Love Lies

Chapter 20: Like Strangers

A new chapter as promised! I tried my best to update as soon as possible but it is getting quite hard with all the assignment's due date closing up on me. I have announcements to make at the bottom so please read 'til the very end. Thank you so much for reading, commenting and even liking the previous chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 20: Like Strangers

It has been two weeks since the incident.

Things in the Fox household have been spiraling downhill ever since then. Samantha and Carlos are now in the process of filing for divorce. The house that has always been noisy is now quiet like an abandoned house. Carlos is always away on business trips and Samantha is never home. The siblings hardly talks to each other, occasionally exchanging a few words when they meet but that was all. Nobody hangs around the kitchen or around the TV together anymore. Nobody talks to me either. The twins always looked lost at words around me, like they don’t know how to talk to me anymore. I can’t blame them though; knowing things makes you conscious of what you know about the opposite person. After that night, Brayden didn’t talk to me too. He is constantly busy with his social life to be at home so we hardly bump into each other in the house; which is a good thing, I might add. I still don’t know how to communicate with him ever since he indirectly confessed to me. Mason is the only one that is keeping me company in this gigantic house other than Aiden who would occasionally greet me and start a small chat. But it’ll always end awkwardly. And Kaden…well, it is back to pretending I don’t exist in school and in the house again. I don’t know what to feel about that. But one thing is clear; I definitely do not like how things have turned out. It is like everybody has become strangers.

Things took for a worst turn when Carlos fought for child custody. He only wanted Mason and me. This angered Samantha endlessly.

I could hear her screams even from the lower floor.

She was screaming profanities—something which she never does no matter how mad she is—at Carlos and he was shouting at her to keep her voice down. It has been going on like this whenever they are back at the house. If one other is not around, then it will be peaceful. But if the both of them are present, it will be hell on earth.

We, the kids are smart enough to shut ourselves in our own room whenever the fighting starts because honestly, who could stand to watch two adults fight?

There was a loud shatter of broken glass, followed by silence.

I jumped out of my seat, worried. Yes they were always fighting, but never had they broke anything whenever they get into their heated arguments. They always seemed to manage to not throw things at each other no matter how angry they felt. I walked out of the living room; my curiosity got the better of me but not without sticking out my head first to check the premises. I did two mistakes; one, was to get out of my hiding place out of curiosity, and two, was to bump into Samantha on her way out of the house.

I swallowed nervously when I saw her gaze fell on me. Both of us stopped in our tracks, none of us saying one word to the other. I wanted to greet her, but my fear got the best of me and I could only stand and stare. For a moment there, her eyes blazed with so much fury I swear she was going to go bananas on me. But instead of swearing off at me, she sighed to herself. In that instant, all the anger she had on her face previously was washed away. Samantha opened her mouth, as if she wanted to tell me something but as soon as her eyes landed on the person on the stairs, her face contorted back to nothing but anger. Her lips pulled down at the sides into a snarl and with one last fleeting look at me, she turned around and walk out of the house, slamming the door behind her at the process.

Carlos sighed from the stairs. I had not noticed he had walked out of the room. He caught my eye and gave me a small apologetic smile, “I am sorry you have to hear all of these.”