Dust

Chapter 6

TIM POV: Mae and I fight for atleast three hours, until we agree to carry out our conversation in the morning. My night on the couch is more than uncomfortable, as I struggle to find a comfortable position to lay in. This reminds me of the few nights when I was sick and my snoring would keep Faith awake. She would get pissed after about an hour, and would roll me off the bed so I'd wake up and go downstairs. We would both laugh about it in the morning, but she was evil when she couldn't sleep...

I wake up after about four hours of sleep, and decide to give up the fight for the rest of the night. I walk into the kitchen, and brew up some coffee. The smell attracts Faith, who is still rubbing her eyes as she walks downstairs. I pour her a cup, and make it just how she liked it. I place the cup in front of her at the coffee table, and she stares at it for a few minutes.

"Why'd you put creamer in it?" She asks finally. I'm taken by surprise.

"That's how you used to take it..." I explain slowly. She takes a sip slowly, before concluding that it tastes good enough.

"You sleep okay?" She asks, spinning her spoon around her cup.

"Not the best night. How'd you sleep?" I ask, sitting across from her. She shrugs.

"Had a few nightmares. Nothing too big." She says, looking me in the eyes for the longest time since the accident.

"You want to talk about it?" I ask, like I would before. I take a drink of coffee.

"Yeah..." She says, to my surprise. I try not to look stunned. "I was stuck in my parents closet, watching my dad hurt my mom like he used to... I kept trying to get out but I couldn't move..." She rubs her forehead. I take a deep breath.

"I'm sorry..." I say, unsure what else to say. She looks at me, a bit curious.

"Did we ever talk about this kind of stuff?" She asks. I nod slowly, before shaking my head. "What do you mean?"

"We talked about it once, and agreed to never talk about it again." I say honestly. She raises her eyebrows.

"Are you serious?" She's amazed.

"My step-father abused the hell out of my mother after my Dad took off. We both came from simular situations, and just agreed that we wouldn't let their problems influence our future. I wasn't my step-father, you weren't your mother. Easy as that." I say, looking down at my coffee. I feel Faith's heartbeat across the table. It's such a weird thing to realize, but ever since we became close, I've memorized what her heartbeat sounds like. I hear it whenever I get near her.

"Why don't we talk about it?" She asks. I feel like I'm repeating myself.

"It was traumatic. We didn't want to constantly think back to it." I say shortly.

"My dad never abused me, but my mom did on occasion." She says out of nowhere, rubbing the side of her cup. "My dad thought I was his princess, and my mom thought I was a disgrace... I still loved her though. And trusted her." She admits.

"My step-father beat me. My mom tried her best to protect me, but she could only take so much." I try to explain to her. She nods slowly.

"Why me?" Faith asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you fall in love with me?" She asks again.

"Because you're sophisticated, and beautiful, and talented. We share a lot of the same values, and dreams...." I begin to list without a second thought. She takes a drink of her coffee and nods as she swallows. Suddenly, there's a knock on the door that causes us both to jump. I get up to answer it, spotting the clock reads 7:52 AM. Who the hell is out this early?