Troublemaker | Station 19

79. As The Bells Ring, Blood Is Shed

The older woman hadn't heard a response and proceeded to open the door and the sight in front of her left her feeling unsettled.

"Bambina!" Carina exclaimed with a gasp of shock and her eyes widened at the sight of her daughter. Moving closer to her younger girl, she kept her emotions intact as she was quick to reach out and remove the blade from the teen's clutches, painfully aware of the blood that was present.

"Mama," Maddie whimpered aloud as she realised she had been caught.

Carina knelt down in front of her daughter and took a gentle hold of her daughter's hands in her own, "Bambina... What have you done?" she asked softly as she took a brief look at her daughter's legs, the numerous cuts left, right and centre. "Bambina, why?" she asked quietly as she swallowed the lump in the back of her throat.

"I... I needed to feel numb, mama," Maddie confessed as she broke into tears. "I found a way to cope... I needed to cope, I needed to feel numb to the pain," she repeated her thoughts as the tears continued to flow.

"Oh, Mio Dio, mia dolce ragazza," Carina spoke in her mother tongue as she looked at her daughter with tears in her eyes. "Che cosa hai fatto?" she questioned quietly.

"Io... mi dispiace, mama..." Maddie looked up as she replied back in broken Italian that her mama had taught her, tear-stained eyes visible to see.

"No, no, non scusarti, Bambina!" Carina said as she shook her head in disagreement and moved to scoop her daughter into her lap. "Don't apologise, it's not your fault. We will get you the help that you need," she told her.

Maddie continued to cry in her mama's arms as Carina held her gently, "It did help, mama. It really did help," she confessed.

"I know, but there are better methods to deal with pain," Carina told her as she ran her hand through the blonde teen's hair. "Hurting yourself isn't the answer, Bambina..." she said.

Maddie didn't speak as she sobbed in the older woman's lap.

Carina exhaled a small sigh as she glanced at her daughters' skin, wincing at the angry red wounds upon her daughters' upper thighs, "We need to clean you up and take care of these cuts, make sure that none of them are infected," she noted.

"Bene," Maddie quietly agreed as she stood up from Carina's lap and with her assistance, they headed into the bathroom.

The younger girl sat on the toilet seat while the Italian was eager to throw the blade into the bin, staring down at her in disgust as she did her best to keep her emotions in check, making a note to later remove the trash can from the bathroom before her daughter had any further ideas. There was a lot that needed to be discussed with her wife. Carina gathered all the medical equipment that she would need to take care of her daughter's lacerations.

"Do you still want to go today?" Carina questioned as she focused her attention on taking care of her daughters' cuts.

"Yes," Maddie agreed quietly.

Carina hummed in agreement and continued to tend to the angry red lines, "Are you nervous about today?" she asked.

"A little bit. There'll be a lot of people won't there?" Maddie wondered as she looked down as her mama tended to her self-inflicted wounds.

"Si, I imagine that there will be a lot of people, firefighters and other people that will want to pay their respects to your uncle," Carina told her daughter.

Maddie nodded and remained quiet for a few seconds, "I'm not going to laugh today," she said.

"I wouldn't imagine that you would want to," Carina stated as she gave the younger blonde a faint smile.