ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ʙᴀᴛʜ- ᴠᴀɴᴄᴇ ʜᴏᴘᴘᴇʀ ✓

FOURTEEN

TW: ABUSE

"LEVI." MANDY said through gritted teeth as she saw her ex husband standing there in the doorway. "Mandy." He said, barely giving a smile. "If this isn't about Blue you can-." "It is." He immediately barked out. Mandy calmed down, looking back at Baylen. "Come in." She said, stepping aside for him then closed the door.

"Hey buddy." Levi said, ruffling his sons hair. Mandy leaned on the door frame, watching the two interact. "Hey dad." The boy responded, standing up to hug him. Levi hugged back, giving his son the biggest hug he could give. "Now, why are you here?" Mandy broke the silence as the two pulled away.
             "Because I wanted to see how you were dealing with all... this." The man said, gesturing to the semi messy house. "Oh I'm sure yours is worse, don't give me that shit." Mandy snapped. Baylen shuffled in place awkwardly as the two adults argued.

"Yeah? Well our daughter is missing and is wanted for murder!" He shouted, causing both of them to flinch. "Don't you dare blame this on our daughter who has nothing to do with this!" Mandy shouted back, walking up to him with her finger in his face. "What? You think being a perfect woman will help hide all this? Trust me Mandy, I've seen you outside of the house and it is not something he." He pointed at Baylen. "Would want to see." He finished, blowing angrily out of his nose.

The boy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Mom, what's he talking about?" Baylen asked, moving his body towards both of his parents. "Nothing sweetheart. He's delusional. All that alcohol has probably messed up his brain." Mandy replied back nonchalantly.
            "Don't listen to her." He snapped, looking at his son. Baylen sat back down, deciding it was best to let them argue it out.

"And don't you tell our son what to do!" By this point she was done. "You're a slut, Mandy." He seethed, placing his jacket over a chair, signaling he wasn't leaving anytime soon. Hurt flashed in her eyes before they were back to anger. Baylen was very taken aback by this and felt his heart break even more.

"You don't know what I do and why I do it!" Mandy practically screamed. "I thought we were here to talk about Blue." Baylen mumbled but went completely unnoticed by his parents.
          "You know, I'm glad I divorced your ass. You probably cheated on me with some co-worker!" Levi yelled, completely ignoring Baylens existence.

"Really?! Is that what you really think?! You know Levi, I loved you. A lot. That's why I married you, let you have my children, let you make me feel things others couldn't. Then you backstabbed me!" She screamed as hot tears of anger ran down her face. Baylens face was now replaced with shock and fear. He had never in his life heard his mother scream like that.

"Me! Now..." Mandy lowered her voice, making eye contact with her son before wiping her tears. "I will love and love until I can't love anymore to our children. You always drank your sorrows away. Manipulated me. Gas lit the living daylights out of me. But guess what now." The woman took a step back, not letting her eyes leave his.
         "I'm a grown woman. More grown than you'll ever be. Our children will grow up and be nothing like you." She seethed, trying to calm herself down.

Levi looked up at the ceiling than back at Mandy. "For fucks sake." He mumbled, trying to swallow his anger as best he could. Mandy's chest heaved up and down, waiting for his next action. Part of her wished Baylen would've ran to his room but he sat and watched in horror.

Once he met her eyes again anger flowed back, making him step forward and grab her by the neck, pinning her to the wall. "Do you know what you've done to me?!" He yelled, applying more pressure. Baylen couldn't believe his eyes as he watched his own father do this to his mom.
        For a moment he was frozen in shock but that was until Levi yelled, snapping him out of his trance. "Don't you touch her!" He yelled, shooting up out of his chair.

Levi looked back and scoffed. "How could he do anything to me?" He thought weekly and then looked back at his ex wife who was now going white.
            Baylen thought quickly, grabbing the chair and hitting him on the back of his head, causing him to drop Mandy. "Go!" Baylen screamed as loud as he could. "You little shit! I'm your father!" Levi screamed back.

"Now! I thought you loved me and my mother! But I guess I was wrong! You're own daughter is missing and this is what you're worried about?" Baylen looked at him with fear in his eyes. He had never been scared of his own father before. "Now get out!" He lifted the chair higher as he eyed his father down.
         Levi took one quick glance at Mandy and Baylen before grabbing his jacket and leaving.

Once the door was shut, Baylen immediately went to the ground and pulled his mother close. The two were crying again, about more than one thing now. "I'm so sorry." Mandy said over and over again. "Mom, you didn't know what he was going to do." He reassured her. "I'm going to explain. I promise." She said, squeezing her eyes shut.

"I believe you."

~~~

Clouds covered the sky followed by small rain drops which turned into big ones. Clara sat out in the rain on a hill, listening to thunder clap and watching lightning strike. Her hair was now getting soaked but she could care less. The only thing on her mind was Blue.
       The longest the two had been away from each other was barely a week. Experiencing this was the worst that had happened to her in a long time. Her first break up was bad but nothing compared to this.

Her face was so cold it was almost numb but the hot tears were warming it as best they could. "Blue, if you're out there somewhere, or if you're... dead." She started to speak aloud. "I miss you a lot." She sniffed, inhaling the scent of rain. "Um... I'm a mess without you and I wish every night and day it was me who got into this situation." She cried to herself until a voice cut through.

"Clara! Dinner is ready!" Her mother called from the end of the hill. "Right. Coming!" She looked at the sky, blowing a kiss to it like Blue told her to do if either of them were ever away from each other.

Dinner was awkward to say the least. Neither of her parents said a word and it was just the sound of forks against plates. "So... how was your day?" Her father spoke up. "Um... good?" She said but it came out as more of a question. "Sweetie we've noticed your studies are falling behind." Her mother brought up, looking at her husband.
            The red head looked up at them with sadness. "Oh right. So my best friend goes missing and you expect me to be perfectly fine?" Clara knew it wasn't the best idea to argue with her parents but she'd go to the ends of the earth for Blue.

"Sweetie, your mom didn't say that." She snapped her head towards her father. "I know she didn't but of course my grades are gonna be shitty!" "Language!" Both her parents shouted. "My best friend, Blair Parker, is just as innocent as anyone else in this town. She. Did. Nothing." Clara said angrily, throwing her napkin onto her plate before walking off to her room.

Her mother shook her head as her father placed his head between his hands. "I don't know what to do." She spoke truthfully. "Honey, neither do I." He said sadly.

Clara sat against her wall, looking off into space. She didn't know what to do with herself. It was like Blue had taken apart of her and didn't even know it. The girl hadn't talked to anyone since it had happened. A couple words were spoken to Baylen, Bruce, and Gwen but that was it. None of them had really spoke since Blues disappearance.
         Clara just thought it was the way of the world but to her surprise it wasn't. She knew half the town had something against Blue.

But hurt also settled in, thinking about how she asked her worst enemy for help instead of her best friend. But then again she didn't want to blame Blue for any of it.

~~~

A/N: heavy chapter but I promise next chapter will be happier. Comment and vote x