Tragedy ✔️

Chapter Twenty Nine

Chapter Twenty Nine: Surprising Kindness
River Jenkins

I lingered for too long on Sophia's porch, struggling to find the will to actually move forward and to go home, but I couldn't get my feet to work and to step down the small set of wooden steps. It felt as if my feet were glued onto place.

My subconscious told me to stay and to be there for Sophia because she clearly needs me more than she's letting on, but she doesn't want me there anymore.

After a few more seconds of debating whether or not I should leave and go home, I started to hear Sophia's painful sobs echoing through the empty house.

I didn't hesitate when I turned around on my heels and entered her house again without knocking. I don't think she would have answered the door anyways.

Sophia was still in the kitchen where I left her, but instead of standing, she was now lying on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest as more painful sobs escaped her lips. She didn't notice me running into the kitchen, or even when I lifted her up from the cold tiled floor of the kitchen to hug her to my chest.

She was in the same trance she was in when we were at the hospital when her grandmother was first admitted for the heart attack. Sophia's eyes were open and filled with unshed tears, but she was unable to react to her surroundings. She was inside of her own mind again-the most dangerous place someone can be locked inside of.

"It's all my fault." She mutters under her breath. Her words came out so soft, they were barely audible. And it would have been if I wasn't sitting so close to her. "Daniel's death..." She sniffles, swallowing hard. "I murdered Daniel."

I never knew how to sympathise with anyone before, but I still tried my absolute best to rub soothing circles over her back, and made sure that she knew she wasn't alone. I just held her against me, letting her break down in front of me, but also letting her know that I would be here to pick up the pieces after.

I won't make the same mistake of not being there for someone when they need me ever again.

• • •

When Sophia has finally calmed down enough that she wasn't erupting into sobs anymore, she sniffles once more and pulls away from me. She then sits with her back against the island, and turns her head just slightly to look at me.

"I'm sorry." She apologizes.

"For what?" I ask, knitting my eyebrows together out of confusion.

She swallows hard and licks her lower lip. "I am sorry for chasing you away, River." She starts to explain. "I just... I was so overwhelmed that you knew what happened to... to, uh, to Daniel and I just... I started to panic. I was scared that you would be like my mother, calling me a murderer and pushing me away after you knew the truth to what really happened to Daniel. I forget sometimes that not everyone's as shitty as my mother." She chuckles, only lightly.