Bombshells ~ Complete

Chapter Forty-Six: Silent Tears

"Hey Ari." He whispered, his eyes turned towards the floor. I could feel my walls build back up, pushing him from my heart. He was the reason I was here.

Jaydon.

"Ariel." Lila sighed in relief, plowing into the room. Her eyes were puffy and red, fresh tear tracks showing on her cheeks. I didn't feel any sympathy for her.

I didn't feel anything.

"Ari, don't you dare ever do anything like to me again." Kade growled, his face pinched with worry. I guessed that the breathing tube going up my nose, the pale blue tint to my lips, and my bones peeking through my skin didn't help with his worry.

I turned away from them, looking towards the wall in the hopes of not having to face them. Or their questions.

"Ariel, I don't want to talk about what happened right now. You need to sleep and warm up." Lila tried to pat my hand, but I jerked away from her.

I didn't want her to touch me.

Nurse Mia entered the room, her steps obvious. She cleared her throat, making me look at her along with everyone else in the room.

"Does anyone want to tell me what happened to cause Ariel to flee her own home, into the rain, and made to nearly freeze to death?" Nurse Mia asked calmly.

I was pretty sure she was really, really angry. But that may have just been the scary look in her eyes.

The calm before the storm.

"She started saying horrible things about her father and we had a bit of a fight. And then she just... Just ran out. We tried getting her back home, she just wouldn't come home. Or call us back." Lila gave a brief explanation, tears welling up in her bright blue eyes. My eyes flickered to the faces of everyone around me. 

Nurse Mia didn't look sympathetic. 

"You called her a liar, didn't you?" Nurse Mia asked dryly, sounding like she already knew the answer. Lila couldn't help but nod in confusion, wondering why Nurse Mia wasn't taking her side. Didn't Lila know? Nurse Mia thought of me as her frequently-visiting-the-hospital-child. 

"I mean, she was saying the most outlandish things." Lila tried to defend herself, but her voice was shaky. She sounded like she was going to collapse soon. I thought over everything. She had been fighting more recently with my father, only for one of her son's to get into trouble, her step-daughter to come home with bruises, her business, said step-child telling her that her new husband was a murderer, and then me vanishing into the night. Only to be found and taken to the hospital. 

Yeah, stressful. 

"Think about Ariel for a second, Lila. Does she seem the type to beg people for attention with lies and stories? No, she doesn't." Nurse Mia sounded angry. I turned away from the window where I was watching the rain while mulling over my thoughts, and faced the two women. 

"It's impossible. Elliot couldn't hurt a fly." Lila sounded so tired. Like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. Like she was the one protecting everyone. 

I was protecting everyone. I was keeping them all from harm. And I couldn't even tell them. 

"If it were me, I would trust the person who lived with him for the past sixteen years." Nurse Mia said, starting to lose her cool. She looked at me regretfully, but I only nodded. I knew she needed to leave before she blew up at Lila, which would not end well. Nurse Mia and Lila could go head to head when it came to motherly instincts, but Lila had the money and resources to get Nurse Mia fired. 

When Nurse Mia finally closed the door behind her, I felt someone touch my hand. Lila was trying to hold my hand. Couldn't she see I wanted nothing to do with her?

"Ariel, please, sweetie. Say something." She begged, sounding so different from the strong woman who was snapping back at Nurse Mia. I didn't have anything to say to her.

I pulled my hand out of her grip and turned away from her pleading eyes, rolling over so that my back was facing her. She let out a defeated sigh. She knew she wasn't getting anywhere with me. 

"Alright. I'll go for now. But I am your mother and I will always be there for you, even if you don't want me to be." Lila whispered, getting up to leave. I pressed some buttons so that I was sitting up. I looked her right in the eyes when I spoke.

"My mother is dead." And with that sentence, I rolled onto my side and ignored everyone again. The door slammed closed, almost sounding like Lila had run out of the room. We had gotten so close, mother and daughter some would say, but that would never be the same. 

There were some wounds that words could not heal. 

"Ari, that was just plain cruel. You know everything mom's been through." Gabriel said softly, trying to get through to me about all his mother's trials and tribulations. I knew Lila had been through so much for a woman of her age, but that didn't make what I had been through any less.

"And you know nothing of what I've been through." I snapped coldly, then shut my eyes. It was an obvious sign that I didn't feel like talking or even looking at them. Someone sighed. The shuffling of feet could be heard when they left. I could still sense someone in the room.

"Ariel, please." Jaydon said with a trembling voice. It sounded like he was going to start sobbing. I didn't care. 

I didn't care about anything anymore. 

I just wanted life to end. 

"You had your chance to protect me, now there's nothing left to protect. You broke what was left of my heart, crushed what little soul I had left. Now I have nothing. So thank you." I growled, holding back my tears. 

I didn't want him to see me cry. The door shut with a creak behind him. I curled into a ball on the uncomfortable bed and starting to cry. The silent tears raced down my face, going over the bridge of my nose since I was laying on my side.

I didn't know why that was what I noticed out of everything that had happened to me in the last few minutes. 

"Oh, poor sweet Ariel. Why would you say such awful things about me?" A dark voice came from the door. I hadn't even heard it open. I jerked up in bed at the sight of him. 

Oh God, please, either save me or kill me. 

Just don't make me deal with this personal hell anymore.