Page 153 of Under the Waves
I loved her. Idid.
Young and naive, I didn’t care.
I knew my heart and my heart had chosen her.
That was all the proof I needed.
I knew she had trouble trusting others, it came as no surprise to me after learning more about her past…but I would wait for her because unlike everyone else in her life, I believed she was worth waiting for.
“Close your eyes, Wellsy,” I whispered, idly drawing small patterns across her stomach. “You’re safe with me.”
49
Poppy Wells
Iknew something was wrong before I even stepped foot inside my broken home.
“You lied, Poppy.” My mother’s words greeted me like a slap to the face as soon as I opened the door. “You kept all of these from me!” She snarled, throwing a handful of dirtied envelopes and pieces of letters at me. “You kept him from me!”
I stared down at the letters kissing my ankles, but their sweet remarks only gave me paper cuts.
“You are a selfish young girl, Poppy Wells. I thought I raised you better than this!” She yelled at me, but her words had no effect on me. I was numb to her now.
Numb. Numb. Numb.
“You didn’t raise me at all!” I screamed back at her before slapping my hands acrossmy mouth in shock.
No, no, no…
She reeled backwards as if I had slapped her clean across the face. Shock melted across her solemn, sharp features as her eyes widened. “What did you just say to me?”
I flinched. Shaking my head, my fingers pinched their favorite spot behind my neck.
“Nothing,” I whispered, “nothing. J-just f-forget about it…”
I tried to walk past her. I tried a lot of things, actually. I didn’t know why I expected them to work. They never did.
Just close your eyes, Poppy.
You’re back with Jasper.
Tangled in his bedsheets.
Watching Marvel movies.
Grabbing my wrist, she slammed my back against the door before dropping a bag at my feet. It was the same bag I used to have in middle school. Its once dark green colors were dirtied and faded, just like the memories I had of that place. Just like the little girl who used to walk down those halls.
I remembered every comment. Every fit of giggles that erupted every time I walked down the hallway. And Miya…I remembered every single thing she and her little minions did to me. Every clump of hair they butchered from my head when I wasn’t looking. Every piece of cafeteria food they threw at me across the dining hall. Every joke, every hit, every scratch and tear of their nails…
A shudder ran through me. I knew I didn’t deserve to be treated like that. I knew…IknewI should’ve told someone,anyone…but who would’ve believed me? The teachers saw what she did to me. The nurses saw every bruise, every scrape, every cut of skin and drop of blood. Yet…they stayed quiet.
They defendedher.
Miya was by far the worst, physically, but Hanna and Milla…they were just as bad. They stood by her, watched her do every single thing and never once stepped between us. They witnessed her berate me, bully me, harass and humiliate and almostkillme…yet, they never said anything. They never tried to stop it. Stopher.
It was evident, every damned time, that they both didn’t want to be there, to take any part in the horrific things she did to me back then. It was them who carried my limp body down to thenurse’s office on multiple occasions, sometimes even dropping me home after Miya and whoever her current boyfriend at the time, along with his mates, decided to ambush me. Bruises, sprains, broken bones…I couldn’t get out of bed for a week straight after that night.
Didn’t return to school for the month that followed.