EXHIBIT || Justin Foley

0.143 || REAL LIFE

"Stop pacing," Maggie grumbled, tossing an apple slice at Justin as he walked back and forth across the kitchen floor. "She's fine, I'm sure of it. If she wasn't, I'd know."

"How?" Justin snapped, running a hand down the side of his face. "How can you possibly know that?"

Maggie raised her eyebrows at him, and Dominic pursed his lips. "First of all, I don't appreciate that tone," she began calmly. "Second, I don't know how I know, but I do. I always have, and she's fine. So calm down, and let all try to figure out what could be wrong."

"I think that's a good idea," Dominic spoke up softly, arms folded over his chest.

Nodding slowly, Justin sat down in the empty wooden chair across from Maggie and allowed his shoulder to slouch. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. "I'm just..."

"I know," Maggie murmured. "You don't have to explain yourself. Just helps us think."

"Yeah," Justin mumbled, slowly lifting his head from his hands. "Yeah, I know."

"Okay," Dom clapped his hands together. "We can't have done something to upset her this morning, she left before 10:00 and no one else saw her..."

"Yesterday she was totally fine," Maggie continued, chewing on the skin around her thumbnail. "You guys made waffles, and we talked about what we should do over spring break, and she's been pretty much fine all year. The only thing that happened was..." she trailed off, brows furrowing. "The only thing that happened was Kai. He moved back, but that was almost three months ago..."

Justin's hands curled tightly into fists in his lap as his body flooded with anger. The mention of the boys name made him want to punch something. "But she hasn't been freaking out or crying in her sleep or anything as far as I know," he spoke up after a moment. "She hasn't told me about it if it's been happening."

"She wouldn't tell you," Dom shook his head almost immediately. Noticing the hurt look on Justin's face, he quickly explained himself. "She doesn't like making people worry, so if she's dealing with something — as irritating as it is — she usually finds a way to do it by herself...which is what she's doing right now."

Justin glanced over at the stove — the clock says its nearly 4:30 PM — and ruffled his hair as he stood up. "What was she doing around this time last year? Like, did a pet die, or a grand parent or something?"

"No," Dom shook his head for the umpteenth time that day. "This time last year she was..." his voice trailed off as a look of horror replaced the previous confusion. "No..."

"What?" Justin frowned, arms falling from bud hair to his sides.

"Oh god," Maggie gasped as whatever it was clicked with her as well. "How the fuck could we forget that? Oh my god, Dom, we are terrible, terrible people."

"What's wrong?"

Maggie swallowed anxiously. "This time last year, she was having an argument with Kai banks in his bedroom over drugs, or alcohol, or something like that. He'd been trying to fix his bike when she went over, and brought the broken chain upstairs with him when they began arguing. He yelled, and she cried, and he got so angry he threw — it was so hard he essentially whipped her with it — the bike chain at her, and ripped open the back of her shoulder. Then Lottie started screaming, so to shut her up, he pushed her out a window."

"And this time last year, she was in the hospital," Justin rasped, trying to hold back his tears.

"Yes," Dom nodded, swallowing thickly. "And we forgot about it."