stardust|completed

twenty two|how it ended

"so she said what's the problem baby what's the problem I don't know well maybe I'm in love (love)."
not edited
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two years ago /summer/

I woke up to a heavy pounding on the front door. Dragging my feet to the window I saw a cop car parked on the curb and two men clad in dark blue uniforms standing on the porch. My heart pounded in my chest. If I ignored them maybe they would leave? Or maybe the smarter thing to do would open the door and act innocent. Before I could take any action my mothers footsteps and mumbling curses sounded outside my bedroom as she made her way down the stairs.

I propped my door open a sliver and saw a perfect view of the living room. My mother was at the bottom of the stairs. When she reached the door she got on her tiptoes to peer out of the peep hole.

"Pigs," I heard her whisper in disgust before rearranging her face into a pleasant smile.

"Good morning officers, can I help you?"

"Yes ma'am you wouldn't happen to be Mrs. Nightly would you?"

"Yes officer I am, is there a problem?" Her voice was the perfect soundtrack of a concerned mother and she almost had me fooled.

"We just have some questions for you and your husband, can we come in?"

"Of course," she opened the door wider and gestured towards the kitchen, "Let me just wake my husband and I'll put on a pot of coffee."

They nodded their heads and with heavy footsteps disappeared into the kitchen. My mother came racing up the stairs and returned a few moments later dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with my father in tow.

When they returned to the kitchen I heard mumbled voices but couldn't catch any words.

"Damn it," I whispered in frustration.

I opened the door further until my body was able to fit through and slowly made my way down the stairs.

Before I could reach the living room one of the stairs let out a soft squeak. With my breath held I waited for someone to discover me but was relived when the conversation didn't stop.

Cautiously I made the rest of the trip and posted myself outside the kitchen making sure I was out of view.

"...and who would report such a preposterous idea?" My mother spoke like she was genuinely shocked.

"We aren't aloud to give out the information ma'am but let's just say it was a few concerned citizens," replied one of the officers stiffly.

"So you're going to believe a few anonymous reports? I would never lay a hand on my children and neither would my husband! As for leaving them untended, my youngest is only 10. And I've got a teenage daughter who would love to destroy my house with a party if she got the chance. Which as you can see," my mother gestured towards the clean house (which was my work), "We haven't given her the chance."

The officer replied but I wasn't paying attention anymore. Who would report my parents to the authorities? In all the years we had lived here none of the neighbors had noticed anything wrong. The only person who had any idea of what was going on was...

"Jasper," I let out a gasp and stealthily ran towards the front door.

The journey across the street was quick. Grabbing a few large rocks I started pelting his window. When he finally opened it I let loose another one in hopes of hitting him.

"Ouch Nyx, again? I thought we were past all the abuse," he said rubbing his arm.

"What the fuck have you done?" I yelled letting all the rage I was feeling leak into my voice.

"Excuse me?"

All I did was point towards my house where the shiny white and black car was parked.

He let out a sigh, "Look I tried to tell you yesterday but—"

I cut him off before he could continue, "Don't put this on me! What are you going to do to fix this? The very least you could do is apologize."

Suddenly he went rigid and shook his head, "I'm not sorry Nyx."

"Go to hell!" I screamed and started stomping back to my house.

"Give me directions and I'll see you there babe!" He yelled back.

"Oh trust me if I have anything to do with it we'll never see each other again," I whipped around with tears in my eyes and flipped him off before entering my house.

The last thing I saw was his head in between his hands and shaking shoulders.

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For months after that I was asked endless questions. And told continually that I was in a safe place and that my parents couldn't hurt me anymore if I just told the truth. But I stuck to my guns in fear that I would be separated from Leo.

I wasn't the only one questioned though. Friends, family, neighbors, and my brother got the same drill. Leo refused to answer any questions and in the end there wasn't enough evidence to deem my parents unfit.

The last time I saw Jasper was when I handed him my hand drawn map to hell (one of my best creations). Two years had gone by and he was just a bittersweet distant memory in my mind. But now he had decided to show up with some crazy proclamation of love.

We'll just have to see about that. Gathering myself off my bed and out the front door I made my way toward the red house across the street for the first time in 2 years. This time Jasper was going to get a lot more than a bruised arm.

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6/24/16