That Summer (Completed)

Chapter 25

"Love me when I least deserve it,

because that's when I really need it."

******

I went out to the backyard and sat down on a patio chair. It was cold, the kind of cold you could feel in your bones. Yet I stayed there, teeth chattering and my insides burning. I stayed unmoving until my body adjusted to the chill and I was left feeling everything but the weather. The howling wind blew loudly through the tree branches and yet all I could hear was Miranda's sobs fill my head.

Behind me, I thought I heard the sound of the door sliding open and then it wasn't quiet anymore. I didn't bother turning around.

"Lauren," Mom said, her voice pitched higher than usual. "Where is she?"

Without answering, I got up and walked past her into the house. I just wanted to go to bed and sleep until I no longer remembered anything.

Mom's voice turned shrill. "Where is Miranda?"

I turned around slowly and looked at her. "How the fuck would I know?"

"Tell me where she is," Mom demanded. The front door flew open and Dad came barging inside. I rubbed my temples trying to block out the sharp pain. My numb fingers only seemed to make it worse.

"Savannah," Dad started, his face white.

"Please kindly shut the fuck up," Mom said, not looking at him.

She turned back to me. "I'm going to ask you one more time Lauren. W-Where is she?"

The pain got worse.

"I don't know and I don't care," I said, my voice eerily calm. "I don't want to see her again."

Before I could even finish the sentence, Mom took two strides forward and snap, she slapped me right across the face.

"Savannah!" Dad roared, coming forward and yanking her back.

I reached a shaking hand up to my stinging cheek, shocked. Mom had never struck me before.

"You're so selfish, do you ever think about Miranda?!" Mom screamed, her eyes wild. "Tell me where she is right now!"

I took a step back and felt my eyes fill up with tears. "I hate you."

"Lauren, she's just scared," Dad said, coming between us. He took the hand away from my cheek and rubbed the red spot with his thumb, looking upset.

Mom walked toward the mess on the dining table and grabbed a bunch of papers and threw them my way. I stepped back involuntary. "Look at this. For once, just look. You were so busy living your own life that you didn't even see when Miranda stopped living hers. Did you ever even notice how broken she was? Do you even care?"

"Savannah," Dad warned. "Stop it. This is not your place."

With my heart in my throat, I picked up some of the papers from the ground. They were documents. Pages and pages of receipts and records. I scanned the pages, my eyes picking up words like 'abdominal pain', 'nine weeks', 'hCG testing' and then at the end of the page, I landed on 'loss of fetus, early miscarriage'.

"What is this?" I whispered, horrified. My mind refused to comprehend the information.

Mom was crying now. "She got pregnant three years ago. She lost the baby."

The papers fell out of my hand and I swayed on my feet. "N-No, I would've known."

"I thought you would've found out," Mom said, no longer yelling. "But you didn't. And Miranda let you."