Bombshells ~ Complete

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Crying Party

There are some things in life that we can't control. The weather, life and death, the debilitating need for love and acceptance.

Or the extreme need for something that isn't hospital food.

I had been asking Mia for something that was actually edible for days, and she had the same answer every single time. 'It's not that bad' she said. Yeah, try eating it. It was like a rock, no matter what type of food it was.

The problem was, I couldn't ask Lila or any of the boys to get me any normal food. Probably because our situation was still kinda awkward and really tense. They had apologized a thousand times over, and I had already forgiven them. But I couldn't seem to tell them I'd forgiven them.

And then the stupid therapist assigned to my case (after Lila threatened to buy the entire hospital and then fire everyone there who wasn't Mia) told them that I needed to distance myself from them for a while.

I didn't need or want distance.

I wanted my family.

"Mia, please. This isn't even a potato. It's black. Potatoes aren't black." I said, jabbing at my lunch with a spork. Mia rolled her eyes but I could see the smile curling her lips. Apparently, my good moods had become more frequent after my father had been put away. 

Granted, I was still terrified of loud noises or raised hands and I still flinched in the worst of situations. But that was to be expected after the trauma I endured.

According to Mia, anyways.

"Ariel, you'll be fine. But, I think someone who you're dying to see is dying to see you too." Mia said cryptically. I looked at the door and saw several boys trying to push their way into the room. My eyes widened and I went through several different ways to start up some conversation where the abuse I suffered under the same roof they were living under obliviously, was not brought up.

"Ari, Ethan's trying to kill us!" Jaydon yelped as he tumbled into my room. I laughed lightly at his words, but looked at Ethan questioningly. He looked at the ground sheepishly.

"I was going a little bit over the speed limit and they started going crazy. Don't believe a word they say." Ethan warned, coming to sit on the end of my bed. I sat up and crossed my legs under me, ready to hear this story.

"He turned the car on two wheels. He went seventy in a twenty. He nearly killed us." Nathaniel said, contorting his face into something that closely resembled physical pain. I shook my head with a laugh.

"Well, you're here alive, aren't you?" I asked, leaning back into my fluffy pillows. Mia made sure to get me the fluffy ones after I complained about the board like ones. The boys all shrugged, as if agreeing with me.

We started talking about anything and everything under the sun. As long as it didn't have anything to do with the topic of abuse. 

Yeah, that was kind of the one topic everyone around me stayed away from.

"Callie never existed, did she?" Zander asked suddenly. The whole room went quiet. And then Lucas smacked Zander on the back of the head.

"No, she didn't. And don't hit your brother." I told Lucas firmly. Lucas sank down in his seat after that. The whole room was quiet for a long time, where all I could hear was their breathing and the sounds of the hospital.

"Ariel, I'm really sorry I didn't say anything." Jaydon muttered, rubbing at his stomach where the bullet went through. The bandages were gone from around his collarbone, where I assumed they wrapped up from his stomach, and his arm was out of the sling. But I imagined the faintest of pains was still there. 

"It's alright. I can't really imagine you guys finding out any differently." I shrugged, as if the whole situation wasn't a big deal. That was the problem.

My father going insane and beating the crap out of me was my usual nightly routine. For the boys and for Lila, my father going insane and beating the crap out of me was like watching a bomb go off.

Unexpected and horrible, but you found yourself unable to look away.

"Mom would've come, but she got held up by Elliot's pestering lawyer who wants to talk to you.  He's gonna try and disprove everything you've said. Even if Elliot doesn't go to jail for murder, he's going to jail for child abuse, child neglect, kidnapping, and attempted murder." Kade said, answering my unspoken question. I nodded.

"Needless to say, he's going away for a very long time." Lila said, stepping into the room as if her name had summoned her. I smiled at her. She came closer and hugged me tightly.

Hugs made everything better.

Everyone was standing around the room awkwardly, not knowing what to do or say or how to act around me. It wasn't like I was going to turn into a flinching, whimpering mess if they sat with me on the bed. 

But then it hit me.

Maybe they weren't ready for that yet. Sure, I was ready for it. I wanted my life to turn into what a normal life should look like. I wanted that more than anything and I was completely prepared for it. 

But they weren't. 

They had never been in a situation like that before. They didn't know how to process what they'd seen. They didn't know how to cope with everything they went through.

For me, coping was not doing anything. 

I liked to imagine those old, green coke bottles that no one can ever find anymore. I liked to imagine shoving all my emotions and all my bad memories into those old coke bottles. And then I liked to imagine shoving those old coke bottles, filled to the brim with all the bad things in my head, were pushed to the bottom-most part of my stomach where no one would ever know about them.

I wouldn't even remember those old, dusty coke bottles. 

And I liked it that way. 

"You guys know I forgive you, right?" I asked. 

That was all I had to say before tears started leaking from the corners of all of their eyes. 

And then my hospital room was suddenly turned into one, big crying party. And I had no idea what the heck I was supposed to do.