Family Again (✔)

CHAPTER 23

After practically dragging me out of my room. Adam and I stood at the top of the stairs. The music was loud and drumming in my ears. . My eyes swept over the crowd . Teenage bodies were everywhere. I spotted Drew. He and a girl were having a chat. Well, the girl was, he on the other hand had a look on his face that said , 'help me'.  Jayden was DJing the music . When he spot me , he stopped . It got silent , every pair of eyes turned to stare at me . I felt myself start to hyperventilate.

"Breathe, Lia." Adam said. "You look beautiful." He guided me down the stairs and handed me over to Drew. I did my breathing lessons that my therapist taught me and I managed to calm down .

I was lead to a wooden table that was filled with snacks champagne and a beautifulness decorated cake .

I wasn't going to let myself be intimidated by these teens. They are in my house, attending my birthday party. I have to enjoy . So I looked up and forced a smile.

I cut the cake , blew out the candles and then the music started blaring again . Surprisingly, people kept. Trying to talk to me. It was awkward at first , but eventually, my smile turned into a genuine one . Drew was by my side the entire time , Introducing me to some of his friends, or he would just keep quiet and let me talk with a few girls that came my way.

Later on, Drew and I found a corner to be alone with each other, Jayden was too busy living the DJing dream to notice. Mr. Poop and Snow White seemed to be having a good time as well. 

Some time close to midnight . A girl who I recognized from one of my science classes strutted up to me. She handed me a gift, wrapped in shiny gift paper. She yelled over the music that it's from Brandon .

I suddenly felt like the world stopped .  I tore off the shiny gift wrapping and it revealed a small pastel pink box . I quickly lifted the cover off.   I knew it had to be something sinister . Something that'll hurt me, but I never thought that Brandon would stoop this low . I never imagined that he'd do this to me.

In the box , were my two most valuable possessions of my parents. The closest things to my heart . They were destroyed beyond repair . I felt as if my heart had stopped .

"Lia? What's wrong ?" Drew asked from beside me.

I didn't answer him. I picked up the watch from the box and stared at it. The glass was smashed . The tiny hands were broken . The head of the watch was ripped from the body . It was hardly recognizable. The same went for my mother's crystal necklace.

"Lia." Drew's voice brought me back to reality.

I stood up, not caring that the box with everything in it fell to the floor.

"You told !" I screamed at Drew.

He looked at me in confusion, until his eyes slid down the box and it's broken content .

"No, Lia, I swear!." He tried to hold my hand but I pulled away .

" Don't touch me!" I cried .

It was then that I noticed the music had stopped and everyone was looking at me.

"You were the only one who knew, besides Adam! How else would Brandon know?! Was this just some kind of long drawn out prank to hurt me?"

" Lia, I would never do that to you." Drew tried to explain, but I was so caught up in anger and sadness, the pain in my heart was getting worse .

"Lia!" I turned to see Adam,pushing his way through to crowd to get to me, Jayden following close behind . I backed away from them, it was suddenly hard to breathe , every one was crowding me , I needed to leave .

I pushed pass every one and ran straight to the door. I ran until my lungs burned , until I couldn't take it anymore and had to slow down.

I've been walking for thirty minutes. The sun was down , it was cold , but surprisingly, I couldn't feel it, all I felt was ...numb. my brain felt as if it was going to explode . I couldn't think about it, any of it. Not Drew's betrayal, not Brandon's hatred and definitely not the fact that I had no idea where I was or where I'm heading to .

I kept walking until eventually I got to a bridge.   It's not  really used anymore . Teens just usually come here to hangout. There were only a few other people here . One of them I recognized.

Brandon. 

His upper body was slumped over the rails of the bridge with a beer in his hand, taking sips and gazing out into the water .

The question is...

What do I do now ?