heartbeat --- euphoria

e i g h t

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FALLON SHRUGGED HER shoulders as she spoke. "Yeah, I guess Maddy's still pissed at me for slapping Nate. She hasn't called me since that night." She looked over at Kat who seemed confused. Maddy talked to Fallon the most out of everyone in their group and they hadn't talked since the carnival on Friday night. It was Monday.

"Maybe you'll get a chance to see her during class or something." Kat spoke in a hopeful tone. The girls linked arms as they made their way to the bathrooms. Kat was admiring herself in the mirror while reapplying her lip gloss.

"Where were you yesterday? I thought you were going to the carnival?" Fallon asked with a smirk as Kats face lit up.

"I was with someone. We had a good time." She tried keeping the conversation short, she wasn't ready to tell her friends what she was doing.

"I'm sure you did." Fallon smirked causing Kat to turn away so she couldn't see her blushing. The two girls made their way out of the bathroom and continued their way to class. They passed Maddy in the hallway, she paused for a moment and looked at her friends before shuffling away from them. Kat continued walking but she stopped noticing Fallon wasn't behind her, she stopped and watched as Maddy walked to her locker. She was concerned. Maddy was wearing an oversized hoodie and a headscarf that completely covered her neck. Kat gently grabbed her arm and led her away towards their class.

———

Fallon grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder. She walked out of her class and froze seeing two police officers making their way towards the office, Maddy's parents were following behind them. Fallon rushed ahead of them and made it to the office. Her face dropped seeing Maddy sitting in a chair with tears falling down her cheeks. "Mads, what's going on?" She asked with a concerned look. Before Maddy couldn't answer, the principal came back in with the police and Maddy's parents.

"I'm sorry, Fallon. I'm going to have to ask you to leave." He glared at her with a stern look. She rolled her eyes and made her way out. When she got into the hallway, she bumped into Nate who kept a smug look on his face. A few more police officers were following behind him.

"No! You're not pressing charges!" Maddy's broken voice could be heard. Fallon furrowed her eyebrows. Kat finally rushed over to her with a surprised look on her face.

"Nate's parents are here. What is going on?" She asked. She and Fallon shared the same confused look until Maddy was escorted to her locker by an officer. Fallon ran over to her and glared at the officer who was hovering over them.

"What is going on Mads? You can tell me." She gently placed her hand on Maddy's shoulder but she pulled away roughly.

"I don't want to talk about it, ok?! Just leave me alone right now." She slammed her locker shut and stormed away from Fallon who was left with a shocked look.

As she went back to her locker to grab her bag. While she was walking, she overheard Nate's parents talking. "Did you hit her?" His father asked with anger lacing his voice. Fallon froze for a moment and decided to control herself, all she wanted was to talk with Maddy and help her figure things out but she was completely dodging her.

Once she got all of her things together, she went out to her car and pulled away from her school. When she got home, she sat in her car for a moment. She watched as the leaves blew around her yard in the wind, it was peaceful. Christopher's car wasn't here so that meant that he was probably driving around Grace. She climbed out of her car and went inside, immediately being bombarded with chaos. The sounds of her mother and father shouting could be heard from the kitchen, she heard a loud bang and rushed in the kitchen and froze up seeing her father choking her mother up against the fridge.

"No! Stop!" She dropped her things and rushed over to her father, grabbing his arm in an attempt to pull him away. He turned back and used his free hand to roughly push Fallon back, off of her feet. Her mother's face was turning blue, but her father's grip never loosened. Fallon stood to her feet once more and looked around for something to help her mother, her gaze fell upon an empty wine bottle that her mother left on the counter. She gripped it in her hands and swung it, hitting him in the side of his face. She didn't hit him as hard as she thought, he paused for a moment and hissed in pain while rubbing the area of pain on his head.

He turned around and glared at Fallon. He pushed her back against the corner of the wall which made her fall to the floor. He hovered over her with a hateful look. She'd seen him angry before but never this angry, he was looking at her like he didn't even recognize her. Her mother fell to the floor and gasped as she tried to catch her breath. "You stupid bitch!" He reached down and gripped a handful of Fallon's hair as she attempted to scramble away. He pulled her up to her feet and looked at her with a look of disgust before punching her in her chest. Fallon huddled over and held her stomach in pain as he hovered over her.

"Please. Stop." She croaked while looking up at him, her vision was blurred as tears filled her eyes.

"You should've minded your own business!" He reached up his hand. Fallon flinched and shut her eyes but before he could cause her any more pain, there was a loud thud. She opened her eyes, frozen in shock seeing his body on the floor. Her mother stood across from her with a kitchen knife in her hand. She kept a shaken up look on her face before she fell to her knees and stabbed him two more times. His blood leaked onto the carpet as she finally stood up and backed away.

Fallon let the pain take over her body as she fell to the floor, she held her stomach groaning in pain as she cried out.

"Is he dead?" Fallon whimpered as her mother plopped on a chair at the table. She watched with a distraught look as her mother lit up a cigarette and took a few hits from it.

"You know what this was about?" She spoke calmly while taking another puff from her cigarette. "I was going to leave him. I brought up divorce and he tried to kill me." She let out a bitter chuckle as she spoke. She stood up from her spot and kicked the body on the ground.

"Yep, he's dead." She spoke as if she didn't care. Fallon still looked distraught, she didn't know what she was going to do.

As if her mother could read minds, she looked up towards Fallon and motioned for her to get up. "You need to call the police. Tell them that your mom just killed your dad." She handed Fallon her phone and helped her get comfortable in a chair.

"Are you fucking crazy?!" She slammed the phone down on the table and backed away from her mom. "I am not calling the cops, they're going to arrest you!"

Her mother let out a huff before completely losing it. "Goddamn it, Fallon Mae! Pick up the damn phone and call the police, there's nothing else for us to do! What did you think, I would make you help bury the body? He's a cop! I've been planning this for a while and I'm more than willing to accept my consequences if it means I've protected my kids!"

Fallon's mother leaned forwards and wiped the tears that fell from Fallon's eyes. She felt herself tearing up as she began to speak. "I love you, Fallon. Don't you ever forget that you'll always be my little girl. Don't you ever think for one moment, that I stopped loving you."  She pressed a gentle kiss on Fallon's forehead before putting the phone in her hand.

"Now, go to your room and make that call."

Fallon stood up and let out a deep breath before wrapping her arms around her mother. "I love you too, mom." She muttered before rushing up the stairs. She placed the call and gave the police the information they needed before curling up into a ball.