Down to the Riptide

| E I G H T |

"Everyone thinks that we're perfect, please don't let them look through the curtains,
D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E, I see things that nobody else sees."
-Dollhouse, Melanie Martinez

"My mother, Sarah Johnson, had me when she was sixteen. Two years later, she married my father, Jacob Graham. Jacob lived with us until I was eleven. He cheated on my mom, and they divorced." Taking a deep breath, he looked at her, she remained quiet, her face still.

He continued, "That was when my mom started drinking, and I started cutting. I thought it was my fault that Dad left. Three months later, Mom was dating, his name was Gabe, that's when the abuse started, my mom had six boyfriends within six months, Gabe, Dan, Patrick, Charles, Trent and Phil. They all beat me."

He shivered. Not from the fever, but from the memories. "Greg. She met him the week before I turned twelve. He's a cop. He does good all throughout the day, but at night when he comes home...' He couldn't continue. She didn't move.

      She had to say something.

"I got pregnant when I was fifteen." She finally spoke. "My parents kicked me out. Six months later I had a miscarriage. I somehow managed to keep myself in school, it became easier when I started my...job."

She glanced at me, a hint of nervousness breaking through her facade. "At sixteen I was stripping and selling my body to men. I got a fake ID and drivers license. I still strip, and...all that other stuff. I've been homeschooling myself for the entirety of sophomore and senior year in high school."

Neither spoke. Both were processing the others confessions.

The truth was out.

He was the first to speak. "I turn eighteen next Wednesday. I have a full scholarship to NYU, you can come with me." He didn't know what he was doing, but it felt right.

She was shocked. Unable to speak, but for the first time in years, her tears spilled down her cheeks, and an emotion she had not felt since she was fifteen, filled her, like a lost friend, hope embraced her.

Both, as they stared into each other's eyes realized something. They loved each other. They had seen the others flaws, imperfections and mistakes, and had stood by each other over the course of nine months, and slowly but surely, they had fallen.

"I love you." He grinned.

"I love you more dearest." She laughed.

They both laughed, they laughed, and they cried, tears of joy, tears of pain, and tears of hope. Hope for a future, that was different from the one they had been expecting.