Trigger Warning: The followed chapter contains sensitive themes like physical abuse and harassment which could be triggering for some readers. If you are uncomfortable at any point, I would advise you to stop reading and skip the contents.

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There she sat, at the stairs of the vestibule leading towards the entrance; her knees brought up near her chin, her hands encased around them as she rocked back and forth.

I sat beside her and remained silent. I didn't know what to say to her. Should I console her? Or confront her? I didn't know.

“What is it that you have and I don't?” She blurted out of the blue, taking me by surprise. I turned towards her to find her jeans soaked with tears.

“Quinn-”

“Why am I never enough?” By this point, it was more like she was talking to herself, and I decided to listen.

“I try so hard, I do everything that I can, to just be enough. But I am never the one. First my dad and now Shawn.”

“Your dad?” I broke my code of silence.

“He left when I was six. He had another family and another two-year-old daughter. I tried to be the perfect daughter but apparently, she was better than I was so he chose them. I haven't seen him since. Maybe I am the problem.”

“Quinn, look at me. It's not your fault, okay? It's not your fault that he missed out on raising such an amazing daughter. Don't beat yourself up because of it.”

“I don't have a good record with the boyfriend department either. I am not delusional, Maya. I knew Shawn and I was never a thing. But boy how much I badly wanted to believe that we were. I thought saying it out repeatedly would somehow make it sound real and maybe, just maybe, someday it would be true.”

“That kind of  makes zero sense.”

“Maybe.” She finally turned to look at me, “I am sorry for calling you skank.” She pressed her lips into a thin straight line.

“I'm sorry for calling you...annoying.”

“Yeah, that makes me feel a lot better.” She chuckled, shaking her head, and I joined.

~

“What did you two talk about?” Shawn asked as we drove back to our house.

“Oh, nothing, just some girl's talk.” I tried to be as vague as possible.

“Do I even want to know?” His lips curved into a small smirk as his sight never left the road.

“Believe me, you don't.” 

“As long as you both did not kill each other, I'm okay.” 

I looked out of the window, an eerie feeling slowly creeping inside of me. It was one of those days where I felt restless, with no specific reason whatsoever. One that made me apprehensive, continuously whacking me that something wasn't right.

I tried to overlook it, replacing it with the good events that happened today. Meeting Chloe, watching them both happy and free, knowing about Chloe's apparent ‘first boyfriend’ and resolution with Quinn. Well, sort of. It had been a pretty good day.

Shawn pulled over, bringing me back to reality. I got off the seat and noticed my Mom spraying pesticides on the plants.

“Someone is in a greenery mood today.” I chirped as I walked towards her. She raised and turned towards me, welcoming me with a bright smile.

“I had some extra free time to kill. I figured I would spare it doing something useful. I feel like I don't give them enough time.” She turned towards the plants and bowed as if delivering an apology. My mom loved conversing with her plants like they are her own children.

A sudden thought crossed my mind and it set my mind at unease and impatience. I suddenly realized what I was missing ever since I had been home, the feeling of not being home completely never left my conscience, and I finally found the cause.

“Mom, I'll be gone for a while. Don't wait for me for lunch. I'll be back soon.” I informed and left in a rush.

“Okay, be safe. Love you, honey.”

“Love you, mom,” I yelled as I rushed out in the distance, taking the familiar route.

~

My feet guided me in the familiar street, the path imprinted in my mind. It had been ages since I had last been here. The last time I was, it ended up being one of the most disastrous nights of my life.

It was like nothing ever changed at all. Everything remained the same as I last saw them, it didn't change an inch.

As I meandered up the street, passing each shop that had its vintage and diverse touch, I tried to capture each sight, every turn, and every object in my mind; the place that was my hideout when I tried to escape every cruelty the world fed into my way and seek warmth and comfort in her steamy hot coffee and listening to her soothing voice as she talked about her granddaughter.

I stopped on my step and raised my head to take in the shop once again. The place that was so familiar and comforting. I didn't expect the shop to be still open; let alone still working. I had no idea where the Evans family was now. Had they sold the place and moved out? Or did they choose to stay? I had no clue.

I knocked on the door and anticipated the response. What was I looking in there for? Again, I had no idea.

Just as I was about to turn around and walk off and pretend that this never happened and I wasn't here, the door was answered and the clicking sound of the door opening made me stop on my step.

I turned back and saw a small girl greeting me. She hid behind the door, her right hand holding the edge of the door as she popped her head out and looked for the receiver.

“I know you. I have seen you somewhere. Who are you?” She questioned, keeping a straight yet curious face. It took me a few moments but I recalled her name. Lizzy.

“Hey.” I sat down on my knee, so I could reach her, “You're Lizzy right? I am Maya. Do you remember me? How are you?”

“How do you know my name? I don't remember you. My granny told me to never talk to strangers who know my name.” 

“Your granny was one wise woman, Lizzy. Is there any elder in there with you?” 

“My mommy.”

“Can you call her for me?”

She nodded and walked back. “Mommy, one strange girl is asking for you.” She yelled as her mom was at a distance I presumed.

“Okay, sweetie.” I heard a faint, sweet voice reply and after a few seconds, the voice called, “Hello, welcome to-” she stopped midway as soon as she saw me.

“Maya!” Her squeal echoed around the warm air while her eyes gleamed with brightness.

“Hey, Rachel. It's been a long time.” 

“It indeed has. Come on in, kiddo.” 

I followed her as he guided me towards the couch where we could lounge. I seized the opportunity to look around the space. The paint of the wall seemed different. They changed into a light creme pastel. The small cracks on the wall were hidden behind the plaster. They did a few minimalistic updates to the place but it still felt the same, the feeling of being home.

We settled on the peach-colored L-shaped sofa. She took a cushion in her hand and settled it in her lap as she folded her legs up. I looked around and grabbed one for myself too.

“Do you want something to drink? Or eat?”

A pizza. Shut up subconscious.

“Water would be fine.” I sheepishly let out the words, biting the inside of my cheek.

“Okay. Just give me a minute. I'll be back.” She smiled at me and got up. I took out my phone to kill time and scrolled through anything and everything. I had a strange habit of swiping my home screen back and forth when I had nothing better to do.

“Here, take it.” Rachel's voice chimed and I saw her holding three cups. She handed me two of them. One was a glass of water and the other was somewhat a warmer cup.

“It's nowhere like her. But I try to keep her recipe alive.” That was when the aroma hit my nostrils. The scent of the freshly brewed coffee revoked all bittersweet emotions and memories, all at once.

As soon as the fluid blanket around my tongue, the taste hit home. The unique taste of the coffee that I could find nowhere else on this planet but here flashed all the memories I made with Mrs. Evans while sipping her coffee in front of me. She was right, it wasn't exactly like how she used to make it, but it was close to perfection. 

“This tastes just like how she used to make it,” I announced while I looked up through my lashes as I brought the cup in between my lips.

Her face brightened as the sky illuminated after the break of dawn. Her lips danced all the way up to her ears, forming the sweetest smile in the process.

“Thank you, Maya. That means a lot.”

“Of course, Rachel.” I leaned forward and took her hand, giving it a little squeeze.

“How have you been, though? I am sorry for not visiting sooner. I thought your family was going to leave town.” I asked as I withdrew my hand.

“That was the plan initially, yes. But when we were about to sign the paper, we just couldn't do it. We couldn't bring ourselves to sell this place. It held too many memories to let go of. Just like you, this was my safe place as well when I was a kid. It's where I first met Richard. He offered me free bubblegum with the other stuff I bought from his shop.” She chuckled at the memory, shaking her head lightly. 

“It's where Richard grew up. And Lizzy. This place holds too many good memories. It wasn't possible for us. So we decided to stay.”

“I am so happy that you took the right decision, Rachel.”

“I am happy too, Maya. I am happy too.” She smiled ear to ear.

“How is Lizzy? She doesn't seem to remember me. She even addressed me as a strange girl.” I chuckled at the incident.

“She is growing up. And boy she's a difficult kid to handle. She knows how to attract trouble.” She shook her head and raised her eyebrows in astonishment.

“Sounds like an ideal way of entering the teenage phase.” I cackled. 

“Oh boy, I have no idea how I am going to handle teen Lizzy. She is one strong head of a girl.”

“Then I think we don't have a problem. She is going to handle herself just fine.”

“Yeah, I think so.” She seemed lost in thoughts as she sipped her coffee.

I didn't notice until now that my phone furiously buzzed non-stop in my hand. I had switched it to vibration mode and didn't realize it until I felt the pulsation on my palms.

The caller ID said Niall and I swiped the screen right. I motioned Rachel to excuse me for a few minutes and I walked up towards the entrance.

“Hey, what's up? Is everything okay? I got eight missed calls from you.”

“I think we have a problem, Maya.” His voice was hoarse and concerning. I had rarely found Niall using that tone, and it was scaring me.

“What's wrong?” My voice came out low, laced with fear and exasperation.

“It's Zoey. She doesn't look good. She knocked on my door around midnight and she was covered with bruises all over her body with her clothes torn. She locked herself in your room and refuses to talk to me or let anyone in. She doesn't seem fine, Maya and I have no idea what to do about it. She wouldn't even talk to me.” 

My feet felt numb as Niall kept giving the intel about the intensity of the situation Zoey was in but all I could process in my mind was imagining the trauma she was walking through.

“Put me on the line with her. I need to talk to her.” My voice sounded rather technical as if it was programmed to come out that way.

“She wouldn't listen to me and let me into the room. How could I make her talk to you?”

“Just…” I impatiently tapped my feet, desperately trying to come up with an idea, “Tell her I want to talk to her. Maybe she would listen.”

I might have prayed to all my lucky stars for her to get enough power and raise up and bring herself to talk. I wasn't fully aware of the intensity of the situation she was in or how bad it was, but I could feel it must have been tragically awful for her to lock herself in and shut the world out.

“Zoey, I know you don't want to talk to me, and it's fine. But Maya is on the phone and she wants to talk to you, Zoey. Will you please let her talk to you?” I could hear his alert voice speaking behind the door from the other end of the receiver and I anticipated any kind of reaction from her. Any reaction would have been fine at this point.

There was far stretched silence on the other side of the call, and I nearly gave up on the notion that she might talk to me about what was going on with her.

I sighed and spoke, “Niall it's okay. Call me if-” I was interrupted by the noise of the clicking of the door open. It took me a while to figure out but soon it dawned upon me that Zoey finally opened the door.

“Maya…” I heard the door shut behind her. Her voice sounded exhausted, broken. Something about her voice shattered my heart into uncountable pieces.

“Zoey… Baby… Are you okay?” I couldn't find any better words that could comfort her right now. My brain barely wanted to operate rationally.

“I-I am n-not… I am not o-okay.” She broke down and swept into a burst of unstoppable sobs. I began hating myself for not being there at the moment where she needed me the most.

I wasn't sure if it was the first time she had brought herself to cry because as per Niall's information, she had been quiet the entire time she came in and locked herself into the room. Maybe that's why she was wailing her guts out, unstoppably for more than forty-five minutes. 

“I am sorry for dragging you into my mess.” She said as she struggled to catch her breath from the intensive weeping. 

“Zoey… you are not dragging anyone into any kind of a mess. Didn't I tell you that I'll always be like your best friend and a sister and be there for you whenever you need me? I am just doing what I am supposed to do. Now, do you want to talk about it?”

“I-...” She choked on her words, it was as if she wanted to let it out, but she was very afraid to do so. 

“I can't… I just… can't. It's all my fault. I am too weak.” She sighed with a defeated tone. It was killing me to listen to the most annoyingly chirpy girl that beamed positivity slowly dusting into the gloominess and darkness that once trapped, would forever weigh down on your shoulder; a constant reminder.

“Hey hey, listen to me. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. But understand what I am about to say. Whatever cruelty someone else does to you, it is never your fault. I want you to understand it very clearly Zoey, every bad thing that someone does to you, is never your fault. They are the shitty people, not you.”

I didn't want her to be swept into the same darkness that I once did. I couldn't let her. I just couldn't.

“My mom and stepdad got into a huge fight, a very heated fight.” She began to let out, out of the blue and that took me by surprise. I quickly composed myself and turned all my attention towards her.

“She threw some stuff on the floor and made a mess and stormed off… My stepdad stepped out too.” She sniffed in between the sentences.

“I was asleep but then I heard noises. My stepdad was throwing stuff in the living room now and I could smell the booze oozing out of him from across the hall. He heard my footsteps and threw the lamp on me, calling out my mom's name. He was intoxicated. He mistook me for her.”

“He… then trudged towards me and grabbed my arm too tightly and dragged me into the living room and threw me onto the floor.” My body began to feel cold at this point.

“He kept cursing, taking my mom's name, and then… he-” She swallowed hard, the silence too deafening I could hear the lumps trudging down her throat.

“H-He tore my shirt and… p-pin both my hands on the floor and he-he tried…” She choked on her words and I could feel the warm liquid trickling down, burning my skin.

She burst into tears and I dropped my phone, the numbness taking over. It felt like twelve years back, all over again.

Hey guys! I know it might be getting a little annoying while I am spam updating, but please, bear with me for few more hours.

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~Loveya~( ˘ ³˘)