6 months to live

Deceit

    "Chelsea would sneak out of our apartment at night because she would receive a lot of emails from strangers whom she had never met. They would pick her up and take her to their houses. She would bribe her siblings either by money or by food so they would keep quiet. Most of the time she said that she was over here having a sleepover with you, or she was working a night shift."

           Idiots! I wanted to scream. What kind of parents wouldn't even try to meet their daughter's best friend? My mother was laid back but she had some rules. My safety was her first priority. I wasn't allowed to date or have a phone until my Quincinerra. My curfew was strictly nine o'clock, a second late and I would be grounded and stripped from my rights for a full month!
My mother believed in school above anything else. Education was another one of her top priorities. There was no way she would let me work night shifts, or any shift anytime during the school week. She was too worried about it interfering with my school life and she didn't see the need in it since we were financially well off. Summer jobs were probably her favorite because they didn't clash with school, and they kept me out of the house.

         "How did you not notice the change in your daughter's wardrobe? She was very fashionable at school."

       His body leaned closer in my direction. "That's the thing!" His index finger popped up from a fist. "She was so discreet about everything! She was really good at keeping her private life a secret from us. At home she wore ratted up clothing and hand-me-downs from her older sister. We never knew until a couple of days ago." The man stretched out his legs in front of him. "Chelsea watched as we gave the little crumbs we had to provide to our children. Most of our money went into putting food on their plates and clothes on their body. She saw us suffering as we've been nearly kicked out for more than a dozen times. Yet she never said a word. It was a secret that she was going to take to her grave."

      I blinked two times. His last sentence made my body temperature freeze. "How did she die?"

           "While working," the wife cleared her throat, "she went to the bathroom. I was actually calling her just minutes before her passing. She sounded just like herself...a normal, perky, cutesy teenage girl. Nothing seemed off about her. What I didn't know was that she was in the bathroom trying hard drugs with a few other girls that worked there." Chelsea's mother's tears slowly started to come back. "Chelsea ended up taking more than her body could handle. She instantly started losing control of her movements which caused her to collapse on the ground. As her body started falling, her head slammed into the sink, causing her skull to crack. She would have survived if not for that sink."

        A part of me wanted to blame myself but I couldn't. It wasn't me that was in control of Chelsea. Chelsea knew what she was getting herself into. I just hoped that her parents thought the same.

         "I am extremely devastated about what happened. Chelsea will forever remain in my heart." It was difficult for me to cry. Yes, sure I liked Chelsea, but I didn't care that much about her. Especially not after finding out that she had lied to me. It was unforgivable in my opinion. If she would had just asked for guidance, maybe just maybe, would I have been understanding.

"My wife and I are supposed to welcome our new daughter Leslie into this world next year. How are we supposed to break the news to her about one of her oldest sisters? It's really heartbreaking."

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     Please don't hate Maya ㅜㅜ! It's extremely difficult when I try to incorporate darker thoughts into stories because I just KNOW how people will respond. I can sense the keyboard warriors already getting ready -_-.
Just think about how you would feel if your best friend wasn't even the person you pictured them to be. Everything you thought they were just ended up being stories after stories! You didn't even know them so in the end...why would you care anymore?
   Yes there are tons of arguments that can be made against this, I understand but realize that it's just a book.

    SANTIAGO WILL BE IN NEXT CHAPTER