My Life in Rosewood

Chapter Thrity-Five

Once Aria is able to calm me down she asks again what happened to my face and I say it loud enough for them both to hear me, that I got ambushed by kids from school. Aria sadly doesn't seem surprised and Aunt Ella only looks half taken off guard since she's known in the past that I've been having issues at school. But there isn't time to discuss it as Aria tells her mom she'll take care of me and will set up the table, while she needs to take care of her messed up wrist. My aunt looks at me but I'm too ashamed to keep eye contact just as Aria drags me to our room and tells me to stay here until she finishes setting up for dinner so that we can talk about both the situation with Mike and what happened with me. Now that Aunt Ella saw the aftermath of being beat up there's no way around it and I know I'm going to have to tell Uncle Byron too.

For a second I'm barely grasping what she's saying to me while I'm sitting on my bed, but eventually it all catches up and I just nod to her words. The energy to speak completely goes away. It's silent for a few long seconds but then I feel her lips go to the top of my head as she kisses it lightly and then leaves the room. I'm not sure how long I'm sitting here because everything feels like it's in slow motion, my eyes glued to my feet as they dangle over my bed but at some point I faintly hear footsteps come back inside and my eyes land on the feet who are in front of me. They are shoeless and wearing white socks.

I don't look up from where my eyes are looking, so the person kneels down instead and has me look at them. It's Mike.

"Hey." he says softly, his hands landing on my knees now.

I look at him, but I also feel like I can't really grasp his presence. My head feels foggy and I'm so tired. So again I'm silent.

When he sees my face his eyes sadden. He obviously didn't know I was in bad shape but probably heard me pleading with his mom to help him and came to check on me. Odd since I'm not the one who hurt his mom. But now he's seeing me like this and I know he's scared because he's never seen the aftermath of a bad day with my bullies. "What happened to you?"

I press my lips together, feeling my busted up lip shoot in pain but I don't react to it. I'm honestly scared to know what my face and torso look like. "Why did you do that?" Is the only thing I can think of to say instead of talking about me, "You hurt her."

His eyes sadden more and now he shifts himself to sit on the floor, "I...I didn't mean to."

I shake my head lightly, "You can't be letting your emotions get so hyped up that you do this to your own family, Mike."

"I know." He sounds defeated.

I watch him for a little bit longer, "You know I get what's happening, right?" I rub my eye a bit, "The bad thoughts. Emotions running high. Hopelessness. I get it."

His eyes get a little watery, like he's seeing me for the first time in a couple of weeks. So he nods. He nods so many times I think he's going to give himself a headache. "I know." Then he gets up and I stare up at him as he towers over me while I'm still sitting on my bed, but he doesn't say or do anything else. He just leaves.

I stare at the door where he left and all I can think of is, is this how I was when my parents died? Was this the worry everyone felt when I went into a deep hole after me and Mike got into that fight a while ago? If I can't help myself how can I help him?

I stare at the door for a while and the tears surface just thinking about how he is going through what I have been. Then I turn around and stare back at my feet, going back into my own thoughts. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

Footsteps are visible again minutes later and I hear the heavy breath of a sigh. "Do you want to talk now?" It's Aria.

It takes me a second to process her but eventually I shake my head lightly, "What's there to say?" My voice is so monotone that I scare myself.