Ripped and Stitched

16: The Things We Don't Say

Alison didn't have much else to say to Brady or Hayden. Seeing Julia at the mall had hurt her in a way she hadn't expected. It wasn't a secret that Alison and Julia were very different people, but Alison had always thought that they were fundamentally the same. However, if Julia could become friends with Hailey and pull stunts like she had at the mall, then perhaps she wasn't the friend Alison thought she was.

But this greatly upset Alison and all she wanted to do now was go home. So desperate in fact, she even called her father from Brady's phone and asked him to come pick her up.

He promised to be there in ten minutes. Alison checked on Brady before leaving. He looked even more upset than before we had left for the mall.

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

He turned over in the bed away from her.

Alison sighed and left his room. Brady was so upset about Julia that Alison couldn't even talk to Brady about how betrayed she too felt by Julia, who was well aware that Hailey had been nothing but evil to Alison.

She bumped into Hayden in the hall, who had been listening in.

"I'm the one who should be apologizing," he said sheepishly. "I shouldn't have dragged you guys there."

"The whole world moved on," Alison said quietly. "We were rotting in that basement for a year and had lost all hope. When we were found, I knew that a tiny part of Brady was hoping that she would be waiting for him. He never even thought that Julia would have moved on with the rest of the world."

"And what about you?" Hayden asked, not really looking at her. "Did you hold onto seeing Max again?"

Alison stared at the carpet. "I didn't have much faith at all to begin with. I thought we were going to die down there."

Hayden realized a little too late that Alison hadn't answered her question. She looked out the window and saw her father outside talking with Mr. Carson.

"I think I better go," she said.

Hayden nodded. "Okay, but uh do you have a new phone? I know the police still have your old one in evidence, but it would be easier to get a hold of you if you did."

Alison blinked once in surprise. It had never even occurred to her that she would need a phone.

"I haven't gotten one yet," she admitted. "Maybe I should," she mumbled as she walked away.

Alison left the Carson's and met her father outside.

"All right, it was nice talking to you, George," her father said as he shook hands with Brady's father.

Mr. Hart got in the car and looked over at Alison. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. The three of them had been rather quiet on why they had returned from the mall so quickly, but Hayden must have said something because it was clear that they knew now and their father must have passed the information along to her father.

"I'm fine," she said plainly.

"You know Julia cared a lot about you two. She helped put up missing posters, she spent months cooking for the Carson's when Mrs. Carson could not get out of bed, it was only during the beginning of this year when she seemed to move on."

"Yeah, I don't care," Alison snapped.

Mr. Hart dropped it and sighed. "You know Mr. Carson was saying that Brady is seeing a therapist, Dr. Potter. Maybe we should book you a session or two."

"I don't want to see a freaking therapist," Alison muttered.

I just want my old life back, she thought to herself.