Face Your Fears

Chapter 14

     Watery sunlight filtered through the white curtains in the bedroom, hitting the side of my face, waking me at some early hour in the morning.

  It wasn't like it mattered anyways. I hadn't gotten much sleep to begin with. I'd tossed and turned in bed, fought back the urge to throw something out the window, then sat at the kitchen table and stared into a cup of cold coffee all night. 

 One question hadn't been able to leave my mind, and I'd sat there for hours, contemplating it over and over again.

  I'd known that it was important for the triplets to know what had really happened to Chris. They had every right in the world to know; he was their father. But what the hell had possessed me to stroll into the apartment and tell them like that?

  They hadn't taken the news very well, and Mom hadn't reacted all that great to the knowledge that the truth was out about what happened to Chris.

 Maybe I'd just been too excited that I finally figured out a fear to face, a fear that I knew I could face however unpleasant it might be, that I didn't really think it through properly. Well, there was no doubt that I didn't think it through properly. 

 And now I was going to have to deal with the repercussions, God willing I actually used my brain for once.

I rolled over with an aggravated sigh and shoved my head underneath a pillow. I desperately wanted my thoughts to quiet down for once so I could actually get some rest. Sleep would help me think, wouldn't it?

Loud banging sounded on the front door the next second, jolting me out of bed and making Hadley start awake with a shriek.

 "Good God," Hadley gasped, looking at me in alarm. "What's going on?" 

I pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and sprinted to the front door. The second I wrenched open the door April came tumbling in, her hair a mess and her eyes bloodshot, like she'd been crying the entire night.

 "April, what the hell are you doing here?" I demanded. "You shouldn't - "

"I had to talk to you." She slammed the door shut and locked it, then turned on me, looking thunderous. "What the hell were you thinking, barging in like that last night and spilling the truth?"

I barely had the chance to say anything before April threw her arms around me and completely broke down, sobbing into my shoulder. 

 I knew I couldn't just stand there and do nothing while one of my family members was in pain, relying on me for help, like I'd done so many times in the past.

 So I wrapped my arms around her and rested my cheek against her hair while she cried and cried, her tears soaking my shirt.

 Hadley's hand descended on my shoulder a moment later and she looked at me with a grief stricken expression, her own eyes shimmering with tears.

 "What's going on?" she mouthed, gesturing to April. 

 Chris was all I needed to say in explanation. 

 "April, honey, come on," Hadley murmured, reaching out to lead April over to the couch. "Sit down. Archer, will you go make her some tea?" 

 I quickly made for the kitchen and threw together a steaming cup of tea with the first tea bag I could get my hands on. I hurried back to the living room, setting the cup on the coffee table and sat down beside April.

 It took April a considerable amount of time before she was able to stop crying. Hadley and I said nothing during that time. 

 "What's going on, sweetheart?" Hadley asked April quietly, squeezing her hand reassuringly.