Chapter 7: Unexpected Culprit
1080 Words
Astria stayed silent. There was nothing she wanted to say to the aunt of hers who let her daughter trample all over her not too long ago.
Astria was not the type to play the blame game, but she hated those who betrayed her. She hated this aunt of hers who was in the mood to taunt her even on a day like this when Astria lost her father.
"You didn't learn to keep your mouth shut all these years. It took your father's death to teach you how to be quiet, huh?" Her taunt grew ruthless. Astria looked up viciously, eyes stained with red hot anger.
"Don't look at me like this. This is what you did. You don't learn when you should. Always going around provoking the wrong people. Easton taught you everything but not how to be careful around others. It took his life and everything else from you."
Laura resembled her father a lot. They were not twins, but they might as well be twins who were three years apart in age.
Astria was never fond of the scheming aunt of hers, but they were family and her father didn't want to break apart the family he was a part of. Hence they all were more or less pretending most of the time in front of each other.
Now that her father, the glue who held everyone in place, was gone, she didn't care about what came out of her mouth anymore.
Astria had a feeling of how shameless she could get, but her words were poisonous and bitter as well.
"Did you do it?" Astria asked. The guess came out of nowhere. It felt right to blame it all on Laura, who was never satisfied with what was in her hands.
"Did what?" Laura pretended to be unaware. Playing innocent.
"Did you cause this?" Astria mumbled. A bad premonition spread in her heart.
Laura crouched before Astria's sorry figure and smiled ever so slightly to infuriate Astria. She whispered back, "So what if I did?"
"What did you do?!" Astria growled.
Laura's expression stayed the same as she sprouted harsh words, "I killed him."
Astria was on the verge of madness. She couldn't care less about who was around or who was watching. She took out her sharp claws and reached for Laura.
The woman who didn't think twice before ruining her own family did not deserve to live.
"WHY?! WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIE?! WHY?!"
Her claws only managed to leave three bleeding marks on her cheek before her arms were restrained and she was pulled away.
Astria trashed her legs and struggled to slip towards her. She wanted to use all her strength, but the truth was that none of it was left in her. She didn't have anything left to fight for now. The extended claws dug into her own palms, leaving a trail of hot blood on the floor.
Astria stopped struggling when she was dragged out of the house. She slumped on the ground, watching as the door of her childhood home closed on her. Her family was not the same anymore. Father is gone, mother lost her mind, love lost. Unexpectedly, her own aunt was the reason for it.
In some corner of her mind, Astria told herself that she should have known it. She should have been prepared, but the greater part of it told her repeatedly, it was family. It's okay.
Nothing was okay anymore.
Shoulders shook and cries were silent when Astria shed tears.
The weight of a palm rested on her shoulder. She looked up to see Bryce standing above her. Having nothing else to lean against, she placed her head on his leg and cried.
"Everything is gone." Bryce crouched next to her, placing her head on his lap, and ran his fingers through her hair comfortingly, "It's gonna be okay."
Astria finally ran out of tears an hour later. Bryce passed her a new box of tissues. A knotted trash bag full of used tissues sat in between them in the car.
The horrifying night had turned into a restless dawn before she knew it, but the nightmare did not end. It did nothing but glare at Astria's face and repeatedly showed what kind of punishment she was facing in reality.
"Thank you for your help."
Bryce nodded, "Anytime."
"No, really," Astria blew her nose and chuckled sadly, "If I didn't have anyone to comfort me, maybe I would have jumped off something."
"Don't say that!"
Astria was surprised by the stern tone. Her current mentality was so bad that she didn't think he said it that way out of concern. She directly took it for the worse.
"Right. I still have to pay you back."
His jaw ticked. He had to fix this habit of hers as soon as possible. Or else how would he ever manage to spend a day around her, let alone...
Sighing out the irritation accumulating in his body, he started the engine.
"Where are we going?"
Bryce rolled the wheel in one swift motion.
"They surely won't let you stay in the house. I'm taking you back."
"Don't bother. It was my friend's house. I am not going back there ..."
"Why?" Bryce asked.
He read her information last night. It filled him with so much anger against her ex-husband that he had the urge to commit a serious crime and serve honest jail time. Then he thought about Astria and felt a burst of pain for her. He stopped himself from murder and instead decided to drive over and stay a few hours outside the house.
That's when he stumbled upon the scene of such a desperate Astria.
She didn't have anywhere else to go. Where else could she go?
"Ruth must be working right now. I don't have the key," Astria said in a nasal tone, "Take me to a hotel, please."
Her nose was brought red from rubbing it repeatedly with tissues. Her eyes are watery and puffy. The appearance was like a defenseless cat that was bullied. Bryce knew better than anyone that Astria was anything but that. It didn't stop him from empathizing.
Bryce didn't argue this time. He directly drove towards the closest hotel in the city. He decided to stay there as well. It would be better to have her under his nose in case she had a crazy idea later.
"What's the plan then? What now?" Bryce asked.
- Writer
