Leaving Carly didn't get any easier the second time around. If anything, it become more difficult now that Carly understood what was happening.
"I go with Didi," Carly whined to Eya as Eya held her back from the door. Deanna stood in the doorway, biting her lip and hesitating to leave.
"You're coming shopping with us today, Carly," Ivy piped up. "Deanna will be back soon, she will just go to her school." Eya waved her hand at Deanna, motioning for her to leave. Deanna sighed and slipped out the door while Carly was distracted.
"Didiii!," Carly cried, trying to wiggle out of Eya's grasp. Eya held on tightly to the small girl. She glanced at Ivy questioningly.
"It's like we're raising a child," Ivy mumbled. Carly was still trying to run for the door, and Eya was struggling to hold onto her.
"Deanna is gone, Carly," Eya said firmly. She was growing increasingly frustrated with the fact that Carly was so persistent on being by Deanna's side 24/7. The small girl turned around and looked at Eya angrily.
Eya's hands were still tightly gripping Carly's wrists, so the smaller girl settled on kicking her legs forwards and hitting the leg of the small table by the door. The wood cracked easily under the force of her kick, causing the table to fall over and bring the glass vase on top of it crashing to the floor. Ivy and Eya both gasped as glass scattered everywhere. Carly immediately cried out and covered her ears with her hands, which Eya had released out of shock.
"Why the hell would you do that?!" Eya yelled, turning around and glaring at Carly. The smaller girl took a few steps back and brought her hands up in front of her face.
"Please," she shook her head violently. Eya and Ivy exchanged confused glances as Carly continued to take slow steps away from them.
"Bad," Carly mumbled, knocking on her head with her fist. "Bad, Stupid," she shook her head and hit her head even harder. Eya raised an eyebrow at Ivy, who was just as lost as she was.
"Stupid," Carly uttered under her breath. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! " her voice grew louder and she began violently punching her head with both fists. Her back slid down against the wall and she continued punching herself with her balled up fists.
"Carly, don't do that," Eya quickly ran over to the girl and slid down next to her. "Hey, hey, you're not stupid," she grabbed Carly's hands and held them away from her face.
Carly looked up at Eya, her bottom lip trembling. Eya felt extremely guilty for snapping at her. She glanced back at Ivy, who was already using the broom to sweep up the pictures of broken glass.
"Stupid," Carly shook her head and tried to bring her hands back to her face. Eya kept a firm grip on her wrists, and Carly whined in frustration. "Stupid! Bad! Bad Carly! ."
Eya bit her lip and sat down next to the girl. "You're not bad or stupid," Eya said softly, unsure how she should go about comforting Carly.
"I killed it," Carly whimpered, pointing to the vase and table by the door. She began to cry softly, tears flowing down her cheeks and spotting her shirt.
"It's okay, Carly, it's just a vase. We can just buy a new one," Eya shook her head. "It's okay, I promise. Do you want something to eat?" She tried to distract the smaller girl, hoping food would take her mind off of what she'd done.
Carly shook her head violently, sobbing even harder than before. She dropped her head onto her knees and covered her face with her hands as the sobs became uncontrollable.
"Carly, you don't have to cry," Ivy piped up, joining Eya on the floor next to the girl. "It's all cleaned up, see?" She pointed to the doorway. Carly didn't respond to their attempts at comforting her, she just continued crying into her hands.
Eya and Ivy exchanged glances. Neither one of them knew what they were supposed to do. Sighing softly, Eya motioned towards the door.
"Go ahead, she doesn't need to be there when you buy her clothes," Eya said. "Just get whatever you think she needs, I'll stay here with her."
Ivy nodded silently. Eya scooted closer to Carly and slowly reached out to place a hand on the small girl's back. Carly continued crying, and the two roommates felt completely powerless. Sighing, Ivy grabbed her purse and gave Eya one last sympathetic wave before slipping out the door.
***
For the next hour, no matter what Eya said, Carly continued crying. Eya sat quietly next to her, even considering texting Deanna for help a few times. But she refrained, knowing it was a bad idea.
"My Didi," Carly whispered, looking up slowly and scanning the apartment. Eya glanced over at the girl, whose cheeks were now tear stained. Carly looked pleadingly at her.
"Deanna's at school right now, Carly," Eya sighed. There was no way she could fix that problem for the other girl. She saw the look of disappointment on Carly's face. Without another word, Carly crawled to her feet and shuffled up the stairs. Confused, Eya followed close behind.
Carly tiptoed into Deanna's room and went straight for the bed. Eya peeked her head in the door, finding the smaller girl nestled under the covers. Sighing heavily, Eya closed the door to Deanna's bedroom to try and give Carly some peace and quiet.
***
Meanwhile, Deanna was aimlessly scrolling through her phone in the library of her college. She had a 20 minute break in between classes and never knew how to occupy her time. While scrolling through Facebook, she saw a familiar face on her 'Recommended Friends' list.
She quickly clicked on the user's profile, recognizing Sydney Marx as one of the volleyball player that Carly was friends with in high school. Deanna had never thought of contacting them before.
For some odd reason, she felt guilty for looking through Carly's past life. But she decided that she needed some sort of explanation for how Carly had ended up on their doorway. Sydney's profile was public, so Deanna began scrolling through her photos.
Carly wasn't featured in anything recent, but Deanna finally recognized the younger girl's face in an album of photos from the first party of the summer, celebrating their high school graduation. Deanna and her roommates hadn't been present. They were already on the road to New York.
It was obvious that everyone at the party was either drunk or high. Or both. Deanna bit her lip as she scrolled through the pictures, going back even earlier. She found pictures of Carly with the volleyball team, smiling brightly. Deanna got the chills from looking at these photos and thinking just how different Carly seemed, compared to how she'd been in high school.
She paused on a certain picture, though, raising her eyebrows. It was a picture of all the volleyball players and their boyfriends, Carly included. Deanna had completely forgotten that Carly was dating someone at the time that they graduated. She furrowed her eyebrows together, thinking for a moment. What was his name? Scott?
His name had been Scott, Deanna remembered. She crinkled her nose at the mention of his name, wondering when he and Carly had ended.
She reached the end of Sydney's photos, and slumped back in her chair. She was still dying for information. Checking the time, Deanna realized she had ten minutes left until she had to leave for her next class. Gathering her things, she made her way over to the computer in the corner of the library.
Taking a deep breath, convincing herself that this was the right thing to do, Deanna opened a new tab and started hesitantly at the screen. A few moments later, she typed 'Carly Hernandez' into the search bar and hit enter before she could change her mind.
Seconds later, the results popped up and Deanna scanned them with baited breath. The first news article that appeared made her gasp. She quickly looked around to see if anyone had heard her, and luckily she hadn't caught anyone's attention.
"Car accident leaves Miami student in fatal condition, authorities are still on the search for the students involved."
Deanna had to remind herself to breathe and she quickly scrolled down.
She nearly gasped again when she saw the picture of the completely totaled car. Upon further inspection, Deanna realized the car was upside down at the bottom of a ditch. Surprisingly enough, she knew exactly where the picture had been taken.
She hesitated before scrolling down to the actual article. Did she want to know? Of course she did. She was just scared. Shaking it off, Deanna scrolled down and leaned in closer to the screen.
"Last night, a Miami Trooper called in an overturned car at the bottom of a ditch bordering Grove Street. Police believed the car to be abandoned, but upon further inspection they found the body of 18-year-old Carly Hernandez, a student from Miami."
"Hernandez was revived at the scene and rushed to the hospital, where she remains in critical condition. The other occupants of the car are yet to come forward. Any information regarding the accident should be reported directly to the Miami Police."
Deanna brought her hand to her face, wiping the tears that had brimmed her eyes. Things were starting to slowly make sense, but she was still left with millions of unanswered questions. She scanned the related articles out of curiosity and quickly clicked the first one that caught her eye.
"UPDATE: Miami students involved in severe car crash provide critical information"
Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself for what was to come.
"The car accident that left 18-year-old Carly Hernandez in critical condition last Tuesday is still undergoing investigation. The students involved in the collision have been brought forward and questioned."
"Police revealed that two cars had been involved in a reckless driving incident while coming home from a school party. Both students at the wheel were under the influence of alcohol at the time. The vehicles were racing around the corner when the car Hernandez inhabited lost control and rolled into the a ditch on the side of the road. The other car involved in the accident has yet to be found."
"The driver of the car, Hernandez's alleged boyfriend, survived unharmed. He claimed he hadn't realized Carly was in the car, due to his drunken state. Instead of calling for help, Hernandez's boyfriend simply left the scene. Hernandez was found over an hour later by a Miami Trooper and revived on the way to the hospital. Hernandez is said to have been completely sober upon arrival at the hospital."
Hernandez remains in critical condition. Sources revealed that she suffered from a broken leg, a severe cut that required over 100 stitches, and a fractured skull. The doctors also believe that the accident was so violent that it caused a traumatic brain injury.
The Hernandez family has yet to speak out regarding the accident.
Deanna's blood boiled when she realized who had been driving during the accident. Carly had been sober, too. Everyone at school knew that Carly didn't drink. She never had said why, though. Checking the time, Deanna groaned.
She slung her bag over her shoulder, and exited out of the tabs and trudged to her next class. Now, a million new questions began circulating in her head. She wanted to get home. She couldn't keep this to herself for much longer, and she knew she needed to show her roommates what she had found. More importantly, she needed to talk to Carly.
While Deanna suffered through her last class, Ivy was out shopping for Carly as Eya stayed home with the distraught girl. Pulling into the parking lot of the shopping mall, Ivy jogged inside just as it started to rain.
She wasn't exactly sure what to get Carly. All the girl had worn since she'd been there were Deanna's t-shirts. Ivy strolled into Urban Outfitters and purchased a few baggy t-shirts, hoping they'd do the trick.
As she continued shopping, she ended up in Forever 21. There was a rack of adorable summery dresses against the wall, and Ivy immediately thought of Carly. Giving into temptation, she bought a couple dresses and a pair of comfortable converse.
She made her rounds through the store, and ended up buying a few pairs of leggings and pajama pants along the way. Once she was finished, she had a handful of bags and a long list of receipts. Ivy headed back to her car, hoping that she'd done a good enough job.
Once she made it back to the apartment, she found Eya in the kitchen, poking at a leftover piece of pizza. She looked just as exhausted as Ivy felt.
"Hey," Ivy sighed, placing the shopping backs on the island. "Where's Carly?"
"Where do you think?" Eya raised an eyebrow. Ivy laughed softly, not responding since she knew exactly where the smaller girl was.
"She cried for over an hour, Ivy," Eya sighed and leaned against the counter. "I couldn't get her to calm down."
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ivy asked, biting her lip and hopping up on the counter so she could face Eya.
"Letting her get this close to Deanna and all... I mean, you know how Deanna is."
Eya nodded, knowing what her roommate meant. "We can talk to Di once she gets home."
"Di?" Ivy smirked.
Eya raised an eyebrow. "What? It fits," she laughed, knowing she'd accidentally used Carly's nickname for Deanna. There was a long pause of silence, and then the sound of keys jostling in the front door.
"Speak of the devil," Ivy mumbled, causing Eya to laugh. Deanna appeared moments later, tossing her backpack onto the couch.
"Where's Carly?" she asked, jogging into the kitchen and looking around anxiously.
"Upstairs," Eya nodded once and grabbed Deanna's arm before she could run off. "We need to talk to you about something, Deans."
"Me too, actually," Deanna breathed out a nervous laugh and motioned for the girls to follow her into the living room.
***TO BE CONTINUED***
a/n:
there's 3 (possibly 4?) big reveals about Carly throughout the fic. the first one was in this chapter. it's not going to explain EVERYTHING, but things are starting to piece themselves together, if that makes sense.
(Sorry for the typos if ever may na encounter kayo XD)
Chapter 8-10 lang for now.
Next update will be on date I don't know :)
have a great day. ily all.