Skyscraper // Demi Lovato // 5

21.

Maia's quick knocks on the door snapped us out of the trance we'd fallen into. I jumped up and stopped in front of the door, slowly unlocking it.

As soon as she came in, she stopped and sniffed. Everyone on the couch was calm, but I knew my expression revealed the guilt I felt.

"What's going on?" Maia asked. "How long has this been going on?"

"It's not important," I whispered.

"It is, Rosie. I can't believe you would do this and hide it from us." She turned to look at the others. "And I can't believe you would get her into this. Do your parents know?"

The three of them nodded and Jay looked like she was about to speak up, but I beat her to it.

"Maia, it doesn't matter. You of all people should know the benefits it has and that it's not dangerous. We have never, and would never, put ourselves in a situation where we could get hurt."

Maia stared at me and I saw her anger dim.

"And I'm sorry I lied about it, but I knew you and Demi would flip out, but I did all of my schoolwork and didn't get in trouble."

She finally sighed and walked over to sit on the ottoman across from Jay.

"Okay, so what are we gonna do about Mara?" she asked, looking at me.

"Well, I doubt Demi has seen the news, since Mara made sure it was never on the TV, and we can't just tell her."

"Yeah, I don't think that would go well," Jay said. "'Yeah, so your daughter is a missing person who ran away from home to have you adopt her.'" She shook her head. "Not good."

"I think we have to show her the article, but we need to go over there. And we need to notify police," Maia said, making me wonder why she had asked me for answers. She got up and I saw Jay look at her phone.

"It's late," she said.

"Yeah, we should wait until tomorrow. It probably wouldn't be good for Demi to see me like this, anyway," I added.

Maia crossed her arms over her chest, fingers tapping as she realized we were right. "First thing in the morning then. And once this is over with, you're going to tell her the truth. She deserves to know."

I nodded and Maia turned to leave, but came back to hug me.

"I'm sorry I got mad. I love you so much."

"I love you, too. Sleep well."

Maia laughed, humorlessly. "I'll try."

Once she left, I started to feel how tired I was and the others were yawning. Soon after, Isaiah fell asleep, so we left him on the couch, Jordan taking the guest room.

Jay laid on top of the blankets and I lifted them up on my side and got under them. Her being on top, didn't give me much room to stretch out, so I pulled them until Jay got annoyed at the tugging and got under with me.

"I'm gonna be super mad if this was a dream and Mara really isn't that girl," I said, eyes closed. I tried shielding my eyes from the unusual brightness in the room.

Jay shifted and grunted, then her hand landed on my chest and I screamed out.

"You left the light on," she said, crawling over me to turn my lamp off.

I coughed before saying, "You didn't answer my question."

"You didn't ask a question," she pointed out. "But, no, all of us saw it, and Maia knows and she wasn't high."

"Yeah, but what if we imagined Maia being here?"

"Oh, shit. That's deep."

"Jayden, this isn't a joke."

But she laughed. "Is that your cute nickname for me, Rosabella?"

"No, it's my I'm mad at you nickname."

She gasped and landed on top of me. "Why are you mad at me?"

I opened my eyes to the darkness and yawned. "I don't remember. Let's just get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow. Maybe."

She moved off of me and held her arms open enough for me to snuggle closer to her.

~//~//~//~//~//~//~

"Where's Mara?" was the first thing I heard Maia say when Jay and I got to the house the next morning.

Demi looked confused, but answered, "Still in bed. Why?"

"We need to show you something." Maia already had her phone in hand and opened up the article. She handed Demi the phone so she could read over it and Demi gave her another confused look as she took the phone.

"What is this about? A missing girl?" That much was obvious from the headline of the article, so clearly she didn't scroll at all. "Why would I know anything about this?" Demi asked when she didn't get an answer.

Maia chewed on her lip in annoyance and I spoke up. "Demi, please, just scroll down. It'll make sense."

Her thumb moved along the side of the screen and her eyes narrowed. Then widened.

"How is this possible?" she asked no one in particular. "What am I supposed to do?"

"We have to call the police so they can let her parents know she's safe," Maia said, placing a gentle hand on Demi's knee.

"And then what? We un-adopt her? Is that possible? What if her parents really are horrible to her?"

I held back a groan and I could see that Maia was annoyed and frustrated by this as well.

"I know this is hard to believe, but Mar-Meagan, whatever, is sick and her parents want her back," I said. "Everything she did was to get your attention and sympathy. When I first found out she was cutting, she was acting so weird, begging me to tell you one second, then begging me no to, the next."

Maia took her phone back from Demi and walked away to the kitchen to make the call.

"I know you care, but this is the right thing to do," I said to Demi. She stared blankly and nodded.

In the background, I could hear Maia giving the 911 operator the short version of how everything happened and saying that she was here.

She hung up and came back. "They're on the way to get her. We should probably tell her first."

"I think it should be me," Demi said, standing and starting for the steps. But something caught her eye and she stopped. "Who opened the garage door?"

I shared a look with Maia and then Jay and we all knew what it meant. Demi ran to the door and looked into the garage before confirming what we already knew.

"Her car is gone."

~//~//~//~//~//~//~

This chapter is over 1k words but it feels short. Anyway, this book is coming to an end and I've done jack shit to edit it so I'm gonna be doing that probably next week. I have to prepare the pictures as well which isn't that bad, just something to note.

But yeah, but let me know what you thought and what you think will happen in the last few chapters ❤❤