It Started with a Bet... (Watty Awards 2011)

TREVOR: "Trevor, I need to talk to you."

Mrs. Waters nods.

"The first year after Trina's death, my husband and I did everything we could to help Haley out. It just...she didn't seem to get better. She just got quieter and quieter and she'd space out and she'd never cry but she'd look so lonely it would make you want to cry looking at her. We just...we did what we could and prayed that it would pass." She takes a sip of her tea and continues.

"And then there was this night where Haley was slitting her wrists in the kitchen and she nearly..." she trails off and raises her cup to her lips, her fingers trembling. Mom leans over to pat her hand.

"It's okay," she says. "We know." Mrs. Waters nods and puts down her tea.

"The point is, Haley went through a lot of pain and when we took her to the therapist I suddenly find out that everything I was doing to try to help her was completely wrong. How....I'm her mother! I'd never want to...to...to hurt her!" Tears start welling in her eyes and she wipes them away quickly.

"Essentially what I'm trying to say is that I'm a horrible mother. And when I got that letter from Dr. Thornton and found out that maybe I had screwed up yet again I went berserk and found the first flight here from Milan and the minute I got off the plane I headed straight here and all that jet-lag and frustration and self-loathing..." She looks at my mom pleadingly.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I'm so sorry. You were there for Haley when I wasn't, and I should be thanking you instead." My mom opens her mouth to speak, but Mrs. Waters holds up a hand.

"That being said, I'm still not entirely sure what you were doing with her was correct. Her psychiatrist specifically said she should not be reminded of Trina in any way and it was..." her voice drops to a mumble, "it was working fine." Mom raises an eyebrow.

"Was it really?" Haley's mom shrugs.

"She wasn't the same, obviously. She never went back to the way she was. The therapist didn't realize it, but a mom knows these things. I mean, she was better, so I didn't push, but she was never the same."

Mom nods.

"And what's she like now?" Mom asks.

Our guest leans forward suddenly, the cup of tea in her hand.

"That's the other reason I came. My first thought would be to trust the psychiatrist, but now that I've watched Haley for a bit, she seems much more like her old self. She seems upset about something, but it's the old 'Haley when grappling with an issue' that I'm used to, not the 'post-psychiatrist everything is fine Haley.' I was wondering if...if she was like this when you first met her." Mom looks at me.

"Trevor was the first to meet her," she says, beckoning for me to speak. I clear my throat.

"Well, uh, I couldn't really tell she was faking it before, but she...she definitely was not the way she is now. I would never be able to tell if something bothered her and she would always react perfectly to everything I did. After...after she moved in with us, I told her that she didn't have to fake anything around me and she changed a lot. Now if something's bothering her, I can tell, even if no one else can." Haley's mom looks at me when I say this and I can't help but blush. Her eyes make me think I'm talking to Haley.

She looks confused now. Confused and apprehensive. Mom looks at me.

"Trevor, why don't you go get Mrs. Waters some crackers." I know what she means; she just wants me to leave while she explains. As I pour some crackers into a small silver serving dish, I hear Mrs. Waters sit back with a cry.

"It was just an experiment? A PhD thesis?"

"You didn't know?" I come back in and place the crackers on the coffee table. No one moves.

"I'm sure he told us at some point, but, I mean, we only met him an hour after Haley's...accident. I wasn't really paying attention to him. All I remember hearing was that he would help Haley as long as I trusted him." She covers her face with her hands for a long moment.

"And you think he was wrong?" she asks finally, her face still buried in her fingers. Mom nods.

"Haley was the only one considered 'cured' after the trial was done. And considering the way she was acting, I’m more inclined to think that she was only pretending to be cured just to get everyone off her back."

Mrs. Waters stands up suddenly, tears overflowing.

"I-I-I need to go. Thank you, again. Um..." she looks at the floor, opening and closing her mouth a few times as she tries to speak.

"Call again sometime," Mom says gently, touching her hand. "And bring Haley over, we'd love to see her again." Haley's mom wipes her eyes and nods. We see her to the door, but when Mom has gone back to the kitchen, I peer through the glass door.

The car hasn't moved, and the driver is hunched over the steering wheel, sobbing.

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Awww. Poor Haley's mom. Well now you see why Haley's mom acted the way she did. A lot of people called it, which surprised me. And a lot of people hate Haley for ditching Trevor like that. There was one person, however, who pleasantly surprised me by saying that they actually felt sorry for Haley. (It's not that I despise those of you who were angry at Haley, but she's kind of my baby so I'm completely biased towards her point of view).

So what did you guys think of this chapter? Realistic or no?