Swallowed in the Sea

You Are The Reason

The moment the sound left my mouth, I could hear the rushing of footsteps down the hall. It felt like my heart was trying to rip its way out of my chest and I let out another agonizing cry, my fingertips digging into the hardwood floor.

"Summer?" Callie's voice was followed by pounding on the bedroom door.

At that moment, all the words I had learned left me and I lay there on the ground, strings of unintelligible noises crawling out of my throat.

Through my bleary vision, I could see the door fling open as Callie and Arizona rushed in, Zola contently settled in Arizona's arms.

"What's wrong?" Callie asked, concern lacing her words as she rushed over to me. Immediately, she grabbed onto my wrist and I could feel her press two fingers over the artery.

I could only manage another blubber of sounds mixed in with my cries. On my side, my ribs bounced against the floor with each heavy breath that I took.

"It hurts..." I whispered and squeezed my eyes shut briefly, a gasp escaping my mouth as another spasm of pain rippled through me.

"What hurts Summer?" Arizona had placed Zola on the bed and was now on the ground next to me.

I only scrunched up my face in response, rolling onto my other side so that my back was facing Callie and Arizona.

"Summer..." Arizona said gently, "What happened?"

I hardly heard her though, the echoing of Stella's laugh burning through my ears. I let out a sob, the tight clasp my hand had over my mouth doing very little in stifling the sound.

"Shhh...it's okay," Callie told me and smoothed back my sweaty hair, "We're here Summer...just tell us what you need."

Callie's words only made me cry harder though. I was pathetic. Undeserving of their kindness. I didn't deserve any of this.

I shouldn't even be alive.

"What happened here?" Arizona asked and I felt tapping on my shin.

I remained quiet and brought my knees to my chest, still lying on my side. Embarrassed, I kept my head low and turned away from Callie and Arizona, sheepishly wiping away my tears as I tried to control my breathing.

"Summer..." Callie had pulled the hem of my sweats outwards, revealing the marks underneath, "What happened?"

I knew she meant the red scratches littered along the lower half of my leg but I only shrugged, hoping that she would believe my half-hearted attempt at lying.

"Summer," Callie's voice was much sterner now, "What happened."

I bit my lip, knowing that they wouldn't stop until I gave an answer. Until I told them the truth.

"It felt like there were spiders all over my arms and legs," I whispered, "And so I scratched...I didn't know I was scratching so hard."

"Your arms too huh..." Arizona said quietly and when I nodded, I could feel her pulling up the sleeves covering my arms.

It was strange but I felt even more ashamed now.

"Your nails must be pretty long," Callie was clearly trying to keep her tone light, "Sharp too."

I swallowed hard, "I guess so..."

"Come on," Arizona patted my shoulder, "Let's get those cleaned up..."

I remained unmoving though. The room was completely silent besides Zola's gurgling. I tried to make words out of her sounds but it wasn't an easy task.