Secrets and Lies ||mildie/sillie||

Chapter 13

"There's more, isn't there? I mean, just one beating wouldn't cause...this..."

"Yeah, there's more..." said Gaten, clearly reluctant to say any more, alternating uncomfortable looks between the rest of the gang.

Millie stood up, "I'm going home" she announced, "come on". She walked off whilst everyone else was getting up.

Finn touched Sadie's arm to get her attention and pointed towards Millie, indicating she should catch up with her. Sadie looked back at him and he smiled with a reassuring nod. She broke into a gentle jog to catch up to Millie, but stopped a couple of meters before she reached her. "Millie?" She stopped but didn't turn around, Sadie heard her take a deep breath and release it shakily. "Can I walk with you?" At this, Millie turned her head and slowly extended her arm, offering her hand. She gave her a small, but genuine smile. Sadie took Millie's hand gratefully in hers, and they walked back to Millie's house in silence, the boys following close behind.

When they got there Millie opened the door as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake her mom, but she needn't have bothered as she was sat there waiting for her. "What time do you call this!? Where the hell have y..." she stopped upon seeing the whole gang come through the doorway, and gave Millie a closer inspection. "You've been crying, what happened? she asked, worriedly. She hadn't noticed her holding hands with Sadie at first, but when she did she scrutinised Sadie much more closely than the first time they'd met, making her feel self-conscious enough to let go.

Millie just looked at the floor, she felt drained by the evening's events. Her mom seemed to understand her feelings, "why don't you go upstairs and clean up? Ava was asking for you earlier, maybe you can check on her too" she suggested, smiling warmly at her daughter. "I assume you lot are staying?" she asked the rest of the guys who all nodded.

"Yeah, aunt Kelly" answered Finn for everyone.

"Come on then, you can all help me set up in the lounge". With that they filed into the next room, Sadie went to go with them but Kelly turned and stopped her, "why don't you go freshen up too, with Millie?" Sadie noted the conflicted, but resolute look on Kelly's face.

"Oh, ok, as long as it's ok..." she replied, lamely.

Kelly looked at Millie and saw a look that she hadn't seen for a very long time on her daughter's face, hope, and she knew she couldn't say no. She smiled at Sadie, "go, it's fine." She watched as Millie shyly took Sadie's hand and lead her upstairs. Returning to the lounge she had a much more serious look on her face, "so who's going to tell me what happened? Finn?" He sighed and began to tell her what had been happening at school, leading up to that night.

Millie showed Sadie to the bathroom, "you go first, I'll get you something to change into."

"Oh, thanks" replied Sadie. She washed up and changed into the soft PJs that Millie handed her through the door. When she came out she looked for Millie in her room but couldn't find her. Wandering out again a movement caught her eye, she looked into Ava's room and there was Millie, sat on a small 2-seater couch by Ava's bed, watching her sleep.

"Hey," said Sadie, softly so as to not wake Ava.

"Don't worry, she'd sleep through a bomb going off" said Millie, smiling.

Sadie sat down next to her in silence for a few minutes just watching Ava sleep. "Millie?"

"Sadie...I...this is so hard" said Millie, closing her eyes tightly. "You're the first person I've talked to about this to since it happened..."

"You can tell me anything, it won't change how I feel about you."

Millie looked at her, "how do you feel about me?"

"W...well...I, uh, I really like you...a lot" she managed to get out, blushing profusely.

"I really like you too" Millie said, tentatively taking Sadie's hand in her own. After a few more minutes of silence, "remember when Noah said that we got beaten up?" Sadie nodded yes. "They didn't stop there. Noah was pretty bad, he was barely conscious, but me, they decided to teach me a harder lesson. Troy and James..." Sadie watched as Millie, head down, took a few deep breaths, each released through quivering lips, and squeezed her hand to remind her that she was there for her. "They dragged me to the edge of the forest, they said that I was disgusting, and that...I just needed to be shown what I was missing..." Sadie's face just fell, she had a horrible feeling she knew where this was going. "Troy...he..." Sadie just grabbed her and held her tight, "...he raped me" she managed to say before breaking down completely and sobbing into Sadie's shoulder.

She held Millie so tightly, letting her know she wasn't alone. "Shhh, Millie, I'm here, I've got you" she said soothingly. After a few minutes, she said "maybe we should go to your room, we don't want to wake your sister, ok?"

Millie pulled away from her, wiping her eyes she looked at Sadie ruefully. "She's not my sister" she whispered. Sadie shook her head, not understanding. Millie closed her eyes, unable to look into Sadie's any longer, "she's my daughter."

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*