Chapter 20

After a while when Kayla was finally done with crying Parker's mom walked her back to Kayla's house. "I don't know what to do." "It's alright darling. They too know that it's their fault so don't think too much. Barge right in there and say ' I'm back mother fuckers and I won't leave till the day I die!'" "Hehehe. Thank you mam but I won't do that." "Finally! I could finally hear those laughs! No wonder my son fell for it. It's just like what he said." "What?" "It's angelic and healing." "He said that?" "Not to me of course. I heard him talking to his pal." "I will get going then. Thank you for today mam." "No biggie baby girl. Bye!"

Kayla quietly entered the house and ran to her room. She quickly locked the door and saw Parker and Cosmos sitting on her bed. "What are you guys doing here?" Cosmos quickly hugged her. "Cosmos you are suffocating me." Kayla said while trying to push him away. "Where were you? We called you so many times. Everybody was worried sick about you." Cosmos said while looking her dead in the eyes. "Really? I had no idea." "Why would you say that?" "I don't know. Maybe because no one looked for me."

"You got to be kidding. As soon as you left, your uncle came to Cosmos's house and asked if you were with us and when we said no he literally started panicking. Believe me or not Kayla but that man was almost at the verge of crying. Your sister was bawling her eyes and started looking for you everywhere. Your dad started cursing himself. EVERYBODY WAS FUCKING LOOKING FOR YOU!! ALL OF US WERE DEAD SCARED THAT YOU TOOK YOUR LIFE!" Parker was yelling at this point while Cosmos tried calming him down. "Parks stop. You're scaring her." "WELL SHE SHOULD BE! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?! WHY DO YOU ONLY THINK ABOUT YOURSELF! I'M TIRED OF YOU BEING THIS WAY! YOU TRYING TO -" "PARKS!" Cosmos couldn't hold it in and yelled at his friend. "No. Don't stop him Cosmos. Continue Parker. You're tried of me acting like the victim all the time? Say it out loud." All of Kayla's family had now entered her room and were silently witnessing the situation.

"C'mon Parker. Why'd you stop? Say it out loud. SAY THAT I'M AN ATTENTION SEEKING BITCH! SAY THAT I'M JUST LIKE MY MOM! ALWAYS TRYING TO CREATE PROBLEM! SAY THAT I DESERVED EVERYTHING! SAY THAT I WAS AT THE FAULT FOR EVERYTHING! SAY THAT YOU CAN'T DEAL WITH ME ANYMORE! I know all of you wanted to say that to me anyway. But do you know why I'm like this? Want to know? Fine then I'll tell you guys. CASSIE! DO YOY KNOW WHY I DON'T FACETIME WITH THE KIDS AND ACT LIKE I DON'T MISS THEM?! IT'S NOT BECAUSE I DON'T MISS THEM! I MISS THEM ALMOST ALL THE TIME THAT IT FEELS LIKE I'M GOING TO DIE! BUT I DON'T SHOW IT BECAUSE THEIR DAD SEXUALLY ASSAULTED ME! AND I DON'T HAVE THE GUTS TO FACE HIM! AND UNCLE DEAREST! HOW COULD I FORGET YOU! YOU MADE ME FEEL HOMELESS AND MISERABLE! AND I DO ADMIT THAT YOU DIDN'T BEAT ME PHYSICALLY BUT YOU BEAT ME OUT MENTALLY! AND YOU'RE WIFE WOULD ALWAYS ADD TO MY PAIN! DAD YOU JUST MESSED UP MY WHOLE LIFE BECAUSE YOU NEVER HAD TIME FOR US BUT YOU ALWAYS HAD THE TIME TO DRINK! I KNOW YOU GUYS WON'T ADMIT IT BUT I SAID IT. NOW IT'S UP TO YOU WHETHER YOU WANT TO ACCEPT THAT FACT OR NOT! CAUSE I'M DONE!" Kayla was about to leave again but all of them stopped her this time. They hugged her and begged her to not leave. Kayla didn't calm down until all of them had left her room.

The next day Kayla's uncle entered her room and Kayla just ignored him. "Kayla. Look I'm sorry for everything. I know I'm a jerk for making you feel like this all the time but I did that because you never talked to us. I know that's not an excuse for me to treat you this way but I'm really sorry. I am sincerely sorry for everything." With that Kayla's uncle left her room while Kayla bawled her eyes out. Kayla was just done when her dad entered her room. "Kayla I'm sorry. I never thought that I destroyed you so much. I was too focused on myself that I couldn't give you any time. I promise that I'll quit drinking if I could see you smile again. I love you dear and so does your uncle but he feels awkward to say that so he made me say it. You don't have to get up if you don't want to. I respect your wishes." With that he too left and then it was Cassie's turn to enter the room. "Hey sis! I know you won't respond to me but if you can just listen then that will be enough for me. Look. I had no idea about why you were so silent. I thought that it was some sort of phase but I was wrong. I didn't know that you were going through hell and I'm sorry I couldn't see that. I'm sorry for saying that you always pretended to be the victim. I'm sorry that I couldn't see that underneath all that anger was a child who was dying each minute. I'm sorry for everything you've been through. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you. I'm sorry for not being able to be a good sister." Cassie left the room still crying. Just when Kayla had thought that everything had ended Parker entered the room. "K?" He didn't get a response so he pulled Kayla up. "K. I'm sorry for yelling at you yesterday. I didn't mean any of those words. I was just so afraid that I had lost you that I couldn't hold in my anger. I love you and I regret my actions really. I'm sorry." Kayla just stared at him with puffy eyes until he left the room and after he was gone Cosmos walked in. "K? You okay?" Cosmos hugged his friend and for the first time Kayla hugged him back. "Yeah. I'm so happy right now. I feel like my heart is going to explode." "Then why are you crying?" "I don't know. I just feel so cared for." "That's okay. Cry it all out and then we can go downstairs. Everyone is waiting for you."

Kayla didn't respond and kept on crying. "Thank god I don't have school today or else I would have looked so odd." "I know right. Now get yourself together we're going downstairs." Kayla nodded and left the room with Cosmos to find her stepdad sitting on the couch while her family surrounded him with angry glares. "You bitch! How dare you lie! You-" Before her stepdad could say anything more to Kayla, Kayla's dad punched him right across the face. "Sit down you piece of shit." Kayla's uncle said in a serious tone to which Kayla's stepdad obliged. Kayla awkwardly sat down on the couch. "Apologize to her right now!" Cassie yelled at her stepdad. "Why should I?" Her stepdad said in a mocking tone. "Listen here you douchebag. If you don't apologize to her right this instant. I will be the one punching you this time and trust me when I say this. By the time cops arrive here, you won't be in the state to die or live."

Kayla's uncle warned him which scared the shit out of her stepdad so much that he was begging on Kayla's feet. "I'm sorry Kayla. I know what I did was wrong but can you forgive me just this once. I have two kids to raise for christ's sake. Do you want them to end up as an orphan? Do you want them to live pitifully?"

"Pitifully? You didn't think about me that way when you sexually assaulted me at that time? I was 15 back then. Didn't you feel any sort of guilt when you passed out sexual remarks about my body with your friend. Didn't you feel bad for me? You ruined my life so much that I tried to kill myself three times. You ruined me so much that I couldn't eat after that. I kept on starving myself so I wouldn't look appealing to others. I kept on blaming myself so much that I still have cuts everywhere on my body. I became so afraid of physical touch that I would feel like a slut whenever someone hugged me." Kayla paused to find that her uncle was almost at the verge of strangling her stepdad. "Kayla what do you want to do with him? Just say the word and daddy will kill him." "Yes and I will make sure to hide his body so we'll that no one will be able to find his body even after a million years." Her uncle added. "Yes Kayla. Just say the word. No matter what your decision is, we will support you." Cassie was crying at this point. "Just let him go. After all he is the father of my two siblings. And I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for the two kids who I raised as my own." No sooner Kayla said those words her stepdad went running for the door. "Why'd you let him go?" Cosmos angrily asked her. "I don't want to ruin his life just like mine. He will learn his lesson one day and even if he doesn't it's okay. I just got to learn to live with that fact." "Even though it means that you'll be the one to hurt." Her uncle said in a soft tone. "It's okay. I have other people to focus on now."