CHAPTER FORTY-THREE. ✧ ೃ༄
❝ HER SILENT CRIES FOR HELP. ❞

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"No! Ay, ma, siempre, siempre exageras la situación... No, yo no se porqué no me—" [translation: No! Ay, mom, you always exaggerate the situation... No, I don't know why you—]

It was a day after Angelica confessed to Dream. So far, it hasn't been awkward between them. They were still treating each other the same as before and Angelica was relieved that Dream treated her the same way before her confession.

"What is she saying?" Dream whispered to her as he sat on the chair by the island table while eyeing Angelica's stress posture while she spoke with her mom.

Angelica quickly muted herself as she heard her mom speak with her aunt in the background. "She's blaming me for uploading a video of her yelling at me at the party. But, the account isn't mine! It's clearly one of my other aunts because her name is on her Facebook account."

Unmuting the call, Dream continued watching the girl. She started to pace, a frown on her face with one of her arms crossed over her chest. She continued speaking to her mom, getting irritated and angrier by each passing second.

"Pero si allí puedes mirar que la cuenta no es mía," Angelica tried speaking softly as if she was speaking to a child. Well, she basically was since her mom was acting like one. "El nombre y el apellidó es de mi Tía Martha. Tiene fotos de ella misma... Yo no le di el video. ¿Como se lo voy a dar si allí me puedes ver en el video hablando contigo? No, ella lo tomo porque es bien chismosa." [translation: But you can see that the account isn't mine. The name and last name is my Aunt Martha's. She has photos of herself... I didn't give her the video. How would I give her the video if you can see me talking to you? No, she took the video cause she's nosey.]

"Ang—" Dream tried telling her to hang up, knowing that she was getting even more worked up as she continued talking to her mom.

"Siempre yo," Angelica continued arguing, an angry look now on her face. "Siempre a mi me echas la culpa. No más a mi... No, mañana te hablo... No, bye." [translation: Always me. You always blame it on me. Just me... No, I'll talk to you tomorrow... No, bye.]

Angelica hung up and let her head hang out of frustration. She later sighed, knowing how mentally draining it was to even argue with her. She waved her hand around, shoulders dropping.

"I'm going to my room. Please, don't follow me."

Angelica walked away, feeling her eyes burn with tears at hearing her mother's voice in her head. She felt like she was back to her 9-year-old self again where she would muffle her sobs as she walked towards her room. She used to always do that so her parents, especially her mom, wouldn't get mad at her.

God... Call her sensitive, but she hated being yelled at in an angry manner. She hated it. If you even yelled at her for being "immature" or she did something wrong, she will defend herself with a steady voice, but would break down once she finally let the words process in her head.

Hearing her mom yell and call her a liar, well, she didn't take that to well, clearly. Why couldn't her mom believe her when the situation was so easy to understand and process? Why was her mom making this difficult?

Angelica opened the door of her room and walked in, immediately getting under the bed and wrapping herself in all the blankets. She finally let the tears come out, sniffing, while her heart ached in such pain as well as her throat. Why couldn't her mom just have at least one civil conversation with her without getting mad or getting defensive? Why?

Angelica cherished the unique, rare moments where her mom would joke around with her and they would spend their time laughing together, but she came to remember that those were rare times. She just wondered why her mom disliked her so much. Why did her mom treat her like total crap compared to the others? Why? Was it because she would argue back? Was it because she wouldn't stand down or because she wouldn't let herself be treated like total crap? Why?

Minutes turned into hours and Angelica was left to wonder, let alone with all her thoughts. Dammit... she shouldn't have told Dream to not follow her. She usually liked his presence when she felt like this because she knew, she knew and felt as if she wasn't alone in this harsh situation.

"Ang?"

She felt more tears fall down her face, immediately wiping them away with the tips of her shaky fingers. She heard the door open and feet pattering against the carpeted floor.

"I wanted to give you a couple of hours alone so you can calm down," Dream explained as he sat down next to her. "Now I'm here. You want me to read you a book? I can read a book." He stood up and headed towards the bookshelf he had bought and built for her, looking around for books to read. An orange book caught his attention and he grabbed it. "I have Solo by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hees. I can," he flipped through the pages, "easily finish this one."

He quickly hurried to sit next to her, eyeing her figure that was still under the pile of blankets. He smiled a little when he felt her shift, turning around so her eyes could be set on the book in his hands.

"Part One," Dream read, eyeing the pages, "Hollywood."

Angelica closed her eyes and sniffed, bringing the blanket closer to the lower part of her face, processing Dream's words.

"...I'm afraid to open my eyes," he continued, "and face the world that awaits, the fractured world that used to make sense, but now seems disjointed..."

The girl wondered. Maybe she should be off her phone for more than a day. Maybe, she should take a week without using her phone, without being bombarded with messages from her mom (her other family members would understand and her friends would, too), and without thinking about social media for once. That would feel nice.

"Are you asleep?" She felt Dream's hand get rid of a strand of hair that was by her forehead, tickling her nose, and she opened her eyes to see him staring down at her with a worried look. He smiled at her. "I thought you fell asleep on me. Was going to be hurt if you fell asleep out of boredom."

He dramatically sobbed and pinched the bridge of his noise, shaking his shoulders up and down.

"Shut up," Angelica croaked out, shaking her head at his antics.

He chuckled.

"There you are," he said, smiling gently at her. He trailed a finger under her eye and wiped away a tear. "I got you... I know these next few days are going to be hard but I'll be here for you, alright?"

That's what Angelica liked about him. He didn't pressure her to do or say anything. He was just... there. He was always reading to her, always giving her new music suggestions, and would even make playlists for her on Spotify so she could listen to them later. She always appreciated those small moments, especially when he would at least bring her some snacks so she wouldn't go to sleep with an empty stomach. He was so nice.

Dream knew what she felt like and he always wished he had support, so he's now giving that support to someone who hasn't had that. He always stayed by her side to silently tell her, "Take your time, you're not alone. I'm here."

"Thanks, Dream."

"You're welcome, shortcake."

She felt him dip his head down to place a kiss on her forehead, feeling his hands gripping the sides of her face. She smiled a ghost of smile before focusing on the book.

"Can you continue reading, please?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Lets do something. If one
of the feral boys go live tomorrow,
I will show you all a snippet,
a small sentence of an angst
chapter, if not, then I'll give you
a bigger paragraph. It's a win-win
situation 😏😏😏/j

Anyway, hope you all enjoy this.
I'm trying to not romanticize Ang's
mental health and am instead adding
Dream as "support" since, coming
from someone who suffers through
depression, it feels nice to know you
have someone there with you to tell
you, like, "Hey, it's going to be okay."

I also liked a lot of your comments
from last chapter where you were all
commenting for your "future selves."
They were very interesting to read lol