DOUBLE TROUBLE

11: Redfield

BELLA COULD STILL SEE the shining lights coming off of the police cars, she could still hear her mothers cries while her father rubbed her back to relax. She could still feel the burning guilt in the back of her head as she walked up to the police officers and her own parents.

She could still feel her father and mother hugging her so tight she couldn't breathe. She was so desperate to find Allison and hang out with her that she didn't think about her own parents. Life just stopped for her and she couldn't even process.

She still remembers seeing her dad go back to the crappy hotel he was staying in. Part of Bella wished she could go with him but she knew that after what happened, she would probably never go anywhere again.

The brunette girl tried explaining she went to find Allison to hang out but all Emma, Bella's mom, heard, was she went to Luke Maybank's house, alone. Emma knew all about Allison's family, she knew Allison was lying straight to her daughters face. But she didn't see the Maybank kids like everyone else.

Emma didn't see them as criminals waiting to be arrested. She saw them as kids who suffered way too much for their age. When Bella introduced Allison to her and Billy, Bella's dad, she knew everything about Allison before she even told her name.

Emma's past with Luke Maybank wasn't the best. He was a player that was desperate to date Emma Smith, but Emma chose Billy instead. Emma still remembers seeing her boyfriend get beat up by Luke, punch after punch to the nose till the boy passed out.

Emma couldn't even imagine what life was like for JJ Maybank and Allison Maybank. Allison would constantly try and sleep over, claiming she just wanted to hang out with Bella or their house is getting repaired but Emma knew the truth.

So, knowing her daughter went over to Luke Maybank's house, made the girl feel some sort of anger and sadness inside, not knowing what Luke said to her or even if he answered, the woman had so many questions clouding her head as she drank her wine.

Bella was sent to her room. The girl turned her light on, seeing her Lover poster's on her wall, taped photos of her and Allison, a record player sitting on her dresser while her multiple bottles of nail polish and nail glue sat next to it. Her white blinding lights making the posters shine as her shoes touched her carpet when she entered, silence filling the air as loneliness entered her heart, her body sulking.

She walked to her bed and face planted, her arms wrapping around her face, hiding it as tears burned her eyes.

The girl had lost everyone. Her dad, Allison. Her mom was disappointed. There was this aching pain in her heart. Allison had never acted that way before. And something Bella noticed about the girl that day, was the bandage on her lower abdomen, her pants just barely covering it.

She'd gotten hurt. But how? Was it her dad? Did he hurt her? The way her dad looked that day. What the house looked like. The dishes piling up, cans of beer on the floor, the house reeking in a smell that couldn't be said with words, clothes all over the hallway. Bella may be a child, but she wasn't clueless, Something was wrong.

Bella didn't know what to think. She just wished it'd all stop. The pain that clouded her stomach when she thought of the bandage on Allison's stomach, the look Luke sent her way, all of it.

But it just clouded her mind. Even in her sleep.

***

Ellie was sitting on her bed, music in her ears. She was avoiding her mom. And it was working. After her argument the other day she didn't want to see her. Knowing that her and James were dating made her feel a sorta anger that pulsed through her veins, making her just want to slit James throat.