✔️ Midnight Sparks『 T.H. 』✧･ﾟ:*

Chapter 28: ... And the ties that tear us apart

Falling out of love is hard

Falling for betrayal is worst

Broken trust and broken hearts

- Shontelle

- - -

"Trev? What's wrong? Please tell me," I implored.

Tom frowned, finally parting his lips to say, "I – I got a phone call. Uncle Ollie... He's in bad shape. They found tumors in his brain. In places where it's impossible to operate on. There'd be no chance of survival. So... We don't know how much longer he'll be able to hold on."

A wave of sorrow washed over me, and it pained me to know that it was only a tiny fraction of what Tom must have been feeling. Reaching out to squeeze his arm, I said, "Oh my God. I'm so sorry. Do you need to fly back? Like tonight?"

Tom took in a shuddering breath. "Yeah."

He looked down at his right hand that was clutching his phone, momentarily deep in thought.

I closed the gap between us and wrapped my arms tightly around him, not knowing what else I could do.

Tom's posture was stiff, his body unmoving. "Ali.." he whispered hoarsely.

I gazed up at him and saw that his eyes were rimmed red, as if he were holding back tears. It reminded me of Jayna's teary face. And then occurred to me how strange it was for Jayna to be crying for Uncle Ollie, someone she didn't know...

"What is it?" I asked, my heart tightening.

"There's something else," Tom admitted.

I willed myself to suppress the sense of trepidation that was building inside of me. "Okay..."

Tom paused.

I tried to be encouraging. "Hey, you know you can tell me anything. Right?"

Reluctance was still painted all over Tom's face. Finally he breathed, "The thing is... Uncle Ollie... He wants to see you too."

This was not what I was expecting at all.

I blinked my eyes, confused. "Me? Why?"

"He, uhh, needs to say something to you in person."

My confusion went up a few notches. I completely let go of my grip around Tom and took a step back so that I could look at him fully. "But... What does he need to say? He's never even met me before."

"No, no he hasn't. But he knows of you..."

"What do you mean?"

Tom sighed, and then said in a strained voice, "He was there... The night of the car crash."

I leaned in, unsure if I'd heard him correctly. "What car crash? I – I don't understand..."

Tom lifted his face up, the pain in his eyes intensified. "The car crash that took your family 7 years ago. In Glasgow. My Uncle Ollie was there for Christmas with Aunt Sophie. On one of those nights, he'd met up with a business partner for drinks. Both of them got really drunk and the business partner was behind the wheel.. They hit an icy patch on the road and the car lost control, clipping the back of another car. It was the car that – that your father was driving..."

All of a sudden, I felt like I'd forgotten how to breathe. My mind was reeling and I wasn't sure if I was still standing – I couldn't feel the ground beneath me.

I sputtered in confusion, "I don't get it. They said my dad was the one who went over an icy patch and spun, colliding with a tree... It was an accident. No other cars were involved..."