Nicholas Grey Must Not Die | ✓

16 | Mess

"When the pain cuts you deep, when the night keeps you from sleeping, just look and you will see that I will be your remedy"

~ Remedy (25)

The video went viral immediately. News outlets, local and national, plastered it all over their sites. The blindsiding update to the case was all over social media and TV news. #NicholasGreyIsInnocent trended almost all night as everyone scattered to make sense of the contradiction the video presented to their strict belief in Nick's guilt. 

Later that same day, Mrs. Grey was released from the hospital. My mom went to their house with her, because they just couldn't stop talking (story of my childhood, honestly). She stayed with the Greys for the night, because I asked her to look after Nick for me.

Dad and I went home alone. We cooked dinner together, a simple breakfast for dinner meal with eggs and pancakes. As we ate, I told him everything from all things Nick to all things his case and my involvement in it. As much as I love my mom, I prefer talking about my feelings with my dad. For one, he doesn't start bawling before I can even get a sentence out. Also, he's usually objective, leading me on a path where I can deal with my emotions correctly.

And that's exactly what he did. 

He told me to give Nick some space, to wait for him to reach out, but that when he does reach out, to be available without any bitterness. I couldn't agree more. I needed to let him have his space, to let him deal with everything going on before he can deal with whatever we are. 

And that's exactly what I've been doing for the past twenty-four hours. 

I've been keeping myself busy with homework, staying away from my phone. Still, I made sure to leave my phone on so that if he ever calls, I would be ready to answer. Even though he has yet to call, I wasn't worried about the state of our relationship as much as I was during the past two weeks. I made sure to repeat his words from the hospital over and over again to keep myself sane. After the news broke, we parted with one of the longest and tightest hugs I've ever shared. It was a hug filled with the promise of the future; I held on to the memory of it tightly and it fueled me to stay strong. 

Today, I decided to go to school rather than staying in like my parents had suggested. I wanted to see the effect the video had on the school environment. Plus, I had tons of homework to turn in. I walked into the halls of my school with my mind elsewhere. In my peripheral vision,  I could see people staring at me with wide eyes. A few high fived me as I passed them and some gave me a proud smile. 

I wasn't paying attention to much when someone grabbed my wrist tightly and yanked me back. I stumbled against the power of the pull, my breath getting stuck in my throat. Gasps rounded the large hall as I was whipped around. My eyes enlarged when they landed on the five girls. I lowered my gaze to the hand that was clutched around my wrist and followed the length of her arm to finally land on her familiar eyes: Daisey. A scowl naturally took hold of my lips. 

She was still holding onto my arm when I ripped it out of her grip. "What do you want?" I asked, trying to keep my voice nonchalant. I could feel my blood beginning to boil and I didn't know how long I had before I lost the control of my anger. 

She narrowed her eyes at me. "How could you do that! How could you trick all of us into that? We trusted you!"

If looks could kill, the look that dominated my face would've taken them all out. "How could I? How could you? You manipulated Nick into spending some alone time with each one of you and then you lied about how he took advantage of you. You were about to ruin his damn life and you want me to feel bad about exposing you? Are you insane? Actually, don't answer that."