She’s finally asleep. We’re a few minutes away from the hospital but she’s finally asleep so I tell my dad to drive to our place instead. He doesn’t try to talk me out of it. They spent about ten minutes trying to get me to stay in my bed before finally agreeing to get Florence with me. They know it’s not worth arguing about and they care about her too.
So on our way home we are.
‘I’ll carry her inside. Will you please go back to the hospital now? The doctor said she wanted to keep you overnight for observation,’ my dad says.
‘But she needs to e-‘ I want to protest but my mom cuts me off.
‘Enough, Elija. Please, let me drive you back. She’s sleeping right now and you can call her later,’ she says. She looks genuinely tired and that’s enough to make me shut up. She’s right, I guess. I may not like it but my parents are worried so we’ll do what the doctor said. I just hope we can handle the extra charges.
I hate this system.
I unbuckle my girl’s seatbelt and my dad picks her up, gently so as not to wake her. Then he walks towards our door and my mom and I drive off.
I text my dad to plug Florence’s phone in only for him to tell me he already did. Then I text Kai to check if we have green apples, wondering if I made a mistake by letting her sleep. Shouldn’t she maybe have eaten something first?
But if she ate, she couldn’t lie down for some time and therefore couldn’t sleep. Fuck, this sucks.
–
‘Hey, you feeling better?’ I ask Florence. She just texted me she woke up so I called her. I can hear her laugh over the line.
‘I’m supposed to ask you that,’ she says. ‘But, I’m better, thanks. Sorry for making such a scene, I didn’t mean to freak you out. And your parents, oh god, I’m mortified.’
‘No one’s judging you, Florence. Now, did you eat something?’
‘I literally texted you as soon as I woke up. When was I supposed to eat?’ she asks me, chuckling again.
‘Okay, I get it. There should be green apples, by the way. My dad is out with the twins so you’re probably home alone so just take a look around in the pantry and decide what you want to eat.’
‘I can’t just eat your family’s food. Besides, I should get home soon. My parents are probably worried,’ Florence tells me. I bite my tongue to hold back a comment about how she’s still pretending nothing happened. Losing my temper won’t help though so I take a deep breath and reply calmly.
‘My parents told me about what happened,’ I tell her. The line goes quiet so I check if she’s still there. She is. ‘Did that happen before? With your mother?’
‘No,’ she replies quietly. Man, I wish I could hold her during this conversation but I promised my mom I’d spend another night in the hospital.
‘Did her or your father contact you since?’ I ask.
‘No.’ I clench my fist even as I force my voice to be even. It’s all I can do not to go to her house and have a little talk with her parents.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘I don’t know. I guess I thought if I just didn’t talk about it, it wouldn’t be true. I’m sorry I lied,’ she says quietly.
‘Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry I snapped at you. I shouldn’t have pushed that hard. Now, are you eating yet?’ I ask.
‘Yeah, sure. I’ll go downstairs now but I think I’ll really head home after,’ she tells me, walking down the stairs loud enough for me to hear.
‘It’ll be dark by the time you’ll arrive and you sure as hell won’t take an uber again. Just stay over at my place.’
‘I’d like to talk to my parents,’ she tells me. I groan inwardly. Not that I don’t understand, I just don’t like the idea of her being close to those assholes ever again.
‘Let me at least text Kai. He’ll give you a ride. Or one of the guys. Just promise me you’ll wait for one of them, okay?’
‘Fine,’ she mumbles but I can tell she’s not happy about it.
‘Aww, don’t pout, little one. That’s not how good girls like you behave,’ I tease her only to hear her choking on something. ‘Florence, you okay there?’ I ask.
‘Yeah,’ she says after a while. I smirk to myself.
‘What was that all about?’ I ask.
‘Hm? Nothing,’ she says, sounding very unconvincing.
‘Yeah, you sure about that? You sure you didn’t react to something I said?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she repeats. Such a little liar.
‘Mhm. Sure. You wouldn’t mind if I kept calling you a good girl, then, would you?’ I tease her.
‘No,’ she squeaks. Guess I found a sweet spot there.
‘Good to know. Now, what do you want to say to your parents?’ I ask, getting back on track.
‘I’m not sure. They’ll probably pretend nothing happened but I think I’ll just be upfront and demand answers. They’ve been acting weird recently and I’m sick of being in the dark about it.’
‘You don’t think they’ll hurt you again, do you?’ The words leave my lips with some resistance and I hate to even think about it. Really, no one deserves to be abused at home. The thought of harm coming to Florence, especially in her own home, sits anything but right with me.
‘It’s never happened before. I can’t tell if it was a one-time thing, to be honest. My mother didn’t really seem remorseful after the last time so we’ll just have to see, I guess,’ she answers as if it were nothing. As if we weren’t talking about her getting hurt.
‘You can’t mean that. There must be another way. You could go to the police or something,’ I tell her.
‘Because of what, one slap? They’re my parents, Elija.’
‘So what? They are shitty people!’ I snap.
‘You don’t know them,’ she defends them.
‘I know enough. I know they’ve been treating you like shit when you don’t deserve it and that’s enough!’ Why can’t she see that?
‘They didn’t use to be like that,’ she argues.
‘Stop making excuses for them! People change, Florence.’
‘Which means they can change back!’ she snaps back.
‘That’s not how it works. And even if it were, how long are they going to hurt you before changing again? Are you going to let them abuse you further? Not only verbally but physically now as well? When will you stop clinging to that small shimmer of hope and do what’s good for you? What needs to be done!’
‘Until I can’t do it anymore. Don’t you get it, Elija? They are my parents. They’re all I have,’ she says defeatedly.
‘Don’t say that. There are so many people that care about you, me at the very top of them. But your parents? Florence, they’re ruining you. You’re already starving yourself. How much longer can you carry on? How many panic attacks and blackouts are you away from just not getting back up? I don’t want to see you fade away,’ I tell her. She sighs and sniffles.
‘I’m sorry, I have to try talking to them.’
‘Okay.’ Maybe she’s right. Maybe I’m overreacting because I’m worried and I guess if there’s a chance Florence can salvage her relationship with her parents, it’s worth a try. Doesn’t mean I have to like it. ‘Well, Kai’s on his way. Please text me when you’re home or at least after you had the talk.’
‘Thanks. For understanding and everything else. I know I’m a mess right now but I promise I’ll pull myself together,’ she says and it’s like a slap in the face.
She’s promising me she’ll hide herself behind those façades again, isn’t she? That she’ll do anything she thinks I want her to and behave so it’s the most convenient for the people around her. Meanwhile, all I want is for her to be more selfish and put herself first.
‘I know you think you need to be alright all the time but that’s not true. Please, don’t shut me out because you think it’s getting too messy for me or that I can’t and don’t want to handle it. I can and I want to help. Do you understand that? Otherwise, I’ll keep telling you.’ I hear her chuckle softly.
‘I understand. Thanks. Oh, your brother’s here. Call you later, bye!’ she says quickly. Then she hangs up before I get the chance to say anything else.
‘Bye.’
