Grown ish: Zoey and Aaron, The Future (BOOK 2)

Part 33: Missing

Zoey narrates.

Flashback ends.

And so here we are. The cops brought me back home. I'd been missing for 7 hours now, hence why the cops had filled our apartment.

And here I was, fallen on the ground, crying, mascara running down my face, my body shaking, as Aaron holds me, pulling me closer to him.

'I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry...' I keep repeating, as I cry my heart out.

I take a faint look up, and see my friends, tear filled, and my mom and dad embracing each other, scared. I see Jazz, holding Zara, and my heart wrenches.

'I'm a bad mother. I'm such a bad mom, Aaron.' I say, crying, as he doesn't reply.

'Mr Jackson?' A cop comes over to us.

Aaron helps me stand up, as I stand, shaking, my arms still wrapped around myself, and he lets go of me.

I look up at him, but his eyes avoid mine, and in that moment, I know that I've messed up.

'We need to talk to Mrs Jackson. Just to check nothing...you know...has happened while she was gone, and then we'll leave you to it.' The cop says, as Aaron nods.

'Zoey, go with him into the kitchen.' Aaron says, not looking at me.

I don't say or do anything, completely shaken, and too confused to move.

'Zoey, I said go!' Aaron shouts, raising his voice, his tone aggressive, which shocks me, and I cry even more.

He still doesn't look at me, as my mom comes over and holds me by the shoulders, taking me into the kitchen, as the cop follows us, and I look at my distraught friends, emotionally, and then I look back at Aaron, who still avoids me.

_____

The cops have left now, and so have our friends and family. My mom took Zara to stay with her for the night, because clearly no one thinks I'm in the right place.

My mom helped me shower, and I'm sitting up in bed, still shaken up and confused.

I wait for Aaron to come in, although I'm really not sure how to face him, and at this point, I don't even know what he thinks of me.

He finally walks into the room, and looks at me, as I also look at him, my eye twitching, the tears coming on again, though this time I fight back.

He closes the door and comes over, standing at the other end of the bed.

'Zoey, what the hell is wrong with you?' He shouts, angrily.

I don't reply, and instead, just decide to listen.

'Do you have any idea how worried everyone was? Zoey, you're not a kid anymore. This isn't college. You don't get to just decide what you want to do and ignore everyone else. You're a mother too, for goodness sakes, what about Zara? Did you ever think about her? What if something happened to you? What would Zara do?' He yells, and I cry silently, the tears streaming down my face.

'What about me, Zoey? Do you even care about me? Do you care about how I feel? How I was feeling when I had to call the cops because my wife was missing?' He shouts, his voice cracking, and I can hear the hurt in his voice.

'No, you never think about me.' He says.

'You can't just drink your feelings away anymore, Zoey. It's not going to help you. And I'm not going to let it happen anymore. You're going to take rehab sessions. I don't care what you want. If you're going to act immature, then you can't make these decisions yourself anymore.' He shouts, sternly.

I'm still silent. Everything he's saying is true. And in the back of my heart, I knew it too. I knew that I needed help. My post partum depression has turned into something worse, and I was determined to fix it. Not only for myself, but for Aaron and Zara too.

He puts his head in his hands, defeated, as I stay sitting, my head down, as my tears continue to flow silently.

'I'm sorry.' I whisper, looking down.

'I'll do rehab. I'll go to therapy. I'll do whatever you want me to.' I say, sniffing, but still looking away.

We both stay silent for a few minutes, but then, Aaron sighs and comes to sit opposite me on the edge of the bed. He takes his hand and lifts my chin, so that I'm looking up at him.

He stares directly at me, and then takes his hands, cupping my face, as I hold on to his hand, closing my eyes, tears falling on to his hand.

'I'm sorry.' I say, crying.

'I'm sorry for yelling.' He says.

'Zoey, I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you. I need you. Here. With me.' He says, as I open my eyes and look into his.

'I'm sorry I let you down. I'm sorry that I haven't been a good mom to Zara.' I say, sadly.

'Hey? Don't say that, okay. You're the best mom. Even through these dark feelings that you've been having, you've always put Zara first. I promise you, Zara needs you the most.' He says.

'And you haven't let me down. I'm sorry for not pushing you to get the help you needed earlier. But we'll get through this. Together.' He says, and in that moment, I can't think of anywhere else I want to be.

I hug Aaron tightly, closing my eyes, feeling the warmth of his embrace. He wraps his arms around me, kissing my shoulder.

'I love you, Zoey and I will always love you.' He whispers, as I cling on to him even tighter, digging my nails into his shirt, not wanting to let go.

We finally pull away, and he holds my face, leaning in and kissing my lips, as I reciprocate, the kiss turning passionate and painful, almost as though we had been deprived of each other.

We finally pull away, staring at each other.

'It's going to be okay. I promise.' He says, and I nod, knowing that if there's anyone who I believe, and I know will help me, it's Aaron.

_____

Author Note:

Will not be updating the story for a few days, as I've decided I don't like the next parts/storyline that I wrote, so will have to do it again :(

Bare with me, will try to get it up soon!