Where the Skies are Blue

Chapter Forty-Six:

"I'm surprised you called me." Wednesday says as she takes a sip from her drinking. As we sit on top of her kitchen counter tops, she folds her legs crisscross style. Her house eerily quiet without anyone else home.

Her house surprises me. I thought she'd live in some big, fancy mansion like the rest of them. Instead, she lives in a quaint, small two-bedroom beach cottage. The style of everything in here is feminine vintage. I guess I've been completely wrong about her in all aspects.

"You told me I could." I say as I remove the top from the Smirnoff in my hand. I want nothing more than to drink away my sorrows.

"Well, yeah. I didn't think you'd actually do it."

I frown. "I'm confused. You gave me your number but didn't want me to actually call you?"

"No, I did." She huffs. "But I wasn't sure if you still disliked me or not. I figured I was the last person you'd want to be friends with."

"I never didn't want to be your friend."

"Mhm." She gives me an unconvinced look. "You look like absolute shit, by the way. Why exactly are you not going to the police? I mean, Auden, have you looked in the mirror? You look like you just got done fighting in a UFC match."

I wince as I gulp down more of my drink. "You honestly think anyone would believe me?"

"Um, yes, he beat you to a pulp. You had to go to the hospital. What more reason is there not to believe you?"

"He's the pride and joy of this town. Everyone worships the ground he walks on. Not to mention, his family owns this town. Oh, and I'm just some trailer trash from Yuma who is accusing the golden boy of being abusive. We all know how this ends. They'll never be on my side. They'll defend him to the end. Even with me looking like this." I cringe at my response, as I hear exactly who I sound like. Katherine. Yet, is she wrong? I believe she is correct in this instance. Though, I will never admit that to her.

"Has Henry seen you?"

I shake my head. "I called you as soon as I got back from the hospital. I don't know what Katherine is going to tell him happened. This will be hard to cover up with makeup."

"And that's your mom...?"

I exhale loudly and hold up the drink in my hand. "Can we talk about anything other than this? I need to not think about Hunter right now."

She nods. "Definitely."

"Who do you live here with?" I ask.

"My parents and my younger sister."

"Wow, your parents are still together?"

Wednesday snorts. "Barely. I think they're just staying together until my sister and I graduate high school. My dad has slept on the couch for years now."

"I'm sorry."

Wednesday shrugs like it's no big deal. "It's fine. I want them to be happier." She hops off the counter and begins making herself a mixed drink. "Want one?"

I nod. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"When I moved here, you were still somewhat friends with Hunter. Why?" I ask, disobeying my own request to not mention Hunter again.

"Why did you get in the car with him after school? Why did you keep taking him back?" She raises a brow at me. "I couldn't even stand to look at him afterwards. It made me so angry that I felt sick. But I didn't want to lose all my friends. Even though Raven and I have been best friends our whole lives, a part of me knew she and everyone else would still take Hunter's side over mine. I was scared, honestly."

I feel for her. I know exactly what she's going through. Except, she's known these people her whole life. I've only known them since July. To have everyone she's ever known turn against her so quickly. He has this hold over everyone. It's like he has them all under this spell.

"Raven and Hunter have been hooking up. He cheated on me with her." I admit to Wednesday.

A bitter laugh escapes her mouth, her head shaking slowly. "Of course they have been!" She smacks her hands on her knees. "I saw that coming a mile away. What a bitch."

"What makes it worse is that he convinced me I was crazy for even asking about it, and then after I had sex with him for the first time, he told me Raven was better." I wince at the horrible memory. All the awful things he said to me. Everything he's done. How he's completely destroyed any sort of self-confidence, self-respect. He completely broke me. It's scary how one person can do that to another.

Her mouth gapes open. "No way. Uh-huh. Auden, what the fuck? This guy needs to be John Tuckered. Just destroy him somehow."

I snort. "Like that will ever happen. He'll go on with his life without any sort of remorse or repercussions for his actions, and he'll become more and more successful and rich." I hiccup before gurgling down more of my drink. "Women's lives are secondary to men." I'm feeling drunk at this point. The horrible headache is beginning to become more bearable. "A guy will go on and rape a girl, and the headlines will still say he's a successful athlete with a full scholarship and has a 4.0 GPA."

"The world is fucked." Wednesday says morbidly. "And so is Hunter, and fuck the rest of them too. You know, when I first met Faran, nobody liked her. I was kind to her and introduced her to everyone. And now! Hah." Her head falls back with a humorless laugh. "Now, she's going around talking shit about me to everyone, believing the bullshit lies Hunter has been spreading, and completely icing me out."

I drink to that. It feels strange to be with Wednesday, talking about our lives as if we haven't gotten along this whole time. Mainly because of Hunter. We continue talking, venting about our lives. I feel somehow comfortable enough around her to open up a bit. Yet, the more drunk I get, the deeper into my mind I venture.

My smile and laughter become forced. I'm barely holding onto anything being said. Eventually, Wednesday falls asleep on the couch in the living room after we went down memory lane about Barbie movies we grew up watching and decided we needed nothing more than to put on Barbie and the Magic Pegasus. She lasted about ten minutes before passing out on the couch.

Leaving me alone in my thoughts. My mind has become a dark place. A desolate forest without any sign of light. A place for me to overanalyze everything I've said, everything I've done. I loved Hunter. He was the first boy I let my walls down for. I let him in. I trusted him. And he so devastatingly hurt me. In every way. It's left me scarred. Terrified to ever let someone in again. Terrified of that happening with another man. How can someone be so deceiving? So cruel that they want to inflict harm on someone who loves them despite everything?

All the chances I gave him. How I desperately held onto the person I first met on the beach that day. How funny I thought he was. How he made me laugh and it was so effortless. I had never felt comfortable around someone before. Or like anyone has ever noticed me before. He looked at me and thought I was pretty. I've always wanted that. To be pretty in someone's eyes.

Did he ever even think I was pretty? Did he ever even think I was funny? Or was it all fake? All a way to reel me in? He waited until I was in love with him before he showed his true colors.

I'll never be enough. I'll always be the last pick. The forgotten. The one who could disappear for weeks on end and nobody would ever notice.

My eyes grow misty as I take a swig from the bottle before lifting myself off the couch. In a drunken, depressed haze, I carry the bottle in one hand and call myself an Uber. I want my outsides to hurt as badly as my insides. I want to punish myself for every mistake I've made. How undeserving I am of anything good.

Standing outside in the cold, I wait for the Uber to come. The bottle growing more empty with each passing minute.