⋆ CHAPTER EIGHT - FADED EMERALD ⋆

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“When shit doesn't go your way, you need me to fix it, and like me, I did, but I ran out of every reason.

Now suddenly, you're asking for it back. Could you tell me, where'd you get the nerve? Yeah, you could say you miss all that we had. But I don't really care how bad it hurt when you broke me first.”

⋆ CHAPTER EIGHT -  FADED EMERALD ⋆

Michaela thought that she wanted to know the truth, that once she figured out what happened that she could move on, but she was wrong. The truth was more earth-shattering than she thought it would be, but she couldn’t believe that this was true. How could he do this to her? How was this their outcome? She thought that he cared about her, that he wanted the best for her, but he only thought of himself. Josh had no idea what love was because what he did to her did not equal love. Josh was the last person that she thought would ever do this to her, but he did. He did the unforgivable, and he took something away from her. A piece of her that she couldn’t get back. Michaela had been trying to find herself since she returned to California, and she really thought that all of this was in her head, that she could wake up and all of this would be a horrible nightmare. But she never thought that this would be the outcome or that he would be the person behind all of this; she wasn’t the problem because nothing he could say would ever make this better. She could never get over this, nor did she want to. Michaela felt that she couldn’t move on, and even if she wanted to; this constant sinking feeling wouldn’t go away, and even though she had tried to shake the feeling with self-harm, alcohol, and drugs, it wouldn’t go away and the only person that could fix this was him..

The water dripping caused my eyelids to blink, my back resting against the tub as my green eyes skimmed the bathroom. Inhaling and exhaling, my physique was spread out in the lukewarm water, and my head lifted upward. My hues fixated upon the lights, blinking a few times. My thoughts drifted from the past to the present, with no actual thoughts, just empty space. The sound of banging caused my head to snap; the louder the sound got–the faster my heart rate picked up. Fear crept through me, shifting my gaze towards the door. “Michaela, Michaela. Are you almost done? I need help with my outfit.” The words Selina uttered caused me to freeze momentarily; my words stuck in my throat as my eyelids blinked rapidly and my vision blurred as the room around me shifted. “Have you always worn that?” The question circled in her head, blinking a few times, and the room disappeared; my attention landed on Selina, the words that she was speaking were foreign, but before I could speak, she had disappeared. 

My shoulder lifted upward in a nonchalant shrug, and slowly, my naked body started to slip into the water. The blinking of the lights caught my attention as the question that was previously asked resonated within her mind. “Have you always worn that necklace?” Her head tilted slightly, the question still circulating as Selina stormed into the bathroom, and my head shifted towards Selina. “Seriously, I feel like something is missing with this outfit. What do you think?” My emerald eyes shifted from the top of Selina’s head and examined the outfit. “Are you not going to wear any accessories?” Selina shifted on the balls of her heels to examine her outfit, then shifted back to me. “You are so right! Do you still have that gold necklace? It has-.” Before Selina could finish her sentence, I responded. “The emerald one.” Selina’s head nodded a few times as the sound of her heels clicking against the marble tile echoed in my head, shifting from my current position, and languidly my body seeped into the water. “I don’t remember ever seeing you in this.” His words uttered, his bawdy digits glided against the necklace; his touch caused a chill to run down my back, and he stepped into my space, his lips pressed against the shell of my ear. “The emerald in the necklace really brings out the color in your eyes and makes you look really beautiful.” His words continued to circulate in my head; the room fully shifted back into the bathroom, my hand shaking slightly as I slowly placed it against my neck; fingers brushed against my exposed neck, and the tears in my eyes fell down my porcelain features as my head rattled. “No, no, no..It can’t be true; it just can’t be true..The necklace.” Pausing momentarily, the tears welling in my eyes as the pounding of my heart increased, fingers clung to my neck as my eyes shifted around; the blade in my other hand as I slowly dropped my hand, piercing the blade into my wrist as the crimson color liquid dripping into the water. Her head throbbed as her body gradually sank to the water that was no longer clear. Her eyelids fluttered shut, and her words uttered in a hushed tone, “I'm sorry, daddy. This is all my fault.” The words hung in the air because I realized the truth, that night was the beginning and end of her sanity. How could I really move on now? How can I continue to live this life? This pain was constant, the pain never ending as I pieced more things together; the more I wanted to die. 

“Okay, bitch, I couldn’t find the neck-.” Selina’s words stopped; her eyes widened at the sight of Michaela, her head shaking as she dropped to her knees and tears sliding down her face. “Michaela, no..You promised, not again–not again..”

“𝕎𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕟 𝕠𝕟 𝕡𝕖𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕤, 𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥'𝕤 𝕤𝕦𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕕𝕖 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕖.”