In the middle of it all.

CHAPTER 8

Song: "Conversations in the dark" - by John Legend.

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They hadn't walked for long, just a few turns here and there and finally, they reached a door, and Daxton smiled. This was his favorite room in the house and his alone. He usually never allowed others inside, but Mikayla's frantic moves earlier had hit him hard. He recognized her anxiety attack, causing sympathy to swivel fully within him. He knew too well what that was like. Mikayla's mood seemed to worsen at the sound of Annabelle's voice. To Daxton, it simply made sense to bring her to the room. It was where he always went to calm down.

"Where are we?" Mikayla asked once they reached the door. He had her hand in his and though he knew he could assist her with simply his elbow, holding her hand seemed far better. It was smaller than he anticipated.

He ignored her question and simply opened the door. "Don't let Nelly follow," he instructed Mikayla quietly. He waited for Mikayla to give her instruction and then walked inside. The room wasn't very large, but it was warm and smelled fresh. He led Mikayla towards the only bench in the room, right in the center where you could see majority of what was around.

Once they were seated, he finally answered her question. "We're in my secret hideout, also my favorite room in the house. It's a greenhouse actually."

He watched intrigued as Mikayla's mouth opened slightly in wonder. He knew she couldn't truly see the beauty of the room, but he knew she could feel it. It was why he loved the room so much. It was open, clean and without distractions. It was a place that forced you to calm down. It was also a place where you could often feel more than see.

"It smells strong in here," Mikayla commented, and he chuckled. He forgot about that.

"Yeah I uh-" he cleared his throat, "I'm still learning how to place the plants in a way that their scents blend and to use plants that can coexist together. I started this about two years ago. It's turned out to be far more complicated than I first thought."

Mikayla giggled. "It doesn't smell bad, just very fresh." He hummed and took a whiff himself. She was right, there was such a strong mix of plants - mostly herbs - that all you really got hit with was a fresh, wooden smell.

"What made you want a greenhouse?" She asked him.

He shrugged. "Not really sure if there was one specific thing. All I remember was that it was around the time Cameron's antics were really taking full speed and my headaches were becoming as frequent as our fights. I remember we had had a really big fight, so bad that I'd actually thrown a glass vase at him. When he looked back at me, so terrified, I knew I'd screwed up and I needed to calm down." He paused and thought back to that day. He'd always hated fighting with Cameron. He was always left feeling guilty and his brother was left feeling no shame for his actions.

"Anyway, I left the house in a rush and just started walking. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and eventually, I found myself in the parking lot of this small shopping center. There were only two stores, and both looked run down. One was a liquor store, the other, a nursery." He chuckled under his breath. "I'd just had an argument about alcohol, so I walked towards the nursery. It was small but there was something comforting about walking about between fresh flowers, fruit and vegetables."

He cleared his throat and looked away from Mikayla as he awkwardly rubbed at his neck. "Well after that I began going to the nursery every time I needed a break and it wasn't until about three months after the first visit that a very sweet old shop keeper sat with me and asked what my business was walking about her store. That day she convinced me to make my own comfort place and I said yes."