skinny || h.s. au [Rewrite Now Up!]

turdyseven

Early update because WE MADE IT INTO THE RANKINGS WOOO. And because HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! Xxx
(Title because I had to okay???)
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A letter. Marley holds a letter in her hands. But she can't bring herself to open it. She just can't.

If you're not going to open it, then burn it.

But she can't do that either. Because it's from her mother. The letter is from her mother.

Just open it for Christ's sake. Read it and then burn it if you have to.

"Okay." She sighs. "I'll open it."

But she takes no step in doing so. Still holds the envelope in both hands as she sits at her small kitchen table.

Marley. Just do it.

Her cold fingers are careful as she flips it over. And slowly rips it open. "What if all it says is why she doesn't love me? And why she left?"

Then maybe it can give you closure.

Maria is right.

Marley pulls the paper out of the envelope. Unfolds it. And begins to read.

Dear Marley and Jax,
It has been almost a year since I left and I think you deserve an explanation. I was not well. When I left, I checked into a mental facility just outside New York, called the Newark Psychiatric Institute. I am working to get better so I can come home...

Marley stops reading. She stops breathing.

Her mother was in a psychiatric hospital. And Marley hates herself for hating her. Hates herself for the mean things she thought and said about her.

But then she stops thinking. And realizes.

Her mother was hardly ever good to her. In fact she ought to have gotten help long before she did.

So despite carefully worded, hand written letters and excuses, Marley still hates her mother.

Her phone is pressed to her ear within a minute. And with every ring, her chest tightens until she feels like she can't breathe.

And then it goes to voicemail.

"Jax, it's Marley." She says. The words feel caught in her throat. "I just got a letter... It's from mom. I thought you might want to know that she didn't leave because she hated us. She left because she was mentally ill. I mean... She still sort of hated us but maybe that wasn't her fault... but you can come home now. She said she'll come home. And we can be a family again."

She takes a breath.

"Just call me back."

And then she hangs up. Because she knows there is nothing she can say to her brother that will make him want to come back.

Nothing at all.

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Two days. Homecoming is in two days.

And Marley is slightly terrified.

Harry is outside her house when she walks out. He always surprises her when he just shows up like this.