I could manage to say.

"Your probably also wondering why we're leaving earlier than planned as well?" He said, with confidence of already knowing my answer.

I nodded my head yes so he could proceed with the story. I was on the edge of my seat as if I was watching a scary movie and they were about to unmask the killer.

"When I called Casie last night.." He paused putting his head in the palm of his hands.

"Please don't feel the need to say anymore. We'll get to your baby girl before the devil's shadow."

He looked up in shock, I didn't know if it was something I said or was he just shocked that I had even been listening to him. Little did he know that's exactly what I did mostly, listen. Sometimes it felt good to hear someone else's problems, to know your not the only one who struggles through life.

"Thank you, your a really good person ya know Moni?" He asked with a grin.

"What is wrong with you? I save you from crying and you still won't call me by my real name!" I said mocking Colson from our encounter outside the club last night.

We both started laughing till we were both were in tears.

"Thank you again! I might've didn't get it all off my chest but I do appreciate the part I did manage to get out." Colson said.

"No problem, really! I owe you, after you made me feel what it was like to have a real friend." Wow I couldn't believe I said that aloud.

"If we're friends than you need to start calling me Colson." He said laughing.

"Aw but I like Cole!" I said through giggles. I enjoyed this, having such a deep conversation and then laughing till my stomach started hurting.

"Alright Moni! I'm going to get some sleep, I didn't really get any last night." He said in between a yawn.

"Okay sleeping beast." I said waving him bye as he walked to the back of the bus.

With only 45 minutes til we'd be in Cleveland, I decided I take a little cat nap. I put my hood over my head and lied my head on top of my hands that were on the counter and I drifted off to sleep.