Zulema [h.s.] COMPLETED

Chapter 36

Trigger Warning: sensitive content ahead.
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Harry was halfway through the essay that he was bullshitting when he heard the doorbell ring downstairs. He closed his document then laptop before walking down the steps to see who it was.

When he opened it, Zulema stood there with an expressionless look on her face. He was quite surprised. He expected her to maybe call first. After all most people would try and apologize through text first. But Zulema wasn't like that, he noticed. She did not like texting, she liked face to face conversations.

"Hi," he said quietly.

"Hey."

Her voice was hoarse and he hoped she wasn't crying over him again. But, he just kept on giving her reasons to cry. He tried to convince himself that she was doing this to herself, but he was wrong. She didn't mean to. She wasn't raised the same way he was and he'd have to accept that they were two different people, socially.

"I'm sorry for not telling you," she blurted. Harry was going to say something but he could sense that she wasn't finished. He stepped aside so she could walk in.

She walked through the door, sliding her shoes off at the mat, "I know that you're tired of me keeping secrets, but I-" she cut herself off, "I don't know, I just keep finding ways to make people hate me-"

"I don't hate you."

Zulema sighed, "I know... I just.. I'm just so worried about everything else that I don't even care about college. I know that you have lived a life, anticipating on going to college, but people like me just don't think that way. We expect to graduate and get a job. Then have kids, be stable and that's it."

"I didn't know," Harry sighed, "I'm sorry. I'm trying my best not to make decisions for you, so I'm sorry if you felt otherwise."

"It's okay," Zulema nodded and blinked away the moisture in her eyes.

Harry nodded and looked at her exhausted expression before pulling her in for a hug.

"Chicago, huh?"

Zulema chuckled, "I don't even know what the winter feels like."

"Oh, you don't want to know," he scoffed and shook his head.

-

Zulema woke up in her bedroom in the middle of the night. She rubbed her eyes and looked at her alarm clock, wondering why she had woken up so early. It was only 4am.

She sighed and got up, knowing she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. She yawned and walked into her bathroom. She saw Ricky wasn't home yet. Of course he wasn't. He was doing anything to avoid her.

She turned on the sink so she could rinse her face, but cursed to herself when she dropped a toothbrush.

Zulema bent down to pick it up and when she did, she saw red droplets on the floor. Her heart beat quickened, and she didn't know how to even react. There was a stream of blood dripping down her leg.

Her eyes widened and she stood in absolute shock, unsure what to do. Her head felt light and she could almost faint. She felt pain in her stomach as if she were ovulating. It was pain she hadn't felt since the last time she had her period.

Her lip began to quiver and she knew deep down inside what was happening, but froze because there was nothing she could do about it.

Her body was shaking when she walked into her bedroom, to grab her phone. She looked on her bed. There was blood there too.

Tears escaped her eyes and she could barely touch her phones screen. Quickly, she dialed 911. In the hopes that they would get to her on time, she knew.