Falling for my Best Friend

It Wasn't an Accident

Kilian

That whole interaction with Nolan was weird. He isn't usually afraid of anything, but if I had to describe his expression it would be fear. When I let myself imagine what could have him so spooked, I quicken my steps.

As I walk into the back door and walk past the laundry area toward the kitchen, I immediately hear the sound of muffled sobbing. It's no wonder Nolan didn't know what to do. When I round the corner into the kitchen, I see Wren sitting on the floor with her face in her hands crying almost uncontrollably.

Upon closer inspection I see that she's sitting in a puddle of orange juice, her dress is rumpled and the way she's sitting looks almost unnatural. Seeing her like this, she looks almost broken and that breaks my heart.

She doesn't look like she knows I'm here, so I step slowly and gently toward her, while I avoid the orange juice that's spilled on the tile floor.

"Wrenny?" I say as I make my way over to her, "What happened?"

She looks up at me with a surprised expression, "Sorry, I didn't want anyone to see me," she says through her tears.

"Don't worry about that, Nolan came and got me," I say with a soft smile as I step even closer.

Wren's eye makeup is running down her face and she looks sadder than I've ever seen her.

"Nolan was here?!?" she exclaims like she's mortified.

I can't quite piece together what happened here but I don't think she needs to be embarrassed, "I think he knew you'd rather talk to me so he came outside and got me, come here," I say as I extend my arm to her.

When I try to hoist her up she winces in pain, "You're hurt?" I gape.

"Just my shoulder, I hit it on the counter when I fell," she says softly as she wipes her eyes.

I reach for her other arm instead then pull her up to me into a tight embrace. I hope I'll be able to comfort her but now that she's in my arms I can feel that she's trembling and crying even harder than she was last night.

"Shhh, it's okay, we'll get this cleaned up, it was just an accident, things happen," I say trying to calm her down.

It takes her a while to respond, it seems like she can't stop crying long enough to answer.

She takes a deep breath before she whispers into my chest, "It wasn't an accident."

She pulls away from me and looks into my eyes the way she does when it's important, so I know she's being serious, "My mom hurt me," she pauses, "It wasn't an accident."

I can't really believe my ears, I never would have thought Cara would physically harm Wren. I don't want to question her but my head is spinning, I need a little bit more information before I can compute this.

"Wrenny?" is all I can manage.

She huffs out a lot of air before she says, "She pulled my hair because I was going to dump her juice out," Wren takes in a breath and lets it out, I can hear that she's shaking when she says, "And flung me into the counter when I did."

I reach my hand behind her head to pull her back to me, I'm just going to hold her because I don't know what to say right now. I hold her head against my chest, but her neck is wet and I quickly feel my hand become saturated. I pull my hand away to check what's happening but to my horror I see that it's covered in blood.

"Wren! You're bleeding! We have to go get your dad!" I exclaim. "Where is Quin?"

She reaches her hands up and cups the back of her head. Her expression says that she's as surprised as I am.