THE HYBRID

Chasing Desires

"Lea! Let go.. you're hurting yourself" Matthew said crouching down on the floor next to the girl. He hooked his fingers under her wrist and tried to ory away from her skin that was reddening.

"Lea honey p-please.. " Natalie stuttered almost sobbing.

Matthew tried again and succeeded in prying her finger away from her skin, but the nail marks stayed, bleeding.  Her head was still propped between her knees as she whimpered, while mumbling something.

"I'll go get first aid." Damian said walking out.

"Lea.. look at me. Please." Matthew said softly, causing the girl to look up.

Her eyes swollen already and her lips quivering while she bit them down in efforts to stop it.

"Luciel, Adrian.. can you leave for now? It's dark already and you should head home. I'll fill you in tomorrow.. but for now please.." Matthew sighed asking the taller Male.

Luciel gulped and nodded at the older, knowing that it was all for Lea. He trusted Matthew and for some reason he felt out of place in this situation, but he didn't want to meddle.

He was just as shocked as the rest in the room but Matthew wasn't.. so if anyone could console Lea other than her mom at the moment.. was Matthew.

He glanced at the broken girl who had captured his heart one last time before heading out carrying a pang in his chest.

******

After her hands were bandaged up, Lea sat silently... her mind clogged.

"You knew" she mumbled, but loud enough for the two to hear her in the eerily quiet room.

"You both knew!" She looked up at her mom and friend. Tears stinging her eyes as she felt herself drowning in her own guilt.

"You both knew and nobody wanted to tell me about it. So who else knows? You? You? Dad? The neighbourhood? The country?" She wiped her eyes while choking on her breaths "All this time... all this time, I prayed for them to be together. All this time.. I pursued on Zack to head back to Jackson. To meet him. To visit him."

She chuckled looking away, tears still streaming down her cheeks "I.. I wrote him birthday letters. I mailed them right infront of Zack's eyes only to see his disappointment everytime. I.. I tried to talk him out of everything.. thinking that was fixing things."

"Gosh!" She tugged onto her hair "I feel so horrible. I've been hurting him the entire time. I'm a horrible person."

Lea sobbed all the way until she felt someone shuffle next to her. A warm palm settled on her back drawing smooth comforting circles and pats.

"You didn't know.. it wasn't your fault" Natalie said softly.

"Why... why wasn't I told? Am I not a good friend? Am I not trust worthy? Did he hate me?" She cried onto her mom's arm.

"No honey.. it wasn't your fault. It wasn't any of ours fault."

"Then.. why?"

"Zack asked us to keep this from you. He asked me and your Dad to never mention about what really happened that night" Natalie explained, her voice straining. "You were so young. Zack was so young and we didn't have a choice but to follow his only request after Eva's death."