When your on your death bed, people joke about seeing someone hot—a shirtless male, if you will.

But not Athena. She'd always been different. Not physically, but mentally. Constant anxiety attacks, not wanting to get out of bed.

Crashing, as her mother would call it. She was crashing right now.

Ragged breaths leave Athena as she swallows thickly, trying to unbuckle herself. Her femur was definitely shattered, that was for sure. She'd have to do her best to get out of the car. She had a blaring headache—a concussion was in the picture.

She could feel the blood dripping down her face.

Athena pulls herself out of the car, falling onto the ground, just now feeling the pulsing pain in her fore arm.

She could faintly see the truck driver calling 911.

Everyone was going to know, Athena thought.

To anyone else, it was a selfish thought. But to Athena, it wasn't. She'd been keeping this secret for a while, and the last thing she wanted was for everyone to be mad. For Amelia— or hell, even Addison to find out.

Then, everything went black.

🪷

When Athena was a kid her and her mother would have movie nights— constant movies. Along with snacks.

On certain nights of the week, they would watch movies til the sun came up, not worried about work or school.

It would start as soon as her mother got home—ten o'clock sharp.

Athena would have the movies set. Depending on the day, the movie genres would change.

Wednesday was Athena's absolute favorite. Horror.

She loved the suspense and the dumb decisions of the teens. You would think gore would effect a young girl. But not Athena.

Before everything went on, she wanted to be a police officer. But everything quickly changed.

Before she'd found out about her mothers disease, her mother and stepdad fought a lot. And then it stopped.

Everything stopped.

Movie nights, her mother coming home, her mother going to work, family dinners.

That's when she knew. Everything was fucked.

Her mother would try to convince her everything was going to be okay.

But she knew better.

She'd been in period three biology when she figured it out.

Heart disease. Hereditary. Deadly.

The four words that started her panics—crashes.

🪷

"Charlotte.." Athena rasps, her throat tasted like metal.

"Here," Charlotte grabs the pink hospital cup filled with water.

Athena greedily gulps the water.

"Why do you do that?" Charlotte asks, sounding distant.

Athena's nose flares, "You don't understand."

Charlotte scoffs, standing up out of the chair.

"You wanted to keep it a secret!" Charlotte shouts, but has to bring her voice back down. "Now everybody knows, Athena."

Athena blows the air out. She knew what this meant.

Amelia wouldn't trust her any longer. After she finally got something good. Nobody would trust her. She'd been lying to them.

Then there was Addison. They loved each other like a sister. Because, unknown to Addison—until now—, they were.

"They're mad, aren't they?" Athena looks to her best friend, eyes glistening with tears.

"Their worried about you," Charlotte sits back down.

"I'm sorry," Tears roll down the brunettes face.

"Oh, Athena.." Charlotte looks down, grabbing the girls hand.

"How is she?" Athena grasps Charlottes hand, but looks ahead at the wall.

"You lied to her, Athena."

"I know," She chuckles lowly. "A few hours ago I thought, wow, life couldn't get better." She shakes her head. "But now, it's all gone to shit."

Charlotte bites her lip, not knowing what to say to her best friend.

"Are you in pain?"

"No."

Charlotte sits there for a minute before standing up and leaving the room.

Athena hears muttered fighting outside the room and can't help but feel bad.

She put everyone in a position that they couldn't get out of. Even if they wanted to.

Athena listens as she hears Charlotte storm off, Addison going after said woman.

Only two seconds later the door opens.

"I'm sorry," Athena says, not looking up from her lap—not even needing to.

Amelia takes a deep breath, running her hands down her thighs.

"How's your head?" Amelia sits on the edge of the Knotts girls bed.

"It could be worse," Athena shrugged, now looking at the girl.

"Yeah. That's for sure," Amelia looks from the ground to the girl—in which she doesn't know where they stand.

"I'm sorry," Athena spoke after a beat of silence. "I should've told you."

Amelia scoffs.

Athena laughs slightly, thinking carefully about what to say next.

"Addison's torn, you know that?" Amelia snaps, standing up. "First— Maya and Dell. And now we get a Jane Doe in the E.R.—" Amelia bitterly laughs, "And then— I come down and find my girlfriend— who isn't my girlfriend anymore— with a shattered femur, broken arm, severe concussion and a dislocated hip."

This breaks Athena's heart.

"And finally— I look at your file, for any—"

The door slams open, Naomi immediately grabbing Amelia and trying to drag her out of the room before she said too much.

Athena swallows back a sob. She did this. She couldn't believe it, but she had to. It was all her fault.

"You— you lied to me," Amelia cries as Naomi pulls her out of the room, Amelia saying too much.

Once she knows no one is standing outside her hospital room, she lets it all out. Every drop of sadness from Dell's death, every drop of anger from her loved ones having left her, and every single drop of disappointment she has in herself.

🪷

When she wakes up this time, it isn't Charlotte. It's Addison.

It's nearing four in the morning and when she fully wakes up, she's surprised to find her sister sitting by her side.

Addison's loose ponytail falls across her face, her head resting on Athena's non injured leg.

"Addison," Athena whispers.

Addison's head shoots up, a slight smiles gracing her features.

"Athena," Addison says, grabbing her sisters hand.

"Are you mad?" Athena asks, not sure if she wants the answer.

"Not as much mad as disappointed," Addison's brows furrowed, watching her sister with worry. "Why didn't you just tell me? You're my sister. And I didn't know."

Athena tries to sit up, moaning in pain when she uses her injured arm.

"Here," Addison shoots into action, sitting her pillows up and walking to the other side of the bed to grab her hand to help sit her up.

"I didn't tell you because, we clicked—" Athena pauses, clearly still in pain. "Just like I had with Charlotte. And I didn't want it to go to shit. I realize it wasn't a good idea now." 

Addison stands there, arms crossed over her chest, lips in a thin line.

"You could've told me," Addison blinks. "We wouldn't be in the situation we're in now. If everyone knew before now."

Athena shakes her head.

"Yeah, I see it's shitty now."

"Shitty it is."

oopsie

anyways next chapter
will he time jump to
the beginning of season
four