𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍

thirty one

『 thirty-one 』

HAWK FINISHED DRIVING THE REST of the way home. They didn't let Miguel and Sam carpool with them back. Natalie assumed Carmen picked them both up from the street, but she really did not care. She felt about to pass out and feared she would if she spent two more minutes out in the open. No music, no conversation. Neither of them wanted to talk. It was a fifteen-minute drive from the minimall to their house. Fifteen minutes of silence, and endless bad thoughts. 

Natalie let herself bleed all over her upholstery. It was her job to clean anyway. 

Hawk opened the door as quietly as possible. He looked down to the kitchen and living room. "Do you want me to call them? I can patch you up without them knowing," he whispered to her. 

Natalie shrugged, staring at the picture of her grandparents hanging adjacent to them on the wall. It was a sweet memory for her mom. She wondered how many memories had been destroyed in the LaRusso household. 

"Whatever. They'll find out eventually."

She slowly made her way toward her room. Hawk followed, but only to claim the bathroom first. He secured his safety for at least five more minutes. Natalie didn't care. What was the point in trying to hide? Parents knew everything within an instant. It was an annoying sixth sense of theirs.

How did Daniel and Amanda respond when they came home? Did Sam call them beforehand? Did they send for Anthony to come back home early from the sleepover? Did they cry? Scream? Immediately embark on a hunt for the people who did that to their home? Natalie was so grateful she was able to leave when she could. She didn't think she could bear to witness their reactions - knowing she was one of the reasons it was left in that condition. 

Why did she ever want to be a parent?

She still did. But why? Why?

"How was the Christmas party, darling?" Leila called from the basement. Her footsteps creaked up the dreadfully old stairs. "I hope you had a better evening than I did. That pipe is a pain in my ass, let me tell you!"

Natalie didn't respond. She flicked her bedroom light on and sat on the floor with her back against the bed. She pulled her hood above her hair, managing to conceal one large cut. 

It was too cold for this. 

She faced the bookshelf, filled with tales of wonder and knowledge alike spanning all the way back to elementary. What if someone had barged into her room and destroyed that bookshelf? What if they kicked her childhood books around as they had Amanda's flowers?

"Darling?" Leila repeated, entering the bedroom hallway. Natalie's door was open. "Was it so fun you... simply... have no words?"

Leila was about to knock on the doorway before she saw her daughter sitting on the floor, tears unsteadily streaming down her face. Natalie hugged her arms to herself. She tried to contain the sniffles and did her best to ignore the aching sore in her throat. Leila knelt on the floor beside her knees, which were bent underneath her to look like a box. Natalie sat there like a tight, compact box. 

"Honey!" Leila gently eased a hand out from Natalie's iron grip to her side. "What happened?"

"There w- was a-" Natalie paused to stare at the wall. She wiped away a tear. "Some Cobra Kai kids broke- the Cobra Kais..."

Leila nodded. She understood. 

"Are you hurt? Who was there?" She whispered. Natalie let go of the sob building in her throat. She let her mom hug her before bringing down the hood. Leila studied every bruise and scrape. "Where was this?"