riley didn't feel as scared as she thought she would outside the fence. perhaps she had forgotten how dangerous it is or maybe she grew detached from the feeling. it could also be the fact that she was with troy and despite their past, he has yet to put her in danger.
"my father was an alcoholic and my mother hated me." troy spoke, breaking the silence. riley looked at him, his grip tightening on the wheel as he talked about them. "the only person to ever really be there for me as a kid was jake. but he's my brother, he's his own person, he had no responsibility to me and when he turned 18, he left."
"but he came back?" riley questioned.
troy looked over at her. "yeah... he did."
"i'm sorry about your parents." riley sympathized.
troy loosened his grip on the wheel. "what's done is done."
"still, you didn't deserve to feel so alone growing up." riley said. "my mom was a—- was a drunk too and my father left when i was 11."
"where's your father now?" troy asked.
"dead. he died when los angeles first fell." riley said. "he sacrificed himself for me, which was something i didn't think he'd do."
"and why is that?" troy asked before coming to a stop.
"he had another family in texas. a wife and four other daughters..." an overwhelming sense of guilt took over riley, her chest tightened. "he only came to los angeles to get me, he was supposed to get back home to them, to protect them too. i'm—- i don't even know if they're still alive."
"hey," troy called her attention. "they aren't your responsibility."
"but i'm the reason why their father died." riley said.
"he was your father too." troy pointed out. "he failed protecting you the first time around and somewhat made up for it when the world fell."
"but that's not fair." riley stuffed her face in her hands. "i hated him, but am i even allowed to feel that way now?" she knew she shouldn't be getting so vulnerable with troy but her parents have always been such a sensitive topic for her. it didn't help that she's never really had anyone to talk about these things with. riley couldn't vent to her siblings because of how difficult it was for them to be vulnerable with one another and she couldn't vent to her friends because of how badly she feared they'd begin to think of her as a burden.
"yes." troy said. "them being dead doesn't give them a free pass for how badly they treated their kid."
riley looked into his eyes. was he talking about his mom too? as fucked up as troy was, could he actually relate to how riley was feeling? were they more similar to each other than she thought? "your mom?"
troy leaned back. "i loved my mom."
"i loved my dad." riley added.
"but," troy's voice went low. "we are scarred for the rest of our lives because of the choices they made, and we shouldn't be made to feel bad about how we've reacted to those choices and how they've affected us."
his words deeply resonated with riley. she was glad to not feel so alone. "have you forgiven your mom?"
"i'm not sure." troy said. "but i think i'm getting there with my dad."
YOU ARE READING
Wait For Your Love - Troy Otto // FTWD
Fanfictionin which a demon plagued boy finds himself infatuated with riley flores. in which a sensitive and overly anxious girl finds herself allured by troy otto. or in which boy and girl find love in the midst of absolute devestation and chaos. •• 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢...