In The Darkest Hour

Part One - Chapter Nineteen: A Life Destroyed

Isla sniffled as she stared at the morning paper, it had been a month since she had told Gerard the truth and it had been a month since he had ruined her life by telling the press that she killed Isabel.

Isla hadn’t been able to leave her parents’ home and she felt terrible that her parents got death threats in the street; she had no idea how to fix this but Montserrat reassured her that everything would be okay.

Shaking her head as she wrapped her blanket around her, Isla moved away from the breakfast table knowing that she couldn’t bear to stare at the morning paper any longer; there seemed to be no end to the lies that were being told about her.

Isla slowly started to move upstairs, her eyes sliding to the broken window that had been put in the night before; she didn’t understand how people could do this from only reading lies printed in the paper.

Isla only made it half way up the stairs before she heard her mother coming into the house, she paused confused knowing that her mother usually spent Wednesday afternoon out with her friends shopping.

“You’re home early?” Isla murmured moving back down the stairs, she felt her stomach twist at the thought of why Tracy was home early; she hated that she had brought this into her mother’s home.

Tracy stared at her daughter, she had hoped that she would miss Isla and that her daughter would be hiding out in her room; she didn’t want Isla to feel worse about what was happening.

“It’s nothing…” Tracy murmured shaking her head, her friends had told her that they didn’t want to spend more time with her; they didn’t want to be friends with a murderer’s mother.

Tracy had tried to explain what had happened but they wouldn’t hear it, they believed everything that the press had to say about Isla.

“Madre…” Isla whispered already knowing that it was because of her that her mother was home early, she swallowed back the lump that formed in her throat; she hated this and she wished there was something that she could do.

Tracy sighed moving to hug her daughter, she despised the woman that had framed her daughter and she hoped that Montserrat discovered the truth soon; she wanted Isla’s name cleared so that she could move on with her life.

“Mi hija it’ll be okay,” Tracy whispered hugging Isla close, she would do anything for her daughter and she didn’t care what her friends thought; she was going to support Isla in everything that she did.

Isla clung to her mother as she started to cry, she wanted things to go back to normal and she had no idea to make that happen; she was getting tired of everything and just wanted it to stop.

“Why don’t you go and lay down and I’ll make you some lunch?” Tracy murmured moving to hug her daughter for another moment, she pressed a kiss to the top of Isla’s head wanting her to be happy again.

Isla just nodded her head, she wasn’t really hungry but she knew her mother wouldn’t accept no as an answer; she had lost weight since she had left Gerard’s home and she barely slept anymore, she would just lay around doing nothing.

Tracy stared at her daughter for another moment before she headed for the kitchen, she feared for Isla and she prayed that Montserrat would be able to discover the truth before Isla was driven to do something stupid.

Isla stared at her mother for a moment, she shook her head as she slowly started to go back upstairs; she stayed away from the windows so that no one would see her; she was a prisoner within her own home and she didn’t know how much more she would be able to stand.

Isla stepped into her dark bedroom, the curtains were drawn so that no light could enter the room; she didn’t want anyone to know where she was or where she slept, she feared what they would do if she did.

Moving quietly, Isla shut the door behind her and moved to the laptop that lay on her bed; R still sent her taunting messages and they had only gotten worse since Gerard had been told the truth.

Isla took a deep breath as she opened up her laptop and switched it on, she stared at the recent message that she had received from R and she knew that she deserved it; she still hadn’t told anyone about the horrible messages that she had been getting.

Isla didn’t want to worry her parents further and she barely saw any of her friends anymore, she doubted she could call any of them friends now that the press knew about why she was fired; no one cared if she was innocent only that she was someone they could target.

“I hope they lynch you for what you have done, R,” the latest message read, it made Isla feel sick and she knew that whoever R was that they would one day regret everything that they had done to her.

It might not have ever crossed R’s mind that she was innocent but when it was proven then Isla hoped that the person would reveal themselves just so she could show them how much their treatment had hurt her.

Isla clicked on several messages and read through them, she had taken to filing them on her email so that she could look back one day and think about how strong she had been even if she didn’t feel like it now.

One day everything would be okay and Isla would have her life back, she just needed to wait and she hoped that she could remain strong enough to do that.

Isla doubted that she would ever see Gerard again and she hoped he would find some happiness; she would put that part of her life far behind her now.

***

“How are you?” Lionel asked warily looking at Gerard, he had been shocked when his best friend had told him about Isla and he was sure that there was some sort of mistake; there was no way he could see Isla killing anyone.

Gerard nodded his head, he didn’t feel any better for having told the press all about what Isla had done; he had felt a moment of thrill that he had gotten some sort of revenge but it had disappeared quickly.

Now all that remained was the fact that no matter how much Gerard wanted to deny it, he missed Isla; he felt like he was betraying Isabel for growing so attached to the woman that had killed her.

“How’s Milan?” Lionel asked trying to get his friend to talk to him, the past month had been rough for his best friend and Lionel was worried about Gerard; he wanted him better and it wouldn’t happen if he didn’t talk about it.

Gerard only shrugged, his son had gone back to staying with his parents since Gerard barely had any time to look after Milan; he refused to allow another nanny to be hired after what had happened with Isla.

“Geri… you can’t go on like this, maybe you should talk to Isla,” Lionel suggested softly, he didn’t want to upset Gerard but he feared that his friend had taken to drinking again after only just getting his life back on track.

Lionel doubted that Gerard could have forgotten the feelings that he had developed for Isla, he might have been mad and angry but deep down he still cared for her.

“I never want to see that murderer again,” Gerard spat glaring at Lionel, his heart pounding at the idea of ever seeing Isla again; it had been a month since he had last seen her and it had only left bad memories for him.

Lionel sighed shaking his head, he didn’t believe that Isla had killed Isabel and he had a feeling Gerard was going to regret how he had acted.