‹ Prequel: Playing With Fire
Status: In progress! :)

Here Comes the Sun

The Long Day

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I woke up the next morning in a cold sweat. I had dozed off for merely an hour, but the rest of the night had been sleepless. My thoughts wouldn’t stop racing and my imagination was in competition with itself over which scenario was worse – reliving what had happened with Officer Alyssa or if I was pregnant again or not. The day was going to be long and grueling. I hadn’t had a chance to breathe normally for months. More just kept happening and none of us could keep up. I was torn over worrying about Nick and Joe, missing Layla more than anything, and trying to keep my sanity amidst all the drama. It was like I was living in a horror movie with nowhere left to hide.

I quietly crawled out of bed, careful not to wake the two sleeping boys surrounding me. I had been close to Nick all night, making sure he was still breathing. It was a scary idea, but I couldn’t get over my fear of something else happening to him because of me.

Slowly, I tip-toed my way to the bathroom and took a hot shower. Every muscle in my body was sore, aching with pain and exhaustion. I didn’t wash my hair, simply pulling it up into a messy ponytail and letting the curls do their own thing. I skipped out on the makeup, too. The day just didn’t seem worth the effort. With the meeting with Alyssa in the morning and Mandy’s gynecologist in the afternoon, I couldn’t wait until the day was over. I prayed for no more bad news.

When I came out of the bathroom, Nick’s eyes were staring back at mine. He breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

“I really hate waking up and seeing you gone,” he said quietly.

I sadly returned the smile and apologized. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to wake you.”

After crossing the room and taking a seat on the bed, I took his cold, damaged hand in mine.

“It’s alright,” he soothed, “You look beautiful.”

I laughed, looking down at my knees. How he thought I could possibly look beautiful, I had no idea.

“You’re just saying that,” I said.

He pulled my chin up to look at him. “No,” he said, in awe, “I’m not.”

I smiled and gently kissed his forehead.

“Alyssa’s coming today,” I said slowly, dreading the words.

“I know,” he replied, “Joe told me.”

His tone was uneasy. I knew he was just as afraid as I was to relive what had happened, but we had to tell her every little detail. It was the worst part.

“I’m going to go get you some breakfast,” I said, lightly squeezing his hand before getting to my feet.

I stopped at the pile of blankets on the floor and knelt down.

“Joseph, wake up,” I whispered by the end that I thought his head was, receiving a long moan in response.

“Five more minutes, Mom…” he groaned.

“Come on, Alyssa will be here in a little while.”

He suddenly jerked awake and revealed his tear-stained, tired face. I had been seeing that look of fear on his face for quite a while but could never get fully used to it.

“Sorry, KC. I’m up,” he said, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

I smiled at him, kissing his forehead like I had done to Nick, and received a small, halfhearted smile from him. It wasn’t like the jolly Joe grin I was used to, but I took what I could get.

I slipped on a pair of socks and walked to the kitchen. Much to my surprise, Mandy was already there, working on scrambled eggs over the stove in a bright pink dress and leggings.
“Good morning,” she said cheerfully, waving her spatula at me.

I smiled at her. “Morning. What’s all this?” I moved to stand beside her and examine the varieties of food spread out over the marble-top counters.

“I got up early and thought I’d make breakfast. I hope you like pancakes, too,” she sang as she plated the eggs on a platter.

I noticed another platter of a similar color filled with chocolate chip pancakes next to a carton of orange juice perched on the island in the middle of the kitchen. I tried not to imagine all of it ultimately making me sick.

“You didn’t have to do all this,” I told her.

She flashed a gorgeous grin. “I wanted to.” She held the egg platter with her delicately elegant fingers and gave it to me. “I thought we could eat in the bedroom so Nick doesn’t feel left out.”

I shook my head in disbelief and awe over such a magnificent human being. “I love you, Mandy,” I told her.

The look on her face turned sad and sympathetic as she touched the side of my face.

“I love you, too, Kara. You will always have a friend in me.”

I smiled and watched as she picked up the rest of the food, balancing the juice under her arm, and walked by my side back into the room.

“I knew something smelled insanely good,” Nick said happily.

I sat the eggs down on the desk and Mandy did the same, pulling up chairs and filling glasses with juice. After a while, Joe appeared from the bathroom with wet hair and, after noticing Mandy, awkwardly took a seat beside me and cleared his throat.

For once, we ate in peace. But we all knew what the day would hold – tears, memories, and even more pain than we could take. With enough hope, we’d get through it together.

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“I know you guys hate this. Honestly, I don’t know how you can stand it. I admire you all with great pride for doing what you’re doing and staying so unbelievably strong. Just one more time, I promise.”

Nick took my hand. Joe took my other hand. Mandy sat across the room with sad eyes. Alyssa waited for some kind of response, but my voice had disappeared. My mind refused to go back to that heartbreaking moment.

“Well,” I heard Joe begin as he noticed my reaction, “After I called you that night in the hotel…”

“After the incident with Taylor and Kara?” she asked for clarification, prepared to write on her notepad.

Joe nodded stiffly.

“After I called you, we were all pretty shook up.”

“Naturally,” she said sympathetically.

“We went to bed,” he said.

Alyssa nodded, not wanting to rush us. “And then what happened?”

Her gaze shifted slightly to the right. “Nick?”

I felt Nick’s body tense up even more than it already was. He sighed deeply before speaking.

“It was a little after midnight,” he said quietly, “I knew where he’d be. So I went.”

“You just got up and left?”

He nodded.

“Why?”

He writhed in pain. “Alyssa, you can’t blame me! I was angry. I know it was a stupid thing to do, but what do you expect? I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing after what he did.”

“Nick, I’m not blaming you for anything,” she soothed.

“No, no,” he shook his head, “You don’t understand.”

“You were angry, I get that. You wanted your revenge.”

He tried to calm his breathing, obviously in pain from his damaged ribs.

“Where did you go?” she asked when he didn’t say anything more.

“I saw his address to some apartment downtown in his file at the station.”

“Will you write it down for me?”

He nodded. “Sure.”

“Okay. How many people were there?”

He closed his eyes, struggling to remember. “I don’t know. Like, five maybe? Three of them ran off though.”

My heart sped up, imagining five men beating him senseless. I didn’t know if I could hear much more.

“Listen, can we talk about this alone? I don’t want Kara getting upset,” he said, reading my mind.

“No, Nick. I’m fine,” I assured him.

“Kara, you can leave the room for a while with Mandy if you’d like,” Alyssa said, noticing my obvious anxiety.

“I’m fine,” I repeated, keeping my grip on Nick’s hand firm. He held mine back with equal force and I knew he needed me there with him. “Go on.”

Alyssa eyed me briefly before continuing. “Who threw the first punch?”

He hesitated for a moment, ashamed of his answer. “I did.”

“Do you know who any of the other boys were?”

“No. Just him.”

Alyssa scribbled a few more notes on her pad.

“What were the exact injuries?” she asked.

I didn’t know and neither did Nick. None of us remembered nor did we want to.

To our rescue, Mandy cleared her throat. “Three broken ribs, a coma-inducing concussion, and multiple wounds to the skin,” she said as if she’d memorized the hospital report.

Alyssa nodded. “And you’re absolutely positive it was Taylor? You got a good look of his face?”

“Absolutely,” said Nick.

“Alright, kids. If there’s anything else, I’ll call. Until then, hang in there. And stay out of trouble,” she warned us but smiled at the same time, giving us each warm hugs.

“And thank you, Mandy. You’re a big help.”

Mandy smiled. “Anything for family.”

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I stared at myself in the mirror. The girl who stared back at me was so altered compared to who I usually was. My skin, cold and pale, was lifeless and ghostlike. My eyes were tired and bloodshot. I had lost too much weight in too little time from the constant stress and worrying. My physique was a little too familiar. Life needed to get back to normal. I dreamed of the day I could live in peace with my family and never have my painful past come back to haunt me again.

“Are you ready?” Mandy said, knocking lightly on the open door. I looked at her reflection in the mirror, jealous of her beautiful features next to my sad and sullen ones.

“Yeah,” I nodded slowly. She took my hand and walked me into the living room. She slipped into her boots as I laced on my sneakers.

“Where are you guys going?” Nick asked from the couch. With much difficulty, we moved him there so he could watch TV.

“Grocery store,” Mandy said, lying with ease, “I thought I’d make some brownies tonight. You need more gauze, too.”

“Oh,” he said, “Okay.”

“I’ll be back soon. Don’t worry,” I assured him, leaning on the couch’s armrest to kiss him. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he whispered in return, sensing the anxiety in my voice and questioning me with his eyes. I tried to hide my nerves, but it was no use.

Mandy led me quickly outside to her car as numerous flashes of paparazzi cameras flashed from around the apartment building. I knew the pictures would be printed and sold on the covers of all the gossip magazines by morning, but they were the last of my worries at the moment. We got into the car and started out of the parking lot.

She put a hand on my knee. “It’ll be okay,” she said, “I promise.”

I nodded, trying to agree with her. But deep down, I was shaking uncontrollably. If this news was bad, it would be the cherry on top of my crazy, dysfunctional life.

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“Okay, Ms. Chanel. Just sit tight and I’ll be right back with your results.”

The gynecologist’s heels click-clacked on the linoleum floor as she smiled and left the room, shutting the door behind her. She’d taken numerous tests, leaving me utterly terrified.

“God, Mandy, I don’t even want to know. What if I am pregnant again? I can’t do this,” I panicked, feeling my eyes well with tears.

Mandy crossed the room and took my face lovingly in her hands.

“Don’t worry,” she said soothingly, “Whatever happens, you’re not alone in this, okay? You’re never alone. You have too many people who love you. We’re gonna take care of you. That’s a promise.”

“It kills me that he did it twice, Mandy. Two times. I was stupid enough to let it happen two times. Who does that?” Hot tears fell down my cheeks in rapid streams.

Mandy pulled my head to her chest and stroked my hair like a child, hugging me tight. Quickly, she was becoming a powerful sister figure, a role I desperately needed in my life. I clung to her.

There was a swift knock at the door and we pulled apart. I wiped my eyes with my sleeves and Mandy draped an arm around me, gently squeezing my shoulder. The doctor came inside and took a seat.

“Okay, Ms. Chanel,” she began, looking down at her clipboard and rummaging through the pages of my file.

I braced myself like I always did, preparing myself for the worst news possible. It never helped. I was always surprised, but I did whatever I could to make the blow less painful. The scene played out before my eyes in slow motion as Mandy rubbed my back sympathetically and the doctor slowly looked up into my eyes.

“Kara, you’re not pregnant.”
♠ ♠ ♠
Eight decent-sized pages in Word.
You guys deserve it :)
I sat down and planned out the rest of the story.
There is still a lot left to happen :)
So comment and let me know what you think.
And I've been debating whether I should do another story for the series.
What do you guys think?
All thoughts are appreciated!
Anyway, I hope school is going well for everyone.
Or whatever else you're up to in life, haha.
Only one more week left until winter break for me. Yesssss.
Love you guys!
xoxo