Porcelain Skin (NOW ON AMAZON KU)

48. Trinity

I stare at Trevor in confusion before my curiosity finally persuades me to agree.

"Okay, I'm listening," I tell him as I place my violin down in its case and turn to face him. "Tell me about Trinity."

He breathes out deeply as his gaze moves to the open loft door. It's obvious he's remembering something, and I wait patiently for him to reveal it to me.

"So, it was about halfway through my senior year," he begins as he bends one leg, propping his foot on the hay he's sitting on. He's got one arm resting on his bent knee, the other leg stretched out in front of him. "I told you before how she had started to party more. She would get drunk and spend the night with random guys. I think I did everything, apart from telling my parents, to try and convince her to stop, but she ignored me. Eventually, she started to actually hate me. She just didn't want to hear it, said she didn't need another father to look after her.

"One day in particular, I noticed something was off. She didn't smile at all; she didn't even try to pretend that she was happy, which was unusual. I knew something was up but didn't want to make it worse by cornering her." He heaves a sigh, leaning over and resting his elbows on his knees. "I became concerned when I was getting ready to head home. We always met by my car, but that day, she didn't show. I waited a half an hour. I called. Nothing.

"I sped home because I had this gut feeling. I don't know; I just remember feeling panicked for some reason. When I got home I could hear music blaring even from where I was outside. I called out for her as I ran through the house, but obviously, she couldn't hear me. I didn't even think before I swung her door open—which, now that I think about it, was a very stupid thing to do. Who knows what she could have been doing in there. Changing? Having sex? Dancing naked?" He chuckles softly to himself, but then his expression turns serious again.

"I froze when I saw her. She had a pair of scissors in her hand," he clears his throat. "And she was hacking off her hair. It was awful. It reminded me of one of her barbies from when she was younger and decided she wanted to test out her hair styling abilities. I couldn't even recognize the girl in front of me.

"Then I noticed the bottle of Tequila sitting on her vanity—half empty," he looks up at me then. "You remember how small she was, right?" 

I don't get a chance to answer before he continues.

"I just remember thinking that there was a chance she could get alcohol poisoning. I had no clue how long she'd been home, or how quickly she'd gone through the bottle, but if she'd downed half a bottle in just a few minutes I knew that was not good...

---

"Trinity. What are you doing?" I look around the floor at the mess of hair stuck to the carpet. Trinity spins around to face me with an over-enthusiastic smile lighting up her face.

"Treeevor!" she slurs as she stumbles towards me.

I quickly rush to her side and grab the scissors from her grasp before she accidentally hurts herself. She just giggles at the amount of worry on my face. She reaches up to run her finger over the creases in my brow.

"What's going on Trinity?" I'm in a near panic as I grab the bottle of Tequila off the desk to check the alcohol percentage before setting it on the vanity behind me—out of Trinity's reach.

"Trev, I'm so glad you're home. We've been waiting for you, you know? Yup. She says she can't wait until she gets here. She's so tired Trev... so tired." Trinity staggers towards me and lays her head on my chest. I grab her elbows to keep her steady. "She's tired of the dark."