U N T O L D
T R U T H
chapter thirty seven
"Violet, can you come downstairs please?" Mom's oddly calm voice that shouts through the house stops me from completing my homework. I frown since normally she would yell loudly or come and get me.
I close the thick book with a sign and grab my throw blanket so I can wrap it around myself. School today was perfectly normal for a Friday, except for the painful cold air constantly freezing my skin. Being sick doesn't help my situation.
I walk down the stairs and step into the living room where it sounded like she was. Already I feel short of breath from something as simple as walking down the stairs. Instantly, I notice my mom is not the only one in the house. There are a few other men, all three of them dressed in police attire.
"There's no need to worry." One of the unfamiliar officers says to me when I stop in the entrance. A million different questions swarm my eyes, making me glance at mom to see how she is reacting. She oddly is calm. "We're just here to pass on information from the detective. He's too busy to be here at the moment."
"What's going on?" Mom questions. Sounding rather professional when I can see she internally would be panicking more than I can. I can't think past my swollen body and constant fevers.
"The young boy who had broken into your home and attacked Violet has been handed into police custody." The officers answer forces stress and anxiety off my chest- allowing me to breath in though about it. "He had shown up at a hospital a few towns over with an infection in his blood that was weakening him badly. Obviously the materials he used weren't removed when he stitched himself up and he contracted an infection."
"That's good news." Mom sighs loudly and places a hand over her heart. "What does this all mean now?"
"We'll he was barely a thirty minute drive from here, so he was relatively close." The Officer informs us. My fingers curl tighter around my blanket to seek some sort of grounding. "He has been treated and is in questioning now so we can find the other men and trace his mobile to help."
Mom continues to ask her questions as my brain is incapable of forming my own. "Would the whole attack be apart of Anthony Graham's trial?"
"We are hoping to have them all in custody soon m'am. The young man definitely is going to help speed the investigation. But yes, Anthony Graham will be the overall trial for everyone since they all were involved from him. Everyone will be facing their own separate charges."
I haven't once thought about what it would be like sitting in a courtroom filled with the people who had taken Sebastian Reynolds's life and left mine to crumble away. The image of it all terrifies me, although it's something I would go through to be safe and know they are all in jail.
"We have spoken to the parents of the other two children from Anthony Graham about this, but we want you all to feel safe since we now more officers patrolling areas more regularly. If you have any concerns, just give us a call."
The officer finishes speaking. The new movement from them all shows their indication to leave our house. "We will, thank you for stopping by today." Mom leads them out of the living room and towards the front door.
I close my eyes for a moment, taking a breather to process the good news. I am happy that the boy is in police custody now, it is one less thing for me to worry about. Hopefully this all will be dealt with sooner or later.
I decide to head back up to my room slowly since my body and mind is craving to curl in bed and sleep. It definitely feels good to be able to sleep again, but all those missed hours are catching up on me.
As much as I want to dive onto my bed as I enter my room, I can't since I had promised Camila I would have dinner at her house tonight. Her parents are out of two for the weekend, so she has asked myself, Dianna, and Flynn to come over for pizza and movies.
I wanted to decline, feeling how weak and exhausted my body is. I could handle feeling sick, but I seem completely drained now.
My phone that sits on my bed buzzes, so I glance at the lit screen to see a message from Camila awaiting me to read and respond.
Camila:
Hey girl, where are you?! The Davis's are already here.
I glance at my clock after reading her message, discovering I already am late to the set time that we are suppose to be at my blonde friend's house. With a small grown I tear the blanket from my body and toss it onto the bed.
I take my phone and car keys off the bedside table and begin my track back down the stairs which yet again steals the air from my lungs. "Are you going to Camila's now?" Mom asks as I pass her down the hall.
"Yep. I have my fingers crossed it doesn't snow before I leave tonight so I can be back." I tell mom whilst slipping on my shoes. I don't have the energy to tie the laces up.
"Take some spare clothes in your car incase?" Mom suggests but I shake my head. I don't want to go all the way back upstairs to get clothes when I can borrow Camila's.
"It should be okay. I'll see you later." I bid my farewell before stepping outside the house into the immediate blaze of ice cold wind. The grass is already frozen over and there already is a light fall of snow.
I hope it will stay like this for the rest of the night, just enough snow to make your clothes damp when walking in it. I unlock my car and settle myself in by cranking the heat as high as I can.
It's only a short drive to Camila's since Hamilton is small and compact, so before I know it I am parking my car along the kerb where the familiar Davis car is sitting in front.
I turn the car off and tuck the cold keys into the pocket of my thick coat I 'borrowed' off mom several years ago. I fell in love with the red, black, and white tartan pattern- so I couldn't resist taking it. She didn't mind since she had swapped her coats alike this out for plain ones.
My body protests getting out of the car, the simple task easily is a lot harder than I remember it being. But after a struggle and dragging my feet up the pebble path the the cream coloured house, I freely let myself in as the door is unlocked.
"Violet, is that you?" I hear Camila call through her large warm house. I run my hands together to get rid of the numbness.
"Yeah it is." I call back with a slight croak in my voice. I grimace at the sound. I cannot wait to let this cold blow over and I will be as energetic as ever.
I walk down the long hall that is decorated with pictures of the Beckett family, taking a turn into the large archway which leads to her lounge room. As I suspected, all of my friends are there sprawled out on the two couches.
Camila had also invited Liam tonight in hopes he and Flynn would spend more time getting to know each other. So far it was all working, and the two are able to have a conversation. It may be a very awkward conversation, but it is a start.
"Here she is, as late as ever!" Camila sings out when I walk into the large space. I glare playfully at her as she stuffs a crisp in her mouth. "Where the hell have you been?"
I scan the room to find a free seat, preferably on the sofa since my body would not settle with the ground. The two girls occupy one couch to their selves as they are stretched out, and the boys are spaced on each side of the other.
I decide on sitting myself beside Flynn, his arm immediately falling from off the back of the couch and onto my shoulders. "Sorry, I was caught up in homework." There a several bowls placed on the glass coffee table, each being filled with different flavour chips and candy. "And the police had stopped by to give updates. The guy who broke into my house has been arrested since he showed up in a hospital with an infection in his blood system from his wounds."
"Woah, woah- someone broke into your house?" Liam questions while Camila and Dianna burst with sighs or an enthusiastic clap in Camila's case.
"She didn't tell you?" Dianna leans forward from the couch to look past the blonde girl beside her. I shake my head at her, silently answering her question. "A guy basically tried attacking Violet in her own house, but she kicked his ass back with knives." Dianna openly fills Liam on what happened while I lean further into the sofa so I can relax and zone out. It's taking all my strength not to fall asleep- I definitely want a coffee now. "I'll tell you what, I almost passed out when I saw all the blood in your kitchen. I still think I need a shrink."
"Violet!" A loud and feminine voice booms, my heart rate accelerating as I shoot upwards with my eyes now open. "You're falling asleep, and it's only five thirty." Camila stares back at me.
I blink a few times to focus my vision so it isn't as blurry. "Camila, you just about gave her a heart attack!" Liam laughs out in protest, but I chose to continue ignoring them so I can rest.
Camila made tonight compulsory, so I can't be held responsible if all the lost sleep is catching up to me. "Come on-" someone forces my eyes open again when they pull my hands so I have to get off the couch. "Camila, where is your tea bags and painkillers?"
I regain more awareness and energy when I see Flynn Davis standing in front of me and with his arm holding me around my waist. "I'm awake, I'm awake." I repeat now that I am standing on my feet.
"In the kitchen, tea is is the glass cars and painkillers are all in the red jewellery box thingy on the other side of the bench." Camila explains despite my protest about being awake. The idea of painkillers and coffee sobers me up.
I am forced to walk out of her lounge room and towards the end of the hall where the Beckett family kitchen is. "Tomorrow if you're not any better, please can you go to the hospital to get checked out?" Flynn asks me once we enter her large and bright kitchen.
There is a large marble bench in the middle with a smaller version of a crystal chandelier hanging above it. All the cupboards behind the bench are lined with glass and stainless white handles. The whole kitchen screams 'rich'. Even the crystal glasses are perfectly lined in their cupboard, something that is too fancy for me.
"I will." I promise Flynn and lean against the cold marble and he starts to fill the electric cream coloured kettle with water. "I don't think I can handle being this exhausted all the time."
There was nothing worse than spending my birthday yesterday sick, while everyone wanted to celebrate it. Besides, I barely could focus in class since I constantly wanted to take a nap.
"Here, take these." Flynn turns around and holds his hand out which has two pills sitting on his palm. I stare at them for a moment, knowing I can't take them. "I get that you shouldn't have them, but once wouldn't hurt if you are this sick, right? If it was really bad surely they would of found a way around it."
"Should I start by having the tea first, then see how I feel?" I suggest. "I had to take sleeping pills in Penn Sterling, so avoiding all forms of medication for a while is my best option to not freak mom out."
"Vi-" he places the pills down on the bench. "Are you okay? I mean with not having them anymore, and after taking them again?"
I nod through the slight headache that is lingering in my head. "Yeah, oddly enough." I sigh out and glance behind him at the kettle which is boiling loudly. "I have actually been able to sleep normally lately, and I have been doing pretty much all of the things google recommended to detox and aid kidneys."
Flynn moves forward and rests both hands either side of the bench beside me. "It's a start. My best guess is that if it was that much of a worry for you to take something as week as a painkiller- they wouldn't of let you leave the hospital without other forms of treatment. Maybe it's just medication that leaves your kidneys vulnerable to infection."
"Maybe." I hum softly back, finding no need to speak any louder since he is right in front of me. Somehow every time he is close, even after knowing him for so long, I still feel unable to keep myself composed.
Through the thickness of my fever and exhaustion, I feel my heartbeat begin to rise and lungs function unsteadily.
Flynn dips his head down to my height in order to have his lips on mine. He ignores my cold and any chance of catching it. It has felt like forever since we last had a moment alone together.
My hands leave their place from beside my body to wrap around the back of his neck to pull myself flush against Flynn. I feel his own hands slide around the back of my waist and venture low enough to rest on my backside.
My chest tightens in a plead for oxygen while my lips are busy moving in sync with Flynn's. I separate my lips from his and draw in air as soon as I can. I can't even walk up the stairs without being out of breath, so kissing Flynn felt like running a marathon that never ends.
The kettle clicks loudly. "Perfect timing." He grins and steps away to tend to the boiling water and tea bags. I watch him pour the kettle's water into a plain grey mug which has a tea bag floating inside it. "Here we go."
After placing the kettle back on its stand, Flynn holds the mug out for me. "Thank you." I take it carefully, yet I almost drop it since it was a lot heavier than I remember small mugs being.
My hand that curl around the handle can barely hold it tight enough to feel secure, so I have to balance it between both hands. Even with them both, I don't feel capable enough to hold it. "Let's go back to everyone, and I'll find you a blanket to use."
"This is the fanciest take out dinner I have seen in a long time." Liam says as we all walk into the Beckett family dinning room. Camila had decided to order take away instead of cooking, and once she set it up on the table it became a totally different meal.
"I feel like I should be in a dress and not jeans. Why didn't you tell me your family and house was this fancy?" Dianna pulls out a chair for herself and sits beside Camila.
Flynn pulls out two seats beside each other across from the girls, him sitting in one and I slide into the other while Liam takes the end of the table on my side. "Because they are fancy, not me." Camila tells Dianna.
My eyes dance over the varieties of foods, mainly all coming from the small Italian restaurant we have in Hamilton. It's the only and best one we have here. Everyone starts loading portions of each onto the plates Camila set out for us.
Since discovering that my exhaustion has taken a toll on my physical strength, I have started to feel how weak I have become. As soon as we are finished eating, I'll have to leave immediately to get enough sleep to function tomorrow.
I reach for a large spoon to dish myself some pasta, and just by doing so the task is a lot harder than I would think. The spoon itself feels too heavy. I give up half way through what I originally intended to serve myself, and move onto getting food than I can just place on my plate.
I decide that I have enough to start off with, so I pick up my fork- the weight of the silver stressing my fingers. I try my hardest not to groan in frustration because I am incapable of simple tasks.
I can't hear my friends talking around me. Their words and laughs are all blurs as I focus on at least trying to stab the fork through the pasta. The weak grip I have on the cutlery isn't enough to do so, since my fingers slide down it.
This all is frustrating me too much. I have no clue where all of this sudden new features to my cold have come from. I drop the fork onto my plate which stops the conversations around me.
"I'll be back in a minute, I need to go to the bathroom." I say to fill the silence and stand from the table, my legs already feeling weak enough to collapse under my body weight.
I avoid looking at anyone since I don't doubt that I would of snapped with a temper because of my frustration.
I disappear from the dinning room and let myself walk slowly down the extremely long hall where one of the bathrooms is. I crave feeling icy cold water against my skin.
My chest heaves in desperation for more air, and my body for a break. Coming to Camila's for dinner was a bad idea, and now that the snowfall has gotten worse- the chances of having to stay here the night are very likely.
My eyelids start to droop against my will in a plead to be shut. Deep breaths, I remind myself. I stop walking. I can't handle fighting the exhaustion any longer. The hallway in front of me only seems to stretch out longer.
My knees bend and dig into the carpet. I just need time to rest and recover, then I will be okay. I lay on my back, finally my throbbing limbs resting. I can feel them all pulse rapidly.
My eyes had already shut in the process of collapsing comfortably onto the floor. I need the rest too much to even think about getting to a bed.
Laying still in the silence of the hallway allows me to feel everything. My lungs are struggling more than usual, the feeling can almost be compared to drowning. Every muscle in my body aches, and my heart is beating at an abnormal pace that is hurting my ribs.
"Violet?" Faintly, I can recognise Liam Fields's voice from afar. I can't reply to him as much as I try to peel my eyes open or lift my hand. I'm stuck. I feel the heat of my panic warm my whole body while I stay unmoving. "Violet, oh my god! Guys get here now!"
All the shouting is stopping me from letting my mind slip from reality and let me rest. I feel more than one pair of hands on me, and numerous voices shouting.
"Camila call an ambulance!"
"They'll never get here and back in the snow! What the hell are we suppose to do! Dianna, call her mom now!"
I can hear the two girls shouting in the distance, I assume at each other. I want to tell them all to stop. I can't as much as I try. I don't know what is happening to me, but I can feel my entire body swelling and struggling to get air in my lungs.
"Vi, Vi can you hear me?" Flynn's voice fades into the mix as I feel cold fingers press to the side of my throat- I assume to check my pulse. "Come on Vi, I need you to open your eyes for me. You're going to be okay, we're here." I'm only caving into the rest that my body is begging me for, but it has turned into more chaos than I thought.
"Flynn she's barely breathing! We need to get her to the hospital now!" Liam's shout slices into my head, piercing the headache I have started to get.
All their voices and girl's sobs get quieter and quieter as my mind starts to free from thoughts. Everything is slowly fading into the darkness that I would see for a split moment before being able to sleep.
I feel their presence and my pain, then- nothing.
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Hi all!
So, 2020 is definitely turning into more a sadder year than we thought. Not only has everything that recently has happened(ing), but the man who starred in Lord Of The Rings as Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) had passed away yesterday, and today some horrible news in regards to Ansel Elgort has been revealed. I'm horrified if what has been said is true.
The world I knew and grew up with his slowly changing into something I never thought it would be like. All in one year too.
All I can stress is that everyone is safe, healthy, and fighting for what they believe in. You need to put yourself first and care for those you love.
Don't change yourself because of society standards or people in society. Be you.
Until Next Time,
Hannah