Chiara Rose

dieci

"I know you do, we all want to help her. But we can't help her if she doesn't want her help." Dad explains softly, and I start fiddling with my collar. Why is it suddenly so much harder to breathe in here? Fuck, I'm going to have a moment. Dad's not supposed to know it's getting bad again.

I can feel Gi's eyes digging into me. He's the only one who knows it's getting worse, as Camila is usually the one who makes sure I'm taking my medication safely. But she's in Mexico, so I had to ask Gi to help me with it. To help me make sure I don't start taking the Benzos incorrectly.

But Dad's onto me, I can basically feel his inquisitive gaze drilling into me. I can hear his thoughts as well. Sometimes I wish he wasn't such a good Dad, because he can read all of us like an open book and I hate it.

"Are you taking your medication again?" He asks softly. And I'm busted. The guy knows his kids too well.

"Yeah, I uh, I was going to tell you. Later." I wasn't going to tell him. I had absolutely no plans of telling him. He's just got his daughter back, a daughter that seems to have a lot going on. He doesn't need to worry about Tino and his stupid little anxiety.

"It's okay, you don't need to tell me." Dad begins, but I know he's lying. He's a control freak, I get it from him, "But who's making sure you're taking it responsibly? Camila can only do so much from Mexico." He asks, concern lacing his voice. It's because I got a little loose with them before I graduated high school. Because my brain was a little extra sucky around then, and the little pills helped. Luckily Dad caught onto it before it got bad, otherwise, who knows what would've happened.

"They're in my room, he's been fine with them." Gi says quietly, causing Dad's gaze to swing to him. I can see he has a bunch of questions, but I really don't feel like answering them right now.

"Look, can we not talk about me? I think we should really focus on Chiara." I grumble out. Dad glares at me, he's now worried about me. Which is exactly what I didn't want. Now I'm going to have to go through one of his mental health talks, and I honestly don't think I can get through one of those without having a panic attack.

"Well, there isn't really anything to focus on with Chiara. And there won't be unless we see something really concerning, or if she decides to tell us. If she was, you know, abused, then she might think we're going to do the same to her. We've just got to let her decide how she wants this to go." Dad explains, and I slowly nod my head.

I don't agree. In fact, I hate this plan. It doesn't make the control freak in me very happy, knowing that there might be something wrong with her and I can't do anything about it. But it's realistic, and Dad's got excellent points. I don't want to destroy her trust before I've even had the chance to build it up.

"I'm just worried that she's seriously injured, and she's not telling us. If there's more of those bruises across her body, it could be a sign of some serious internal damage." Gi says, the doctor part of him coming out.

Sometimes it's annoying when Doctor Gi comes out, once he told me I had brain cancer because I had a slight headache. Some fancy really bad thing that started with a g? He gave me three months to live. That was 4 years ago, sometimes I worry for his patients.

"Have you seen any signs that she could have serious internal damage?" Dad queries, and based on Gi's reaction, he has. Which also isn't good.

"She hissed from what seemed like pain when I accidentally knocked against her ribs when we were shopping. And if her ribs are bruised, it could mean that she's got a broken rib, which could lead to-," Gi begins, but Dad cuts him off before he can begin his rant.

"Okay, she could've hissed because she wasn't ready for the contact. Don't start going down the hole of 'what ifs' Gi. It's not good for your mental health, just focus on helping Chiara in ways we know she needs." Dad explains, pulling his buzzing phone out of his pocket.