The Victim (Book #1)

Chapter 16

"What's happening here?" Brooklyn asked with a laugh. I blinked my eyes open to see him bent down on one knee, tying his running shoes and smirking at me.

I heard a groan next to me and bolted up, realizing I had fallen asleep on the couch and somehow ended up asleep next to Dominic.

"Nothing!" I said quickly. I didn't want him to know I had been trying to run away. My eyes glanced over towards the corner of the room by the door where my backpack still sat, filled with supplies. He hadn't seemed to notice. I elbowed Dom's stomach, needing his help. If Brooks asked something of me, it was way too early to invent an excuse. I could barely lift my eyelids.

Dominic groaned and lifted himself up, before smiling back to his brother.

"Maya had a bad nightmare last night and found me down here watching TV. She was pretty freaked out, so we talked until we both fell asleep." He turned his head to the side and gave a wink in my direction.

I didn't love the story he made up, but I guess it wasn't entirely inaccurate either. The flashback I had was still as clear in my head as it had been when it occurred. It was funny how memories of my life before I met Charlotte seemed to be coming back to me in puzzle pieces. 

Brooklyn looked at me in concern and said "Aw, are you okay My?"

I nodded, embarrassed, and said "Of course. It wasn't real."

Brooklyn shot a smirk at his older brother then and said "I remember when Dominic had pretty bad nightmares as a kid. He slept in Charlotte's room almost every night for months!"

Dominic stood up and cracked his knuckles saying "Wanna rethink sharing that story with the kid?"

"Tell me it's a lie." Brooklyn said with a laugh, heading towards the door.

Dominic followed and grabbed him by the collar before throwing him under his arm and into a headlock. Brooks stretched up his long arm to hit Dominic in the face but just missed, and the weight threw them to the side. I shrieked and backed up, but as Dominic pinned his brother to the ground, he nodded his head towards the corner. I smiled gratefully before grabbing my backpack and slipping out of the room.

He wasn't messing around because his brother annoyed him. He was keeping my secret safe. 

I only glimpsed a small smile on his face before a slap caught him on the ear and he growled and got back to it.

Grown men. Crazy.

I made it up the stairs and into my room without incident, and the rest of the day passed much the same. I stayed watching Netflix in the morning, got a sandwich with Caleb for lunch, and then came out of my room once more at dinner time.

I hopped down the stairs in my pajamas and saw Damon on the bottom step. He hung up a call and started to text something.

"YO." I said in my deepest voice after creeping up behind him. He didn't jump in the slightest but turned to look at me.

"Hey, Maya." he said, nodding his head in my direction.

"Maya? You trying to be nice or something?" I asked, poking him on the forehead.

He looked up from his phone with a smirk. "Me?" he asked.

I squinted my eyes, trying to read him.

"Yeah, you, punk." I said with a laugh.

"Nah." He replied casually.

"Why'd you call me Maya?" I asked as I sat next to him on the step.

"That's your name, isn't it?" he asked back rudely.

I nodded, looking down.

He sighed and said "I don't know. I've been thinking about yesterday. I didn't mean to scare you or anything."

I wanted to make a joke about him scaring me. As if he could! But I hesitated. He was genuinely worried that he had hurt me... and even opened up about it.

"I'm sorry about yesterday too. I didn't mean to shut down on you. It worried me that you called me your sister and- I talked about it with Dominic. I won't react like that again. I think it's really sweet that you think that."

His eyes looked confused and the expression on his face was clear: He hadn't meant what he said. I covered for myself.

"I mean, I know you didn't mean it but that you said it- it was, I mean..." I panicked. There was nothing to say.

"As much as I love having you here, Maya... You're not my sister." He said as he stood.

"I'm sorry." He said without turning back as he walked into the living room. I hardened my heart, took a deep breath, and then walked in the room behind him.

- - - - - - - - - - 

The next morning, I woke up to find Charlotte was back and downstairs with a fresh plate of pancakes and eggs for each of us. I devoured mine eagerly as she caught me up on what she'd been up to. She apologized for missing me on the way out, but I brushed off her apologies and changed the subject.

"What is the event exactly?" I asked, before taking a sip of milk.

"Well, it's a convention of sorts, where people who are interested can go and learn more about the effects and treatments of trauma." She explained with a smile.

"That sounds so interesting." I really meant it too. I hated thinking of the amount of people in the world facing any form of abuse, let alone the aftermath of such terrible events.

"And you had a speech, too?" I asked.

She nodded, with a humble looking smile. "I spoke about my work with Prolonged Exposure Therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy, and Interpersonal communications."

My eyes grew big and she laughed. "That's the research behind what I'm doing when I speak with the kids who I work with, like you."

"Wow." I always just assumed she talked to us and felt with her heart where to take it, I didn't realize it was a science.

"Speaking of, when do you think you'll be ready to do another session? I'd love to stick with the tight schedule we've held." She smiled softly, but encouragingly. She wanted to get back to it. As if I would forget what had happened to me if I didn't talk about it.

"Umm... I guess I'm ready when you are. We can talk today after I eat if you'd like?"

"Perfect." She exclaimed. She slid over to the counter beside the stove and pulled up a slip of paper before turning back to me.

"Maybe we can talk about this first." She said, leaning forward and setting it in front of my plate.

I looked up at her and bit my lip, nervously. It was the goodbye note I had left on her bed.

"Oops?" I said with a fake smile.