Belief

6.0

With tragedy comes pain, and pain carries a venom within it, a venom that spreads throughout our veins and changes the way we think. Pain weakens, its leaves us in a fragile state waiting to be further broken.

The pain of Zach's death suffocated us, everyone being individually attacked by the venom spreading within them, chilling their blood, numbing their mind, and causing tempers to run high.

Things began to go wrong. One by one we would fall. One by one we would tear a little bit further apart. By the time we noticed how broken we had become, it was too late to fix it.

-

Maddie's POV

I woke up to yelling, my body jolting awake, eyes blinking open franticly with a gasp. Luke was awake as well, his eyes watching me come into consciousness, leaning over to give my forehead a morning kiss. The yells continued, Luke bites his bottom lip and moves closer to me, cracking his knuckles in nervousness.

"Who is it?" I whisper, resting my head against Luke's chest, straining to hear the commotion.

"I think Grace, her and Mikey are fighting," Luke whispers in my ear. We stay silent, listening. I could vaguely make out their voices from across the hall.

"I'm sorry I'm not good enough for you Michael," Grace yells, her voice quivering slightly.

"Grace that is not it, you are too good for me. Grace you know how much I care about you," Michael pleads.

"Then why did you push me away? Why don't you want to do this with me?" Her voice quietens.

"I want to do this, but not like this. I want you to really want it. I want to make sure you are ready," Mikey's voice was soft, almost begging for her understanding.

"I do want this-"

"Not for the right reasons. This is supposed to be special. I want it to be special."

"Well why don't you go ahead and keep texting Chloe then? I'm sure she will keep you entertained because obviously I'm not what you want," Grace says coldly.

"I'm not even answering her! See, you only want to do this to prove her wrong. This isn't a game for me Grace. This is my first time, and I care about you, I don't want you throwing yourself on me to prove some bitch wrong," Michael sounds more hurt now. "I'm not just a piece of a game."

"I thought you wanted this," Grace groans. "It's not my fault I'm a little paranoid considering she was texting you last night. You didn't even text me last night."

"I do want this, but not when you are acting all desperate! You are acting like she would."

"I can't believe you."

Grace storms out of Michael's room, her footsteps echoeing down the hall. Michael follows after her, groaning.

"Yeah, well maybe I will text her back!" He dares.

"I hope she gives you herpes." Grace shouts back.

"I hope you-" Michael gets cut off by the slam of the front door, signaling Grace had left. He groans loudly, slamming his fists against the wall and muttering curse words under his breath.

I look at Luke, his eyes were wide with worry. He pulls me closer, resting his forehead against mine.

"What do you think happened?" Luke mumbles worriedly. His fingers find my hands, tracing the creases on my palms as the house settles in silence.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling Chloe was behind it," I shake my head.

"Well I guess we are awake now," Luke chuckles softly, sighing. We lay next to each other for a little while longer, eventually going out into the kitchen to get something to eat. Michael was in his room with his door shut. Luke grabs the box of cheerios and two bowls, pulling me over to the kitchen table and giving my neck a soft kiss.