𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 - Matt Sturniolo

sɪxᴛᴇᴇɴ

࿇ ══━━━━✥ Matt ✥━━━━══ ࿇

When I came home I was still angry and sad from what had happened before. I had actually broken up with her even though we had only made it official for a few days.

"Bro, what happened?" Chris asked as I walked through the living room straight to my room. "Nothing, never mind." I said and slammed my room door and threw myself on my bed and stared at the ceiling.

I had made a mistake. How could I have been so stupid? I had promised to interfere, but I had no right to do so. And then to break up right away was so stupid of me.

But I was also so angry. Why did she say that to me and why didn't she understand that her father needed urgent help. He could sow himself to death if he continues to do so.

Everyone deals with grief differently and in this case Aurora and her father were probably similar. She reached for the drugs and her father for the alcohol. She got away from it, he didn't. But she was also in withdrawal, so why didn't she understand that it couldn't help her father too?

There was a knock on my door and I could tell by the knock that it was Chris. I was right, it was chris with nick in tow.

Chris sat down by my legs and nick stopped at the door. "So now tell me." He said.

"Aurora's father is an alcoholic." I said to get straight to the point. They both looked at me with wide eyes.

"How? What?" asked nick.

"And what did you do?" asked Chris.

"I had a fight with her and somehow I did something stupid." I said, burying my face in my hands.

"Oh god what did you do?" asked nick as if he already had a clue what I was going to say.
"Somehow I broke up with her in the discussion."

"MATT" shouted chris.

"What's gotten into you?" asked Nick.

"I don't know, I was so angry and she was so stubborn and didn't want to be helped". I told him.
"You have to fix it." Said Nick.

"I know Nick, I'm such an idiot." I said.

"Oh you definitely are." Said chris.

"But now tell me the whole story."

I told them everything that had happened to her dad and our fight. And they could understand me a bit, they had given me something like an ultimatum.

And we decided that tomorrow at school I should go to her and clarify that with her.

But the next day she was not there. She did not come to class and that worried me. I didn't find her sister anywhere during the breaks. I had seen Phoebe briefly in the hallway this morning, but she hadn't noticed me.

I decided to call Aurora, but she didn't answer, which made me even more uneasy.

"Have you seen her today?" I asked my brothers when I met them at recess.

"No, and I only saw Phoebe briefly this morning. Neither of them answered my messages. I hope I don't have to worry." Nick told me.

"How not to worry, it's starting to drive me crazy."

"Maybe she just needs time to process all of this. Give her some time." My chris and I were confused to hear something like that from him.

But he was right, maybe she needed time to process it. But I just didn't understand why she ignored my brothers.

I tried to reach her again and again during the day but she didn't answer. I wanted to go to her, but my brothers stopped me. Phoebe didn't answer either.

When I got home, I was running back and forth like crazy because I couldn't find any peace. In the afternoon I ran into the living room to Chris and nick.

"I'll go to her and sort it out." I said, grabbing the car keys and running to the door. Outside it was raining so hard you would think the world was coming to an end. But it didn't matter, I had to go to her.

But when I opened the door, there stood Phobe totally soaked and looked really worried. "Phoebe?" I asked, whereupon my brothers got up and came to me.

"Is she here? Please tell me she's with you." She said, totally flustered.

"Come inside first." I said and led her inside.

"Please tell me she is here." She said again.

"Who should be here, Phoebs?" asked Nick. "Aurora" answered and searched the room.

"No, we had a fight yesterday and no one has heard anything since then." I explained, and she looked at me in surprise.

"You had a fight?" she asked and I nodded.

"Yes, very badly." She looked at me and began to cry bitterly.

"We have to look for her, please. I have to find her." she almost cried. I took her in my arms. "Phoebe, what's wrong, what happened to Aurora?" I asked with a lot of concern, Phoebe scared me.

"Please Matt, we have to find her. I'm so scared. She will hurt herself if we are not fast enough." She said. I broke away from her and forced her to look at me.

"Phoebe, you have to tell me what's going on, now. Why would she hurt herself?" I said and we all looked at her carefully, with much concern. I was afraid of what she would say.

"She was never a drug addict." She said. "She was never in rehab either, she was in a clinic... because... because... she..."

"Phoebe, why was she in a clinic?" I asked her and looked her straight in the eye.

She swallowed and then said the words that changed everything. "She was in a mental hospital because she tried to kill herself." She said and I let her go. I was shocked.

"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Nick impulsively. "Because she asked me to."

"We'll sort it out later, we have to find her now." I said, totally worried.

"Where have you been?" I asked.

"Everywhere, in the park, at home, at school, at the library, at our grandparents, here... everywhere." She said and counted on her fingers where she had been.

It didn't take me a second to know where she was. "I know where she is." I said and the group looked at me puzzled.