Falling to Pieces

Chapter Twenty

Alex and I get back to my house and find a crying Sophie on the floor of our living room.

"Sophie?!" I run over to her and shake
her shoulders. Slowly, she rises.

She's crying. She's a mess. "Stuff happened with Jacob so I went to the bar and I met Justin Bieber and now our picture is everywhere and like everyone knows who I am and hates me and--"

"Woahh Sophie calm down. You okay? You sound... like you're insane."

"No, I'm serious, I--"

"Wow," Alex says, looking at his phone. He shows it to me. There really is a picture of Sophie next to Justin Bieber. "She's right."

I have no idea how or why that happened but I don't question it. "Okay, Sophie, don't stress it. All those girls are just jealous. Go upstairs and take a nap."

She nods and picks herself up off the floor and sluggishly makes her way up the stairs.

* * *

About three hours later-- it's almost 7pm now-- Sophie makes her way back downstairs. She changed into a black shirt and gray sweatpants. Alex and I have been watching lifetime movies, I'm so glad he doesn't mind them.

I'm surprised she doesn't question him when she sees us laying on top of each other. She just smiles.

"Don't mind me, guys, I'm hungry." She makes her way to the kitchen.

After the current movie we've been watching ends, Alex gets up. "I loved being with you. I'll see you soon, okay?"

I smile and get up. We kiss and then he blushes and then he leaves.

I decide to walk into the kitchen to talk to Sophie. "Anything you wanna tell me?"

She closes the fridge and faces me. "Yes, actually. We're going to the hospital in like an hour, to see my mom. The investigators were there before and we're going because they don't think she's gonna make it so we can ask her whatever."

"What?" I say, confused. Honestly, I really don't want to see her ever again.

"To ask her any last questions. I don't know about you but I have plenty." She warms up some leftovers in the microwave and eats while I watch, drinking water.

"You gonna eat?" She asks.

"No, I ate before," I lie.

"Alright." She finishes and cleans the container she was eating out of, placing it in the dishwasher, and then points to the door. "Let's go."

* * *

When she sees us entering the room, she smiles. It reminds me of how happy she was when she almost killed Danny.

The investigators are in the room as well.

Sophie sighs. "Why the hell did you do all of this?"

Her mom coughs. "I just wanted our family to be perfect."

"Well you messed that up! It was fine but you and dad decided to beat us and go insane!"

I decide to speak up. "Tell me, what really happened to my parents?"

"They... died in a car--"

"No!" I shout. That's a lie. "You said, the other night, that you 'saved me from my druggy and insane parents', so tell me, where are they?"

She sighs and gives up. "Mental hospital."

I don't even try to fight the tears that come. All this time! My real parents were alive, this whole time!

"Why did you lie to me?" I manage to get out, choking on my tears.

"Because... I thought if you knew they were mentally unstable, that'd make you... different. And we didn't want you going after them."

I sit down in a chair and cross my arms. Sophie looks at me with sad eyes, then at her mom. "Where's her parents? Is it the closest one?"

"The one on the other side of town," she answers, then coughs up blood.

Sophie looks at me. "I'll take you there."

I nod, leaning my head against the wall and crossing my legs.

"What's gonna happen to us now?" Sophie asks.

"We were still paying for the house and all the bills, your father still is..." she closes her eyes. "He had something else planned, but I said no."

"What?" Sophie coughs.

Now the investigators are on their feet, ready to write.

"He wanted to blow up the house. But I didn't let him. But... now I'm not with him."

Sophie and I look at each other with mixed feelings and expressions of fear and anger.

"We have to go." Sophie grabs my arm, causing me to get up, and we exit the room. "We're going to the mental hospital so you can find your parents. Then we're going to find a way to get all of our stuff out of our house and find somewhere else to stay."

In the car, I'm nervous as hell. Should I be mad at them, for abandoning me and leaving me with those... monsters? Or should I be happy and excited and forgiving? My life would've been so different if I still lived with them. I don't know how to feel. I decide to just go with the flow.

We get to the hospital and sign in and have to fill out papers and everything.

"Nicolette Sobrino... you're on the list, you're... their daughter... they, they prayed you would find them one day," says a lady at the front desk. "I talk to them a lot. They're wonderful people."

Wonderful people? Then why are they here?

She takes me to a room and when the door opens, I scream.