𝔼𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕘𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕟

Chapter 25 : Home Sweet Home

As I walk up the stairs to our room, I think about the time I will be spending with Ivy, alone.

Usually, when you like somebody's company, the idea of having a few days alone with them seems fun, except this is Ivy we're talking about, and although our relationship has gotten better, being in that house without Tyler is probably the last thing she wants.

I knock twice on the door to let Ivy know I'm coming in. I open the door but my feet are stuck to the ground.
Ivy is sitting on my bed, holding my guitar, running her fingers over the strings, and creating random melodies.

I force my feet toward my bag and start packing everything we brought with us, excited to finally leave this place.

It goes on like this for about ten minutes. Me and Ivy doing our separate things in comfortable silence until she breaks it.

"I don't want to go home without Tyler," she says, keeping her gaze on my guitar.

I know how difficult it is for Ivy to open up to me so I keep the conversation light, "Tell me something I don't know, V," I smile with my eyes glued to the shirt I'm folding.

The melody stops but Ivy takes a minute to answer.

"Last time he left I tried to kill myself."

It takes me a moment to register the words, and when I do, my hands grip the shirt tightly.
I look at Ivy and she lifts her head to look at me.

"Bet you didn't know that," Ivy laughs.

"I don't- I mean, I can't. What?"

My brain is struggling to form a sentence with her laughing at such horrific words.

Ivy simply goes back to playing my guitar, "it was about a month after Tristan went to prison. I was deep into my depression and I didn't want to be inside my body anymore. I couldn't figure out how to go back to living a normal life without him around but at least I had Tyler to distract or comfort me," she lays her hand flat on the strings, cutting through the music, "one day, he had to go to the institution because Rosa wanted him to accompany her and some of the kids to the riding stable in that area."

I let go of the shirt and sit on the bed with my legs crossed and my hands on my thighs.

Ivy lays the guitar beside her and mimics my position.

"I was alone for the first time in weeks after the trial and I couldn't stand it. It wasn't really about committing suicide. It was more about getting away from the person I was at the time. So about an hour before Tyler was supposed to be home, I went to the bathroom and found his razor blade."

I shut my eyes and shake my head. I don't want to hear this. I don't want to picture Ivy like this.

I can't see her move from my bed but I can feel her sitting in front of me.

"Open your eyes, Haulten. I'm right here."

I do as I am told and I find Ivy smiling.

"I promise you it has a good ending," Ivy says as she places her hands under her thighs.

"Tyler came home earlier than expected. I didn't hear him come in so I went along with my plan. The second I placed that blade on my wrist, Luca came bursting through the door and found me like this, sitting on a bathroom floor bawling and about to end my life. That was the day I met him."

Ivy laughs at the memory.

"I had promised myself I would never trust another man after Tristan. Not a stranger anyways, but then he spoke, and every single promise I had made to myself flew out the window.