ADD IT UP ✰ RODRICK HEFFLEY x MALE! OC

CHAPTER 17

CONTENT WARNING: This chapter contains a mention of an unsuccessful suicide attempt. It is not graphic and the method is left unspecified, however, the mention may still be triggering to some. Discretion is advised.

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"Is that a..." I stirred groggily, my mind barely registering what was going on. Rodrick, however, was panicked. "Hey, is that a cop car?" I sat up, finally realizing that there was a serious situation at play.

Rodrick got up, cautiously. "Miles, wait here. I need to see what's going on." He exited the car and got up to enter his home, and immediately, my mind began to jump to conclusions. What if something happened to Mrs. Heffley? To Greg? To Manny? To Frank? The van was hell to me, the four walls surrounding me feeling as if they were closing in, fully engulfing me in my own anxiety.

After what felt like an eternity, Rodrick arrived back in the van. "Miles, it's your mom. Bonnie will explain."

I felt my heart stop in my chest. A chill fell down my spine, and the vile taste in my mouth was a sign of the vomit about to spill out of me. Boston felt so far away; the moment that Rodrick and I shared was over. The audition was over. It was only Plainview now, Bonnie, and I, and the asshole mother that we were left with, one that I wasn't sure was still alive.

Sure enough, in the small, Heffley dining room, sat my sister, her eyes red and puffy. "Miles!" she squeaked, knocking down a chair as she leapt into my arms, sobbing. "I thought something h-h-happened to you...you weren't answering your calls, and—"

At the table sat Mr. and Mrs. Heffley, Greg, and a female police officer that looked like she had not slept in days.

"Is your legal name Mia Macey?" the officer asked. "I'm Jessica Hernandez. I'm a social worker and a cop. Do you by any chance know what happened to your mother?" she inquired, calmly.

I shook my head, my heart on the verge of beating out of my chest.

"Would you like to explain, Bonnie?" Hernandez asked, consolingly.

Mrs. Heffley held her hand up to interject, but Bonnie was quicker. "When you left, Mom forgot that you asked to leave in the first place. And she thought something h-h-happened to you. I heard her say something about you ending up like Dad, and she had one of— one of those looks. Those looks that she always had before she started rampaging. But she didn't do that this time. She—" Bonnie choked on her own sobs. "She locked herself in her room—"

I knew what was coming. But something inside me couldn't bear to listen to what happened next. "No—"

"And I knocked for hours. I tried to get her to stop whatever she was doing." Bonnie said, simply. "But when I finally got the door unlocked—"

Mrs. Heffley banged her fist on the table. "I hate to interrupt," she interjected. "But this poor girl has gone through a very traumatizing ordeal tonight. She deserves to rest. Greg, Bonnie, go to bed."

Greg accompanied Bonnie upstairs, and Hernandez turned to speak to me. "When we hospitalized your mother," she said. "We went through tons of legal jargon, you know. But after Bonnie's testimony on your mother's behavior, we decided that she should be institutionalized long-term, after she gets discharged from the hospital. Or, at least, until she can get the help she needs." Hernandez took my hand. "When your mother woke up, she agreed to it. She told me to tell you that she was sorry."

"Where did she get the money to do that?!" I exclaimed, completely disregarding her excuse for an apology.

"That's why Bonnie was so scared," Mrs. Heffley said, softly. "Your family doesn't have insurance, so she had to pay out of pocket. She knew that you were stashing money; saving up for something, she told us. So she used your money to pay for the medical bills. She had no choice, Miles. Please understand that."