Twin Souls: The Story Behind The Broken Roses

Chapter Seventeen: September 13, 2014

Esme Panchek

A week into being home, Esme's father had gotten his hands on her again, and now she felt like she was living underwater... She never felt good anymore, not since her dad had put her on the pills again... Now that it'd been three weeks, she just felt sick and agitated and she was in constant pain, and it was really affecting her ability to play soccer.

She couldn't even stay in the moment enough to realize when the other team had scored a goal because the person that she was supposed to be guarding got by her... And she couldn't bring herself to fucking care.

Nothing was worth caring about anymore.

"Spaced out again already?" Esme shook her head, trying hard to stay in the moment, but her eyes fucking hurt in her head and she felt like she could throw up even though there was nothing left in her stomach... She'd been puking all day, hungover and withdrawing without a single person noticing, it was like this summer had never happened - she was back to being completely invisible to everyone around her unless she was causing an outright problem. Bryce sneered at her, shaking his head. "God... That didn't take long." He said, his tone full of venom. She furrowed her brows, confused over anything else.

First of all... Colt had said he joined football, why the fuck was he on the soccer team unless he hadn't made the cut at tryouts... Second of all, she just didn't really know what the hell he was talking about - her head was pounding too much for her to outright care either.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" She asked, genuinely just wanting him to explain himself - Bryce had shown in the past three weeks that he was far more cruel than she'd remembered him being, but if he was going to say something as odd as that, even if his response was something devastating or disgusting, she wanted to hear it.

He leaned a little closer, breathing in her face as she grimaced. His breath was hot, and he smelt like hot cheetos and shame.

"I mean, they sent you away to get you off the same shit that your stupid dad's on, and-." She shoved him on instinct, sending him toppling to the ground... Maybe it was the withdrawal because her dad was out of meds, maybe it was the screaming pain in her body from where he'd thrown her into the kitchen counter last night and bruised her lower back, or maybe it was a combination, but something about being equated to him in that moment set her off.

She hadn't even been sent away for that, she was sent away for a goddamn fight, if he was gonna rewrite history, he could at least have the common decency to not be fucking stupid about it.

"Shut up!" She snapped, and before she knew it, Bryce was back on his feet, shoving her twice as hard, sending her flying onto her back and bruised tailbone in a way that nearly made her vomit as she groaned, seeing her team converge around her.

Game. Right.

"Jesus, Esme..." She wasn't even sure who said that, and she didn't bother to try to look... The disappointment didn't narrow it down either.

That was how everyone talked to her these days.

"Where's your head at, Panchek? Get it together." Nathen snapped, making her roll her eyes as she rested an arm across her eyes, thankful for the block from the sun even though it was momentary, and she really needed to get up.

She felt a cleat in her side and groaned... The hit was harder than she thought was probably intended, which was how she knew it was from Nathen - he was a boy in the year above her with curly red hair and sunken brown eyes who'd hit his growth spurt too fast... His limbs were awkward, and his voice was cracking, and he still had his baby fat even though he'd grown... He was solidly stuck at awkwardness.