I'm Not Cinderella - I'm Chloe

Chapter 18

e i g h t e e n

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"What the hell?" a voice murmured behind me.

Turning around, I see Tyler staring at me in complete confusion and shock. Calmly patting the seat next to me, I ushered him over to it. He slowly moved across the room in a daze, staring at my father in confusion. Dropping into the seat next to me, he turned his wide eyed gaze to my face.

"How is this possible? I thought your dad was dead!" Tyler exclaimed incredulously. I shook my head, turning back to look at my father.

"He's in a coma," I stated simply.

"Well I can see that! But you... I thought-" Tyler's mouth opened and closed like a fish, probably trying to piece together a response. I decided to put him out of his misery and explain. Noticing my distress, he calms himself down. "Sorry, I didn't mean to freak out on you. Please explain."

"I know I've acted like he was dead before, but that was just because I hate talking about him. It kills me to see him like this, knowing I caused this. The only people that actually know he's alive are my mom, Audrey, the Talbots, and the rest of our family. Everyone at school thinks our dad is dead. You'd think Audrey of all people would be willing to spill to everyone how horrible of a daughter I am, and how I put our own father here, but she hates talking about him as much as I do." A tear rolled down my cheek, which I quickly wiped away. "It's all my fault."

"Chloe," Tyler said soothingly, placing his hand on my cheek and turning my face towards his. "How is it your fault?" I remained silent for a minute, preparing myself.

Here I go.

"It was a stormy night in October," I began, sounding a lot like a horror story narrator. "I was 12 at the time and my dad and I were out driving. We... we were arguing. Halloween was coming up and this boy that I had a huge crush on had asked me out. He wanted me to go to this Halloween party with him that everyone at school was going to. I, being the stupid kid I was, said yes and was so excited to go. But when my dad found out about it, well, he was less than thrilled. He told me I was too young to be dating and going to parties. Also, he was lecturing me on the fact that I would miss our Halloween traditions of carving pumpkins and watching horror movies together. I was being a brat and was complaining about how unfair he was. At one point we were screaming at each other so loud you couldn't hear the storm, and the rain was pelting the car so hard it was impossible to see outside the windshield." I sucked in a breath as Tyler's eyes widened, probably aware of what I was about to say.

"H-he couldn't focus a-and lost control and... we crashed," I spluttered, tears coursing down my cheeks. Tyler quickly brought me into his arms and held me flush against his chest as I wept loudly. "That's why my mom and Audrey hate me. I did this to him."

"Chlo..." Tyler's eyes softened, and he reached out to pull me into his arms. "Chloe, it's not your fault at all," he insisted. A spark of irritation went through me, causing me to resist as I stared at him in disbelief.

"How can you say that?" I blurted, throwing my hands in the air. "If I hadn't been such a little brat, he could have focused and he wouldn't have crashed and he wouldn't have been stuck in this bed for the past four years! I'm a monster." My voice had risen quite significantly, causing me to worry a bit if people in the hall could hear me through the door. I was breathing heavily at the end of my speech, but that was the only sound heard other than the beeps of the machines. I looked to Tyler, looking for any kind of emotion, but all I saw was... anger?

"Who called you a monster?" he questioned, his voice terrifyingly low - yet soft at the same time. I inaudibly gasped, shocked at his observation. He was right, someone had called me a monster and had driven it so far into my brain that I started to believe it too.