Thwaites & Thompson

Revelations

Thwaites

"Hey-" My voice never came out.

Tess was trashing in her sleep, shaking, and mutely weeping...

"Tess-" I grab her arms and still her.

She gasps and flippantly pulls out of my grip, reaching for the bedside lamp and flicking it open.

I squinted at the light but her eyes were wide with terror.

"Why did you switch it off?"
"I left it open-why would you-" She spoke all at once and my frown deepened.

"I'm sorry..." I pant.

She shuffles away and hugs her knees to her.

She rakes through her hair and wipes her fallen tears.

Her neck was glistening and her collar was damp from all the weeping.

I was so confused...
She is so troubled.
I don't know what more I could do for her...

"Tess..." I pull myself up and rest my back against the frame of the headboard.

"Who's Tiffany?" I ask when I remember she kept calling that name in her sleep.

She sniffs before she glances at me with worn out eyes.

"My sister." She whispered.

I frowned.

"Where is she Tess?" I turn to sit crossed legged before her.

"She's living with my aunt..." She answers.

"Why aren't you-" She shrugs even before I go on.

I was drowning in confusion and I was in desperate need for some clarity.
So I erupt with questions, not bothering if I was pushing her into speaking.

"Tess, where are your parents?" I fire the first question.

"Passed away. No more..." She utters and her eyes instantly well up. However, she doesn't blink.

Ouch...

"I'm sorry..." I lower my gaze and stress on my jaw hard I feel it spasm.

"My aunt and I are not on good terms..." She spoke and I paid her my full attention again.

"Tiffany is only fifteen, and she loves my aunt."
"She considers her her second mother."
"I wouldn't take her away..."
"Not unless she asked me to." She nods once.

"And you?" I gulped.

She glanced at me and smiled a little, pained...

"I was a rebel in my early teenage years."
"Neither my parents nor my aunt liked that very much about me."
"I only shot out of that bubble when I woke up one day and knew that I've lost both my parents..." She gulps again.

"I was turning nineteen..." Her voice cracks.

She takes a deep breath, pulling the covers up to her chest. Hugging it as if it were a person.

My heart was trashing in my chest and my chest tightened around it.

"My aunt took Tiffany because she couldn't handle their loss."
"She cried for almost a week, non-stop." She blinked back more tears.

"She didn't take you?" I ask hesitantly.

"She took me too..." She nodded.

"I just wasn't welcomed there." She shook her head and forced a smile.