"Why are you here, Maeve?" My therapist asks, confused. I continued drawing. "Maeve?"
"He's dead." I say, after a while. She tensed up. "William is finally dead. Took him forever."
"I'm sorry-"
"Don't do that bullshit. He's deserved death. I'm actually sad that he passed away from cancer. Fucking cancer. I should've killed him when I had the chance, but atlas, I didn't. Fuck me, then."
I continue to color in the coloring book I bring. It helps during therapy. Takes my mind off the things we talk about. Like William. Or about the bitch I call mother. It's whatever. At least I talk.
"Do you think you will go back to the drugs?" She asks, softly. I look at her.
"I don't know. Honestly, I want to think I would but we both know I won't. I won't risk my future by doing them." She nods. "It just hasn't clicked in my brain that he's dead, you know? I still think he's roaming the earth but he's dead. He's in hell now. Or wherever he is. He's sure not in Heaven. I'm just scared when it does finally click that he's dead, I'm gonna have a break down. I'm not scared about that, but I'm scared where it's going to happen."
"Like if you're in line or something like that?" She asks, confused. I nod. She frowns. I look back down at the coloring book and switch colors. I grabbed the purple pencil and started doing the flowers.
"I visited them a few days ago." I say, softly. "She's getting so big. She took an interest in whatever her big brother does. If he plays soccer, then she has to. If he's sitting in my lap, then she has to too. It's cute, really. Demitri is starting school soon. He's not happy about it but he'll be okay."
"You sound like you're not ready for him to grow up, Maeve." I look at her.
"Do you have kids?" She shakes her head. "You wouldn't want your little ones growing up. I remember it like it was yesterday. The first time I got to hold them. The first time they started crawling. Walking. Even talking. Time flies when you're not there but at least I got to be there for their firsts."
"Tell me about Damien and Angel. How are they?" She asks, softly. I shrug.
"What's there to say? Angel started school a few weeks ago. Damien still works at his garage. He doesn't want me around the family. He, uh, tries to come up with excuses on why I'm not included. Worked the first few times but after that, I stopped believing them. He was the one to tell me about the things they were doing but those words never came my way."
"Did you tell the others?"
"No. I don't want them to get mad at him. It's my fault, I guess. I guess everything is my fault." I say, shrugging.
"Maeve, you know-"
"Our time is up." I say, packing up all my colored pencils. She looks at her watch and sighs.
I stand up and go over to the self. I put the coloring book away, hidden from view. I like storing things here. I put the colored pencils in my bag. I look at her.
"I'll see you next week, Emma." She nods.
"Thank you for sharing, Maeve." I nod at her.
I leave the building and go over to my car.
--
Axel's pov
I go inside the house with the other siblings. We just came back from bowling. It was Saturday. We haven't seen Maeve since last night. She didn't want to come bowling with us so we left without her.
"I'll go see if Maeve is hungry." I say, looking at the others. They nod and go into the dining room with pizza boxes.
I walk up the stairs, looking at all the pictures lining the walls. I went over to her door and knocked.
"Maeve? We got pizza on the way home. Do you want something to eat?" I ask, curious. No answer. I knocked again, but louder. "Maeve?" Again, no answer. Usually this was okay but I had a feeling that nothing was okay.
The others came up after a while, considering I was still knocking. Damien got in front of the door and tried turning the knob. After a few minutes of jingling it, it opened. He pushed the door open and Vanessa gasped. Her room was a mess. Broken glass, everything was a mess.
"What the fuck?" Damien mutters. He went in and saw something on the floor. He touched it and frowned. "Blood?"
"Your saying she's hurt?" I ask, confused. He looks at me.
"I don't know what I'm saying. All I see is her room is a mess and there is blood. I'm jumping to conclusions and say she did this and hurt herself in the process."
"Or she did it herself." Angel whispered. We looked at her. She sighs. "She's going to be mad at me."
"What are you talking about, Angel?" Vanessa asks, putting a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off.
"She likes to cut." She gulps. Tears were streaming down her face. "Her wrists are filled with them. I didn't mean to see it but her sleeve came up. She promised me not to tell you. I asked why she did it and she said she likes to feel. I didn't know what that meant until a few days ago. She doesn't feel. She can't feel emotions. She's numb."
"When did you find out about this, Angel?" Julian asks, curious. She shrugs.
"A few years ago. Then she doesn't eat. She skips meals sometimes. It's why she's so skinny. She said she would try to stop but she didn't. I'm not mad at her about that. She just needs a little push to get help." She says, hiccuping on a sob. "She's going to hate me."
"No, no she won't." Damien says, coming over to us. He tried hugging her but she stepped back. She shook her head and pushed past us. We watched as she went to her room and slammed the door, locking it behind her.
Maeve's pov
My phone rings, breaking me out of my thoughts. I pull it out of my pocket and look at it. I answer it and put it up to my ear.
"I'll be home tonight, okay? Just, give me a few to finish this up." I say, watching the shipment get loaded into the trucks. A smirk was on my lips.
"When will the thing be done?" One of the workers gives me a thumbs up.
"Right now." I say, walking over to my bike. I swung my leg over the bike and sat down.
"Drive safe, Maeve."
"Will do Atticus." I hang up the phone and put it in my pocket. I put my helmet on and made sure my hair wasn't going to be in my eyes. I turned the bike on, and smiled. I left the docks and made my way back to the mansion.
It was just me and the open road in front of me. Another bike appeared next to me and I looked at Lucian. We stayed the same speed until we got on the freeway. We sped up until we went two different ways. I got off the highway while he stayed on.
I slowed down my speed until I got on the road towards the mansion. I turned down the driveway and parked next to my other car. I parked it and got off. I put my helmet on the bike and walked out of the garage.
I pulled my phone out and sent a text to one of my guards. I opened the door to the house and went in. My guard texted me back instantly and I left him on read. I put my phone back in my pocket.
"Maeve." Axel says, making me look at him.
"I'm here. Told you I'll be here." I say, shrugging. I then saw their serious expressions. "Look, if we're talking about some serious shit, I'm not interested."
"I'm sorry." Angel says, softly. I looked at her and saw she wasn't looking at me.
"Why would you- Oh. We're talking about that." I mumble. "Fucking great."
"Wasn't her fault, Maeve." Damien says, coldly. I look at him.
"I know it isn't. It was bound to come out sooner or later. So, what exactly are we talking about? I'm assuming you saw my room. I'm also assuming you know about my cuts on my wrists. I'm also assuming you know I don't eat. So, what topic are we talking about today?" I ask, curious.
"We're talking about everything, Maeve. Let's go to the dining room." Axel says, standing up. They all followed him into the dining room while I stayed rooted. "Maeve, let's go."
I clenched my jaw but stopped. I went into the dining room and sat down. This was going to go one way or the other. Either we're all gonna be a happy family or they're disowning me. Whatever happens, I'll be fine. I hope.