Beige

Chapter Six

Hi beautiful people <3 I just wanted to clarify a couple of things before we get started:

The story starts in May 2019. Fine Line and Harry's House have not been created, and there will be songs on those albums in the story that Harry did not actually write/sing in real life. I personally love every song on each album, but they don't all match up with what I have planned :)

Also! The italics in Alexis' POV are her conscious that is talking to her!

Okay that's all! Enjoy :)

TW: Panic Attack

Alexis Monpettit

I have been staring at my phone lighting up every 10 minutes since Harry left, the same unknown number flashing across the screen. I take a deep breath, reminding myself that I am in control before picking up the phone and tapping the accept button.

There's a gasp on the other end.

"Alexis? Is that you?"

I don't answer. I stare across the living room at all the pictures I have hung on the wall. I see Emma and Chris, and inspiration for work. I see pictures of my favorite artists, and people I could only dream of working with. I keep my focus until I see the most recent picture I added, I'm in my graduation gown holding my diploma with the biggest smile I've seen on myself. Emma randomly captured it and the expression on my face is what caught my attention: I looked happy.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts by my mom's incessant sobbing in my ear, "Alexis, please you need to come home, they're going to take everything away from us if you and I don't work together to find a way for your father to make it out. He and I were together when the murder occurred, but no one is going to believe me. I need you here to help convince the jury he didn't do anything wrong. Please, Alexis."

He didn't do anything wrong.

I feel a single tear roll down my cheek.

"Alexis, I know you don't accept him as your dad, I know he is just a man in your life who has scarred you, I know he isn't perfect," she chokes on a sob, "I was the one that sent you to California, I was scared of what he was going to do, I know everything, Alexis."

She knows everything.

I yank the phone down from my ear and immediately hang up.

Getting up as fast as I can, I sprint to the bathroom, letting out a sob and making it just in time as I fall to my knees, vomiting into the toilet.

She knows everything. She knows everything. She knows everything.

The line repeats in my head, confirming the one thing I feared most;

She knew everything and never made an effort to stop it.

I fall back against the wall behind me, gasping as tears continuously pour down my face. I close my eyes, every moment that my father abused me, flashing through my head.

She knows everything.

I try to take a single deep breath, only to choke on my saliva and start coughing uncontrollably. I throw my head back against the wall, opening my eyes to stop the images, and clear my throat. I can't remember Christy's stupid breathing exercises.

She knows everything.

It's like my brain isn't catching up to my body, it just keeps replaying those three words. I need to calm my body down. What's the first fucking step? I feel a headache start to form, trying to remember something other than my mother's words.