Like Real People Do

10. Carry On

TW: Substance Abuse, Eating Disorder (Purging), Suicidal Ideations

And I found you with a bottle of wine, your head in the curtains your heart like the fourth of July. You swore and said we are not we are not shining stars. This I know, I never said we are. -Fun.

Saturday, May 8th

Rhiannon stood outside the door of the ranch awkwardly. It was noon, and she was here, but no one had answered when she knocked. Maybe Marnie had just forgotten, or maybe she'd dreamed that conversation altogether. The weight of the pie was becoming heavier in her hand, and Rhiannon wondered if she should just leave. The opportunity to excuse herself from the impending nightmare altogether was almost too good to pass up, but Rhiannon was ultimately too paralyzed by the memory of Marnie's smiling face to take it. It would be rude to cut and run as much as she wanted to hide back in the old farmhouse. She decided to try knocking one more time, but the door creaked as she raised her hand. A little girl with striking green eyes and thick, curly black hair tied back in a bow was standing behind the barely open door.

"Hello." Rhiannon said carefully. Kids were fine. She was always good with them, but she didn't know where this little girl came from. She tried to look behind her into the house, but the crack was not enough to catch sight of anyone else inside.

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." She stared up at her, still refusing to move past the threshold.

Smart kid, Rhiannon thought to herself. "My name is Rhiannon. I'm your new neighbor. What's your name?"

"Jas," she said with a sniff.

"Well, now we're not strangers anymore."  Rhiannon said with a warm smile. "It's nice to meet you, Jas." Jas eyed her warily, but opened the door just a fraction of an inch more. She tried again to see the inside of the house from over her head, but to no avail. "Is Marnie home?"

"Yes. She's with my dad right now." Dad? Rhiannon blinked in surprise. There was only one person that she could possibly be talking about, unless there were more residents in this house than Rhiannon had initially believed. Jas opened the door enough for Rhiannon to see her and shuffled her feet. It was a wonder she didn't assume who she was earlier- Jas was the spitting image of Shane to the point where it was eerie. Her eyes were the same light green, and the details of her face had the same softness to them. "Something is wrong with him."

"Is he okay?" Rhiannon asked, crouching down to be at eye level with her. Though she stood only five feet tall, towering over her like that certainly wasn't helping the delicate situation before them. Even children deserved to feel like equals in the conversations that they were having. The little girl bit her lip and shook her head. "Do you need help?," Rhiannon asked. Jas looked up, tears starting to overflow out of her eyes and chin trembling, and nodded. "Let's get you inside, okay?" 

As she led her into the house, a loud commotion was brewing in the room next door, and by the sound of it, it was getting worse by the second.  Shane and Marnie were shouting incomprehensibly over one another, and Jas was flinching at every sound. Rhiannon put her pie onto the kitchen table, then crouched down to the girl's height again to wipe tears away with her sleeve. Based on the look of fear in her eyes, she'd clearly seen more than her fair share of mayhem.  "Hey, it's gonna be okay." She nodded, lip trembling as her eyes darted back and forth between Rhiannon and the source of the chaos next door. "Do you know what's going on?"

"My daddy is sick."

No kidding, Rhiannon thought to herself, looking over her shoulder. Whatever was going on in that room was not something that she needed to see, and Rhiannon was laser focused on keeping her away.