———

GRACE OPENED UP the door and stared blankly at Christian who stood there with a sympathetic look on his face. She missed three days of school and she assumed that he was here to see if she was still alive.

"Hi, I missed you at school so I thought I'd come by and see if you were doing ok." He opened his arms for a hug and she stepped into them.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled. "These past few days have been terrible. I've got a lot of things going on right now." She added.

"Yeah, I heard about your situation. I'm so sorry you're going through this."

She flashed him a tight-lipped smile before stepping aside to let him in. The two of them went up to her bedroom, she motioned for him to take a seat while she picked up some clothes that were laid out on the floor. "Sorry about the mess. Since everything happened I just found myself glued to the bed." She muttered.

"How're your siblings holding up?" He asked wrapping his arm around her as she climbed into bed next to him.

She shrugged her shoulders before speaking. "Fallon is hurting, I can tell. But she would rather cover her feelings up with anything she can."

Christian shifted awkwardly. Grace quickly apologized for making things awkward, she rested her head on his chest and found herself slightly dozing off. She spent most of her days asleep, dreaming that things were different.

———

Fallon sat up and rubbed her eyes. She slightly smiled seeing Maddy still fast asleep. She groaned, still feeling the pain from her chest. She reached under her pillow and pulled out the bottle of pills, she popped two into her mouth and washed it down with some water. She went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth, once she finished she decided to go downstairs and see if Grace was awake.

"Good morning, I made some eggs. Grams called and said they'll be here soon." Grace stepped up to her sister and pulled her into a hug, she didn't want to let go.

"Thanks, I'll put some up for Maddy. I'm not hungry." Fallon grabbed a cup from the cabinet and cup before filling it with ice. She put some water on and took a sip before taking a seat on the counter. Grace examined Fallon, something was off with her.

"You're not going to eat anything?" Grace asked Fallon with a skeptical look on her face. She simply shook her head and took another sip of her water. She jumped up from the counter and made her way back upstairs, Maddy wasn't in the bed anymore. The shower was running so she assumed that Maddy was showering.

Fallon let out a deep sigh and removed her shirt. She lifted her arms and examined her bruise. There were a few small cuts on her side, she jumped up when her door was pushed open. Maddy stood in the doorway with a towel, she apologized for startling Fallon before grabbing some of her clothes that she left over a while ago.

"I just wanted to take a shower. It was a long night." She let out a light chuckle as she spoke. Fallon shrugged her shoulder, trying to keep cool even though it felt like her insides were exploding. Things were different, she felt nervous about being in the same room as Maddy while she was changing. She never felt this way around her before. Maddy on the other hand felt normal. She wasn't aware of how much her actions affected her best friend. To her, it was a spur of the moment kind of thing.

"You ok?" Maddy asked noticing Fallon's body language. She nodded her head and let out a small laugh to make it seem even more convincing.

"Grace made some eggs if you're hungry. I'm not eating so you can eat the rest of them."

Maddy watched as Fallon continued to examine all of her scars and bruises. She never realized how many there actually were, there were a bunch of older ones and the recent ones. "Why?" Maddy spoke up suddenly causing Fallon to turn around with a confused look. She grabbed a sports bra from her dresser and put it on before sitting next to Maddy.

"Why what?" She asked leaning her head on Maddy's shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell anyone? All these years and you kept quiet, why?"

She looked at Maddy with a confused look. "I don't know. Maybe, the same reason you're afraid to admit that Nate does it to you." She spoke sincerely but somehow still managed to offend Maddy. She pushed herself up and furrowed her eyebrows looking at Fallon.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She slightly raised her voice as she scooted away from Fallon.

"Look, I didn't mean to offend you, Maddy." She pushed herself up and gazed at her best friend with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Maddy waved her hand and motioned for Fallon to forget about it. She didn't like talking about him around Fallon because she knew that she hated him.

"I'm going to get the eggs." She stood up from the bed and went downstairs. Closing the door behind her. Fallon let out a sigh as she threw her head back against the headboard.

She felt empty, wishing that she could call her mother and let her know that things would be ok but she knew that she wouldn't be talking to her for a long while. She knew that she was going to get treated like shit because she killed a cop but no one knew the real story. No one knew that her father had it coming or that he was a piece of shit that deserved what happened to him. She knew that her grandparents wouldn't be able to take care of them full time, it would be too much to deal with all three of them. She found herself wondering what her life would be like if her mother married someone else.

Fallon was pulled out of her thoughts when a soft knock distracted her. A warm smile spread across her face seeing her grandmother standing in the doorway. She climbed off of the bed and allowed her grandmother to wrap her in her warm embrace. She shed a few tears as she was being comforted. "I'm so sorry this happened to you." Her grandmother spoke with a look of sorrow on her face. Fallon pulled away momentarily and wiped away the tears that fell, she noticed Maddy finally coming back up the stairs and attempted to pull herself together.

"Grams, this is Maddy." She gestured towards Maddy with a blank look on her face. Her grandmother smirked and shook Maddy's hand.

"It's so nice to meet you. I've heard great things." She hugged Maddy before going off to leave the two girls alone once more.