That night, when Sofia arrived home, everything was the same. She saw her mother almost asleep on the couch in front of the TV, and her dad with an almost-empty bottle of whiskey in hand— but he was already sleeping in the armchair he usually sat on. The girl sighed at the sight in front of her and she took her shoes off and then went upstairs to her room— she began to think about everything that happened in the past few days. She threw herself on the bed, looking tiredly at the ceiling in front of her eyes.
"What if it really was my fault?" she whispered, mostly talking to herself, but she decided to just let the matter go. She would think about it another time— she promised herself to take a break from Ashtray. Which meant not even thinking about him— which proved to be a hard task because the young boy was on Sofia's mind 24/7.
She quickly took her clothes off and went to take a shower— she was feeling dirty. Hanging out with those people made her feel dirty. The fact that she was smoking and drinking just about an hour ago made her feel dirty, because she knew how wrong it was. Ashtray's words made her feel dirty— she hated herself. After Sofia changed into her pajamas, she made her way back to her room. Only to be greeted by an unexpected guest sitting on the edge of her bed— with their back facing her.
"What are you doing in my room, Maddy?" Sofia immediately knew something was wrong when she heard quiet sobs coming from her sister. "What happened?"
"Is it bad?" her voice cracked and her face was puffy and red— and her neck full of fresh bruises, but Sofia couldn't see the state she was in yet. She wanted to ask her sister about it, but she quickly shut her mouth when she saw her older sister turning to face her— immediately making Sofia to shift her attention to the other girl's neck.
"Oh my god, Maddy.." she didn't say anything else, she couldn't. Seeing the state her sister was in made her feel scared. Scared as in what happened to her— and if she was going to be okay. She quickly made her way to her sister, and she hugged her. 'Fighting' with her in a moment like this would only make it worse— for both her and Maddy.
Her sister slowly returned the hug, and she started crying louder and louder. "Shh.. it's going to be okay." Sofia said as she started caressing her back. "But you have to tell me what happened. Is that alright with you?" that's it when she broke the hug. It was a serious matter and she wouldn't let it go— not until her older sister told her the truth. But she took it slowly, she needed her time, and Sofia understood that.
"Yeah.." Maddy wiped her own tears, and just sat staring blankly at the door in front of her. And Sofia just waited— for her to be ready. "Please promise me you won't tell mom or dad, alright?"
"Was it Nate?" she was sure she was right, she knew Nate better then she pretended to know. And she also knew that he had anger issues— and even if it was his girlfriend, choking her after the things Maddy did at the carnival wouldn't be excluded.
"You have to promise me."
"I promise."
Maddy took a big breath. "It was him." but it didn't help with calming her voice, she was shaking and her voice was really quiet. But Sofia understood where it was coming from— she saw it. So she didn't pester her sister with any more questions.
"I understand."
"You saw me, right? Being a bitch to his family..."
"It wasn't alright, what you did there."
"He deserved it— I only took revenge, but on his family."
