Halo of Light Around the Moon | Rilaya

8: First

"She's upstairs with Lily right now," Farkle states, as Riley and Maya walk inside.

"I don't think they've moved since she got here," Smackle adds. "We've offered her ice packs and food, but she said she doesn't want anything."

"Have you contacted the police?" Riley asks.

"Yes, they should be on their way over to her house right now to get her father," Farkle explains.

"Okay, I'll go see what I can do," Riley says, as she begins the flight upstairs.

Upon entering Lily's room, Riley finds her and Ayla huddled together on the ground.

Lily gives Riley a smile, before whispering to Ayla. "Hey, there is someone here I'd like you to meet."

Ayla lifts her head up to see who had entered the room.

"Hey, Ayla. My name is Riley," the brunette smiles. "I was wondering if I could talk to you for a bit."

"Aunt Riley?" Ayla asks, turning her head towards Lily.

"Yep, that's Aunt Riley," Lily smirks.

"Lily, do you have any clean clothes that Ayla could change into?" Riley suggests.

"Yeah," Lily responds to Riley's question. "Is it okay if I get up now?" She softly asks Ayla.

Ayla nods in agreement, and Lily goes into her closet to pick out some clothes. During the time Lily was gone, Ayla silently stared at Riley, as she remained sitting on the ground where Lily had left her.

"Here you go," Lily says handing her friend some clean clothes. Ayla then takes the clothes and goes back into Lily's closet to change.

"Would it be okay if I talked to her alone?" Riley quietly asks Lily, to which the girl responds by nodding.

As soon as Ayla comes out in her fresh clothes, Lily says, "Riley wants to talk to you alone for a little bit, is that okay?"

Ayla quickly shakes her head no, and her eyes beg Lily not to leave her.

"I will be right down stairs if you need me, okay?"

Ayla bites her lip and nods her head okay.

Lily leaves the room and Riley grabs a blanket off of Lily's bed. "Do you want to sit down on the beanbag chairs? We can talk there if you want."

Ayla silently goes and sits herself down on the beanbag and Riley does the same.

"Would you like this blanket?" Riley offers, handing Ayla the blanket she had taken from Lily's bed.

Ayla slowly reaches for the blanket and begins to wrap herself in it.

"To start off I'm going to tell you a little about myself. My name is Riley Matthews-Hart-Hunter and I'm married to your art and history teacher. I have been best friends with Lily's, Brandon's and Danny's parents for a very long time. Now I work for Child Protective Services and was wondering if you'd like to tell me a little bit about yourself."

"I can't tell you anything about him," Ayla shyly mumbles.

"What?"

"You want to know more about him, don't you?"

Riley smiles. "Ayla, I just meet you, but I can already tell that you are very brave. You ran away from your father, and I know that must have been really hard for you. I'm only here to help you. The more you are able to tell me, the more I am able to help."

"Can you promise me he won't hurt me?"

"He will never hurt you ever again," Riley promises. "I won't let him."

Ayla looks towards the ground, before she starts talking. "My name is Ayla and I was born on March 13th, 2025. When I was 2 years old my mom overdosed on drugs, leaving me alone with my father... I don't think I've ever since him happy, except for when he was drinking with his friends. He would still get mad at me though and I never knew why. He would usually hit my stomach or back, so no one at school would notice... One day he messed up and hit me in the head. It left a big bruise and the teacher's started asking me questions at school... That's when he decided we needed to move to New York."

"So he's been doing this for along time?"

"Forever."

"Is it always this bad?"

Ayla takes her hand and wipes some of the blood off of her face. "No, it's never been this bad before."

"He didn't say why he attacked you today?" Riley asks.

"He did this time. He thought I told a teacher that he was hurting me."

"But you didn't."

"No, but I stayed a few minutes late after school in art class. When I got in the car, I told him that I was talking to a teacher and he asked what we were talking about. I didn't know what to tell him, so he just assumed I told her. He got really mad and when we got home, he started breaking all of my art stuff. I told him to stop, but he didn't listen. He punched a hole in the wall and that only made him even madder... He started attacking me and then everything went black."

"You passed out?"

"I think so. When I woke up he was in the kitchen drinking, so I ran here as fast as I could," Ayla explains, as tears continue to run down her face from retelling what had just happened to her.

"Was this the first time you ever ran away from him?"

"Yes."

"Why did you never run away before?"

"This is the first time I ever had someone to run to."

Riley purses her lips and says, "thank you for sharing that with me."

Ayla finally looks up at Riley, her eyes stained red from her tears. "You are the first person I have ever been able to tell that to. Thank you for listening."

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A/N: Next, a quick stop at the hospital and then the bay window.