Trecco Bay

Truths and Lies

Author notes: Please be aware that this chapter contains MENTIONS of drugs and rape, please tread carefully if these topics could be triggering to you.

CHAPTER FOUR.

Since Alana's death, Cassandra had spent half of her time confined to her bedroom and the other half with boyfriend, Freddie. Today was no different. She was curled up on her double bed listening to music with an inescapable frown on her face.

How could we not talk about family when family's all that we got?
Everything I went through you were standing there by my side.
And now you gonna be with me for the last ride.

It was the only thing helping her through and blocking out the world and her grief. Tears didn't stop turning up in her eyes, dribbling down her face. She was surprised she had any left but they felt unlimited. They didn't make her feel any better, the only thing they did was make her headaches more intense.

Cassandra's bedroom was very minimalist. The feature wall behind her bed was a pale grey, brought to life by some black and white photographs of herself with her family and friends. To brighten the room she'd always kept a couple of leafy plants but it was difficult to remember to feed them now, especially when she could hardly remember to feed herself.

Pushing herself up with the small amount of energy Cassandra had in her, she reached out to her bedside table to take hold of a small box full of photos of herself and Alana together. She used her long nails to claw it open and lifted the photos out one by one. Her thumb halted over Alana for a second before lowering itself and brushing softly over her little face. If only she could reach out to her for real and make everything better again.

Cassandra wanted to blame everybody else in the world, but deep down she could only blame herself. She knew her sister better than anybody else in the whole world, she should have known there was something wrong that night.

She should have known exactly who'd done this to her sister, but she just didn't have a clue.

"I'd give any one of them to have you back," the blonde beauty whispered, referring to the rest of her family.

Her lifted at the sound of soft footsteps. She turned it sharply to see Ana stood there listening. Cassandra sniffed and brushed her tears away quickly, hoping her younger sister wouldn't notice. She didn't want to look anything less than strong in front of Ana.

"I'd give myself," Ana agreed with a small nod; arms crossed around her chest. Danny had convinced Cassandra to leave her door open so she wasn't completely confined, but she hadn't expected Ana to turn up. Ana didn't even live there anymore.

The words escaped the blonde's lips before she could catch them. "How did you get in?"

"Mum's downstairs. She let me in." Ana dashed to Cassandra's bedside before her sister could stop her. "Alana deserved to live life more than any of us. She was so good. At everything. She was going to be so successful."

Cassandra grumbled, "You didn't know her like I did."

"I've never said or thought that I did. But that doesn't mean I wasn't allowed to love her. She was my sister too, we grew up together." Ana was never going to see eye-to-eye with Cassandra but that wasn't going to stop her trying. Cass on the other hand had no interest in getting along. Her stubborn mind didn't think she needed her family, least of all Ana.

The younger woman sighed and reached over to put her hand on Cass' shoulder.

It made Cassandra wince. "Ya just want to be the hero. That's the only reason you're here and I don't have time for it. You always wanted to be me. Ya wanted to be the one the others looked up to."