The Depth Between Us

Part 13: Love's to Blame

"Kiera, look to me." Antonio said to her.

With that, she took her face out of her hands and made eye contact with the detective.

"You are not stupid. Your mother was hiding it from you, just like I did." Antonio said in a parent voice.

A few more tears rolled down Kiera's face and she had nothing to say.

"Hey, look on the bright side. Your Mom is getting the help she needs to recover and not everyone has that courage to do so." Antonio said.

"It's weird how parents tell their kids that they can always come to them if they have a problem. But, it should work the other way around too. Why didn't she tell me up front? I hate that I had to find out this way." Kiera said.

"She didn't want you to be around because she was trying to get herself better." Antonio said.

"Is that it? Love's to blame?" Kiera questioned.

Antonio was at a loss for words, then she leaned on him and he wrapped his arms around her like he was comforting his own daughter. She started crying again.

"It's okay. Let it out." Antonio said, while rubbing her back.

~~~~~~~~~~

After the first few weeks of the semester, Kiera suspects that Cheyanne's boyfriend, Eric is abusing her. She had tried to step in to convince her best friend that she deserves better than that.

Kiera is kinda scared to tell Jay, so she decides to tell Hailey to inform her about what's happening. She is sitting on her bed and taps on Hailey's contact, then waited for her to answer.

Hailey was watching TV in her apartment, while eating Chinese food. Her ringtone went off and she picked up her phone. When she saw Kiera's contact on her screen, she paused the TV and set her food aside.

"Hey, girl." Hailey said, putting the phone to her ear.

"Hi, Hailey. Um, is Dad with you?" Kiera asked.

"No, I just got back to my place. Is something wrong?" Hailey asked.

"Maybe." Kiera said in a shaky voice.

Hailey could tell by her voice that she's scared, so she gets up from the couch and grabs her notebook to write down the details.

"Tell me everything." Hailey said, putting on her listening ears.

"I have a gut feeling that my roommate's boyfriend is abusing her." Kiera said straight forward.

"How can you tell? Did you see any physical signs?" Hailey asked.

"No, but it's even more concerning when you can't see it. I have noticed some changes in her behavior, such as not coming back to the room until curfew, her boyfriend speaks for her when around others, and she's not responding to my texts." Kiera explained.

"Okay, I'm jotting all of this down. But, I do have a question for you." Hailey said.

"What is it?" Kiera asked.

"Why did you call me and not your Dad? He would've understood." Hailey asked.

"I just felt more comfortable telling you first since we can relate to each other. Plus, I didn't want to jump to conclusions and it end up being a waste of your time if it turns out to be nothing." Kiera explained.