Illuminate

Chapter 14- Colton

We sat in the waiting room, hoping our parents would come out to get us soon. None of us guys said anything. We had talked to all of Eva's teachers and they understood why she had to miss and were being good about her with makeup work. I had her backpack by my foot and I reached for the folder where I had collected all of her papers. I started looking through the small stack of assignments. Nothing too difficult and all of her teachers had excused her from tests and quizzes she was missing. Enough was enough.

"Boys," a voice said and we saw our parents walking out. My mom had her arm around my dads and they both looked dead exhausted.

"How is she?" I asked immediately as we all stood up.

"She's good. Up and talking, just sore. But she's fragile right now," my mom explained.

"Why?" Austin asked.

"She confirmed that Blake was driving the car and we heard he is still missing. For his actions, Blake could spend up to three years in prison. She's pretty heartbroken because obviously, any relationship they had is over," my mom explained. My dad still hadn't said anything and I noticed a tiny tear drip down his cheek.

"Dad, what's going on?" I asked seriously. My mom turned her head and saw his tear.

"Greyson, are you okay? Did I miss something?" my mom asked him. He sat down and we all did the same once we noticed he had.

"Eva was harassed. Blake was hurting her. She didn't tell any of us," my dad let out.

"What?" my mom asked.

"He was tasering her and it was hurting her. She said she had bruises," he explained, putting his hand over his head. I put my head in my hands and tried my best not to let any tears out. I tried so hard to protect her from this happening and she promised me she wouldn't let it happen. Now here we were, my baby sister was going through a major heartbreak and was also being harassed.

"Is she okay?" Owen asked immediately.

"She will be, just be there for her," my dad replied, wiping away the few small tears that dotted his cheeks.

"Besides that, can we do anything?" Austin asked.

"Do not say a word to her about it. She had to tell the police officers who questioned her and it was hard. I don't want her to feel like she has to talk about it again," my dad told him.

"How did we not notice?" my mom let out. She too had tears going down her face.

"I don't know. We can talk about this later, but for now, boys you need to go in and see her. I don't want her to be alone for too long. Just, don't bring anything up. I have a feeling she knows that I told you. Blake will be punished for his actions, what he did is not okay. I don't want any of you worrying about this yet, she's safe now," my dad explained.

"This is all my fault," I finally said.

"Colton," my mom started to say.

"No. Don't try to make excuses for me. I knew Blake wasn't a good guy and I didn't do enough to stop it," I pleaded.

"That is not true. There was no stopping Eva from seeing him, she really liked him. Even if we would have said no, she probably would have done it behind our backs," my dad explained.

"I don't know," I bantered.

"Colton, I get this is hard, but you have to leave all of this here. Your dad and I have a lot to talk about and we don't want her being alone for much longer. We also have to go home to change, shower, and eat. Go in there and just make her smile. She needs it," my mom explained. We all nodded and got up to go and see her, finally.