Hope Came With Wings

Seth stood in the doorway, mouth agape and wide-eyed.
He had heard it all.

This wasn't happening. I wasn't slumped on the floor trying to find a way to explain to my boyfriend what he had just heard. No, I was off somewhere else, watching some pathetic girl's life crash down even further.
But I was that girl.

My head raced as I tried to do something, but I just broke down sobbing again.
This was it. The part where he shakes his head in disgust and walks out the door, fighting the urge to spit on me as he passes by. This was the part where he leaves me alone with my mother, sobbing and planning suicide.

I had finally lost everything. My mother knew the horrible truth, and so did my boyfriend. The hideous secret kept inside of me for so long had been ripped from my conscience and thrown out in the open for the world to see, and there was nothing left for me to do but end it all.
No one would come to my funeral. Fuck, there probably wouldn't even be a funeral. Someone might notice I was gone, but wouldn't care enough to announce it. After a few weeks, my mother would get sick of the smell and would call someone to come drag away my rotting carcass.
They'd throw me in a junkyard and set me on fire, burning with the rest of the city's garbage. Burning like my soul in an eternal hellfire.
That's what is left to come of my life. I cry now, mourning the lost years that will never come, the times I screwed up that led to this terrible fate.
Hopefully I didn't screw there lives up enough yet, and Seth and my mom will be able to move on. God, that's all I want.
For them to be okay.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts when I hear his footsteps. He's leaving.
I brace myself for something, a scoff or disgusted comment.
Suddenly I feel his skin on mine. I never expected this. Is he going to suffocate me? End it for me, so I don't have to think about suicide?

But...he's not.
He's hugging me, so close I almost can't breathe but for a brief moment, I feel a spark of happiness.
I wrap my arms tightly around him, afraid to let go, and sob harder from the sudden change in my life.

"Oh god Gracie, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry you had to go through all of this on your own! You never had anyone, but I'm here now Gracie. I'll never leave you, I promise." He rocked me back and forth as he whispered these things in my ear.

It was like there was nothing but me and him in the room. Nothing existed, it was only Seth holding me, comforting me. I kept my face burired in his chest, not wanting to be pulled back into reality. I was still crying, but slowly calming down.

I wiped my eyes and looked up to Seth sad, worried face. We didn't say anything, just looked at each other. Seth's hand was cradling my face, and he kissed me. All the emotion in that one kiss, it was all the reasurance I needed to know he was here for me.
We came apart and I kept my eyes closed, my face still so close to his.
"Seth..."

"Yeah?"

I looked up into his eyes then.
"I..." I'm interrupted by a terrifying crash. I jump up, alarmed, and run towards the sound, Seth behind me.

"Mom?" I call, but no response. The doors in the hallway are open, but she's nowhere to be found.
The basement door was ajar, a light is creeping up the stairs.
I take two steps and can see the small glass cabinet that was down there, overturned and shattered, a shadow playing over it. My breath catches in my throat and I practically leap down the remaining stairs.

There, her lifeless body hung from a rope tied to the ceiling raftors, her neck broken.

I stare in horror as fresh tears spill over out of my eyes. Then Seth is with me, turning me away from the terrifying sight of my mother's dead body. I feel like I can't breathe, though I'm screaming.

And then everything goes black.