Aquarine

The truth

"He's your whaaaaaattt????" Claire practically  screamed. I looked at the shocked faces of my friends, the closest people in the world to me. They had a right to know, after all they did tell me everything going on in their life.

"He's my uncle, let me explain. It all started when my mom died. My dad had to work extra shifts and had nowhere to leave me- it wasnt like he could afford a daycare at that time- so he used to leave me with my uncle over at his house. He used to lock up his children one at a time in this room he had- sometimes even his wife. It was really sketchy and I used to hear screams all the time but 6 year old me didn't think anything of it and continued watching her cartoons. Soon enough, once he realized I would be spending a lot of time at their house, he started locking me up too. At first, it was just locking me in the room without food or entertainment for long periods of time, but then he started beating me, molesting and.." I paused as a shudder ran down my spine, and Evan held my hand reassuringly, "eventually it turned into rape.Even then, I never thought he was doing anything wrong. In some twisted way, I thought the pain was punishment for mommy's death. My father walked in on it once and called the cops. Somehow, in his twisted mind, it was my fault he got locked up, and now he's back to haunt me."

"Aqua.... I'm so sorry" Claire's eyes were brimming with tears, while mine ran freely down my face.

"No, I'm sorry, for ever believing he could really be gone from my life." I replied

"We should tell the cops. We'll tell them he's back and what he did. They'll know what to do, they'll lock him up." Sasha stated with the feirce protectiveness that I loved about her.

"We can't, he'll eventually come out and do it again. He's been locked up before and look where that got us." I looked over at evan, who had been silent throughout all this. His face was twisten in a mixture of anger, hatred, and sadness. Suddenly, he stood up and exclaimed ," This is my fault!"

My mouth dropped in shock," Evan, what are you saying?"

He looked at me and sat back down, " This is my fault. I should've realised something was going on. I should've asked about all these bruises you had- I always thought they were from one too many falls on the monkey bars. I should've realised and asked and helped you. Aqua, I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry I was such a bad, useless friend to you," he finished and looked down at his wrists.

I grabbed them and gently said, " Evan, no. hey, look at me, none of this was your fault. We were kids, we were children. God, you were a great freind, the best friend I could ever wish for," At that Claire coughed while Sasha said, "Excueeeeesseee me?"

Evan chuckled softly and I smiled, "See , that's better. Even if you would have known, you wouldn't be able to change anything. We would still be in this situation. Evan, I love you so much, you're the best freinds,no , you're the big brother I had always wished for."

He smiled and pulled me into a hug, stroking my hair, "I love you too, little sis."

I punched him playfully and Claire and Sasha pulled me into a group hug, "Promise me you'll be okay."

"Sash, I can't promise that. Who knows what will happen?" I replied.

Claire's phone buzzed and she looked up apologetically, "I'm really sorry,but I have to go."

"You," she added pointing at Evan, "take care of her."

"I have to go too, " Sasha said, heading for her car.

"If you want, I can stay the night." Evan offered.

"That would be nice," I said, smiling up at him.

"Cmon then, little sis," he teased.

"First of all, didn't get the memo that was permanent. Secondly, by only 2 month!" I laughed , walking up the driveway.