All That's Left

Chapter 3 | Vania

Present
2023
Seventeen years old

They weren't supposed to be happy to see me.

They were supposed to hate me and blame me like everyone else did.

Yet here they were, welcoming me with open arms. Welcoming me back into their home, which would never be the same, because I took someone away who meant a lot to them.

Aspen is sitting at the kitchen counter when I walk in behind Dorian's mother. In many ways, Avery was my mother too, seeing as I never knew mine, and my father was so close to the Lowe's. 

Avery rushes over to the oven to pull out whatever is burning, while Kian and Uncle Elly rush to help her. 

Aspen was sitting with her back to me, drawing something on a piece of paper in front of her. ''Hey, Aspen,'' I practically whisper, scared of her reaction.

Aspen and I used to be closer than Paisley and I ever were, and that was saying something since Aspen was so young when I left. It broke my heart seeing her cry like she did two years ago, and I regretted leaving for a long, long time after that. 

Aspen doesn't hear me, too lost in her own little world, so Avery leans on the counter in front of Aspen, getting her attention. ''Look behind you, honey.''

Aspen looks up at her mother for a second before turning around, her eyes immediately landing on me.

Not a moment passes before she slides off the bar stool she was sitting on, rushing towards me. I sink down so that I'm at eye level with her and wrap my arms around her when she crashes into me.

''Hey, 'Spen,'' I whisper into her hair, hating myself even more because I left this little girl crying in Dorian's arms when I left.

''Why did you leave?'' She cries into my shoulder, wrapping her arms tighter around me.

''I'm so, so sorry, 'Spen,'' I say. ''I didn't want to leave, I promise. But I didn't have a choice. I had to go with Paisley because she was my legal guardian.

''But you left me!'' She cries. ''You left all of us!''

In that moment, I couldn't have hated myself more.

''Aspen, honey, that's not fair,'' Avery says from where she was standing next to her husband, watching us.

''I'm sorry, Vanny,'' Aspen sniffles, hugging me again.

I wanted to cry. But I couldn't.

I wasn't allowed to.

''Did Paisley come with you? Because she's not answering her phone,'' Dorina says, walking into the room as he pocketed his phone.

I stood back up, wiping the tears that had escaped from my face. ''Uh, no, she didn't come with me. She... didn't want me around anymore, so I left,'' I say, not meeting anyone's eyes. 

I felt like a waste of space, standing in front of the family I used to call my own. Here they were, complete, functional, and happy. Then there was me. Everything this wonderful family didn't need in their lives.