Domestic Bliss

04.

...and then everything started going to shit.

The first two weeks of school had passed in a blur. Between Maddie's and Nate's drama, Kat's sex tape and all the school work teachers dumped on seniors, Grace barely had time to think.

It might have been a good thing. Not thinking - because every night, when she laid in bed, her mind wandered to the night of McKay's party. The look on Nate's face kept her up at night. She felt like he was slipping from her.

And then there was the night he had returned home with blood on his shirt and a wild look in his eyes.

She had just finished her English essay. She had heard Nate walking up the stairs and went to tell him she wouldn't need a ride from school the next day. She met him at the top of the stairs. The only sound was their breathing and the raging storm outside. Silence stretched between them - until she grabbed his arm and dragged him into her room, where she sat him on her bed, cleaned his split knuckles and washed the blood off his hands. She took his shirt and disposed of it the next morning.

She hadn't asked whose blood it was. It wouldn't have made a difference if she did, anyways.

But Nate wasn't the only thing she thought of before falling asleep tonight. No, there was also her blackout.

The last thing from the party she remembered clearly was Nate shoving her to the ground. Her next memory was walking home in early morning hours, shivering like crazy and throwing up in someone's driveway. Yeah, sorry about that.

The hours in between were lost, like someone spilled bleach over her mind. No matter how hard she strained her brain, she simply couldn't remember.

The only clue she had, were carefully cleaned and bandaged cuts and a name. Fezco. It emerged whenever she reached into the darkness in her mind, trying to recall the lost hours.

Fezco, the dealer from thhe liquor store. Rue's dealer.

Was it possible she remembered his name only because he was there when some jerk tried to pull he into the pool? She remembered that moment clearly. But... had they met again, after that? Had he sold her molly?

Had she hooked up with him?

The thought made her squirm. Nate would kill him and it would all be her fault.

But no, they couldn't have hooked up - people would have noticed. And they would have talked. If no one had brought it up by now, it obviously hadn't happened.

Grace turned in her bed again and glanced at the alarm clock on her nightstand. It read 00:00. Make a wish, she thought to herself.

But there were too many things she wished for, so in the end she wished for nothing. Her chest full of longing, she watched the numbers change to 00:01, closed her eyes and slept.