𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 ➷ 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘣𝘺

H E A R T T O H E A R T.

—𝙿𝙱—

Malachi sat quietly and bitterly with the strong whiskey passing between his lips as he meant forward on the sofa. He looked over at a pacing Tommy who had been contemplating the option of whether to go up and see Rowan or not. It felt as if he had been toying with the idea for the last hour but it had only been 15 minutes. He took a look at his pocket watch and sighed, placing it back in his pocket and wiping his face in anxiety.

Rowan laid in her room, face down on the mattress with her hair splayed out in a decorative fashion. She felt the grease from her roots poisoning her usually gleaming hair but couldn't be bothered enough to shower yet. She gripped the covers and cried more and more, she felt like her trust in Malachi had been questioned since Tommy. Even if it had been barely a day since his arrival. Malachi was not one to be jealous, he was one to shrug and not care for those sorts of things. He was usually a laid back but opinionated, logical intellectual but also had a stubbornness and unfiltered persona that Rowan had first resented but come to accept.

"She's different then to what you think she's like." Malachi said, staring at the fire but addressing Tommy clearly as he was the only one in the room.
"Why do you think you know her differently? You may know her more, but it's not like we're talkin' to different people."

"When Rowan's parents died she began to self harm, but unobviously. She would burn herself on the straighteners or have razor cuts from shaving her legs. She'd clench her firsts so hard that her nails would dig into her palms and bleed... though I think you know that. But it was not the fact that her parents had died that made her self harm... it was the fact she was glad her parents had died that made her self harm. She had felt so fucking numb, that she hurt herself. She hated herself so much that she came close to ending it multiple times."
"Why are you tellin' me this?" Tommy asked, walking toward him and sitting down opposite.

"I need you to understand... Rowan's parents. They argued but they would use Rowan as ammunition against each other. Her father... he was the worst... he would say that her and her mother had no significance in the house and wouldn't contribute to anything. He would say that Rowan was taking after her mother's habits in the laziness by keeping her face shoved in a book and never learning how to actually do something.

Her mother would retort with the proclamation that her father... he loved Rowan but was a man stuck in a time where love and gentleness meant weakness and as an only child, Rowan was treated like some sort of prodigy for his business in politics. He would force Rowan into public speaking when she could barely talk to me without stammering. Then he would... when he found out how much of an embarrassment she was to him, she would lock herself away and not eat for days at a time."

Tommy leaned closer, eager to hear more of this girls tragic life and past.
"Rowan... was always an outsider, her status in school would cause bullying so she got homeschooled but that made her even more of an hermit. When her parents died, she was filled with sorrow... but only because she was expected to be. She was glad they were gone so she could be who she wanted, but she hated the idea of her taking some joy in the demise of her closest relatives. So she hurt herself and I didn't even know... she learned how to hide it so well."

"Her eating... how bad was it?" Tommy asked, remembering him mentioning her already bad eating habits.
"She would eat nothing then binge for hours... then force herself to be sick. I remember walking in on her throwing up with an empty box of pills that caused her to do so. I took her to a doctor and she received therapy immediately... she's better now but... delicate. She takes pride in the garden, that being her main rehabilitation program, and since getting her into exercise she no longer has such bad eating habits. Her self harm has ceased but under stress she sometimes can't help but clench her fists." Malachi didn't feel bad for telling Tommy something Rowan would've wanted to tell her self. It was a small thing in comparison to some of the things that would occur in the house when Rowan was alone.

Rowan stood at the bottom of the stairs bearing Malachi tell her story for her. 'He never listens. I told him I don't want him to speak for me but he still does.' She thought, but for some reason she wasn't angry. Rowan disputed her situation to Malachi, she always felt he overdramatised it. But what he just told was factual and not at all melodramatic in anyway.

"You didn't know because I never told you... I knew you'd be disappointed." She said, causing both Malachi and Tommy to turn to look at her. She shivered lightly with a red face from the weeping that had taken place alone.
"Rowan, I've told you before, I would've never judged you for something that came from grief. Your parents weren't good people with you, they might've been away from you but they weren't for you. I'm lucky you turned out the way you are because if you were anything like them... well we wouldn't be friends. Me and your parents were like the clash of the titans when in a room."

"Come 'ere love." Tommy said, opening his arms and leaving his cigarette hanging from his lips. The girl ran for him and slammed into a hug as he stroked her back tenderly.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything Tommy. I'm sorry."
"You had no reason too love, don't worry. But know you can tell me anything okay?" She nodded and walked to Malachi, receiving a hug with his muscular arms around her shoulders.

"I missed you, ya know?" Rowan smiled and lit up the room once again before yawning extensively.
"I think it's time for bed, off you go. I'll clear up. I think you two need some sleep, time travelling must be tiring." Malachi smiled and so did Rowan.
"You believe us?"

"Yeah, why not?"

3 more parts, I hope you're ready for the finale and we'll see if it's heartbreak or not.