A Monster Like Me- A Lams AU

Chapter 22

"Don't play dumb with me, John. You know exactly what you did." Martha said, angrily wiping the tears off her face.

"Mara, I honestly don't know what you're talking about or what I did to you." John said calmly. 

"You don't have the right to call me Mara anymore, Johnathan." She spat.

Alexander scoffed. "What gives you the right to come here, calling him that and smacking him in front of me?"

Martha stepped closer, towering over Alexander by a few inches. "Who do you think you are?"

"Martha, please." John pleaded, stepping in front of Alexander to prevent an attack. "I honestly don't remember anything from after I went to the river, other than waking up and being taken to the hospital."

Martha shifted her weight and put her hand on her hip. "Oh really? You don't remember showing up at my house and attacking me with nearly every horrible word in both the English and French languages?"

"John would never do that!" Alexander shouted.

"Alex, please, stop." 

"No! She's telling lies for her own benefit of pity!"

Martha scoffed. "I am not! You can ask my mother exactly what he did to me, and she will tell you the exact same thing."

"Who even are you!?" Alexander shouted, once again.

"I am--was, his girlfriend!" She shouted back, correcting herself.

"Obviously not anymore, b****! I'm John's boyfriend!" Alexander cursed. Martha's mouth fell open.

John smacked his forehead. "Martha--"

"No, John." She said, cutting him off. "You know, I really thought you were different. But it turns out my father was right; you're just a lying, cheating, good-for-nothing disgrace to my family. Bet you're glad Alexander doesn't have a family; otherwise you'd be the same to them."

Martha spun on her heels and stomped away somehow gracefully. John closed the front door gently and pressed his forehead against it.

"John?" Alexander said, surprisingly quietly. "Are you okay?"

John sighed heavily. "No, I'm really not." A tear ran down his face.

Alexander hugged John from behind and held him, leaning his head against his back, not saying anything.

"I'm sorry." John mumbled.

"Who are you sorry to?"

"...Everyone."

"Why are you sorry?"

"It's all my fault."

Alexander turned John to face him. "That's crazy, John. None of this is your fault; it's Jefferson's."

John chuckled sadly.  "Of course you would say that, Alexander. You've always had a hard grudge against Thomas Jefferson." He sniffed. "It's my fault. All of this is my fault. I don't know why anyone even likes me, at this point."

Alexander looked at him, shocked.

"I'm a monster."