Ch. 3: Confessions

CHLOE PRICE'S POV:

"This is my house," I said pointing to the now fully painted house. David finally got round to finishing it after… after they found Rachel and all the other fucked up shit that had been uncovered. He'd tried to solve it all on his own. "I need to call my step-father David and tell him that I have a guest. Stay here."

"Like I could move otherwise?" Aaron asked.

"I'm leaving now," I said slamming the door.

"Normally I wouldn't share Max with anyone," I thought "but I have a good feeling about Aaron. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I can get a threesome later."

As soon as I opened the door, I went straight for the phone. I dialed David's number.

"Hello?" he asked on the other line in his usual tired, deep voice.

"Hey there David," I said "it's me."

"Chloe" he said "I thought that I told you not to call my direct line."

"No you didn't," I argued.

I could hear him audibly sighing on the other line, "What do you want?"

"Here goes nothing," I thought as I shifted my weight from side to side.

"I found this guy in the woods," I explained "he needs a place to stay until he finds a home."

"Do you know this guy?" He asked.

"Well that went better than I thought, but his mood can still change on a dime," I thought. "I could lie here, but David doesn't deserve that. Not after everything he has done. Besides, he would probably find out eventually that I don't know him."

"No, but he doesn't have anywhere else to go. He seems like a decent guy. I mean he hasn't done anything weird. He fell asleep with Max under a tree and she's still here, so it's not like he's a weirdo," I said defending Aaron.

David was silent for a few moments. And then I realized what I said, and I thought, "Okay, maybe that wasn't the best thing to bring up; it kind of sounds weird when I say it out loud." I bit my lip, "Okay you can fix this, Chloe. Just think of something. Anything. Just speak from the heart."

"Look, David. I know we haven't always been on best terms with each other. I think we can both claim guilt over that. Recently you've been pretty cool. You saved Max from that bastard and I respect you for that. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough," I said.

"If David hadn't been there…" I shook my head. "Don't think about what could have been. You'll drive yourself insane; you have to stay focused on the task at hand."

"This guy really needs help and he doesn't have anyone else to turn to. I don't know what happened to him, but I can tell it's not good whatever it is. We both know you don't just randomly find people in the woods unless something bad has happened," I said. "We've both been to some bad places. We both know what it's like to feel alone and desperate. Are we really going to let someone else suffer when we can help them?"

David was silent for a few moments. "Is he even there anymore? He's been really quiet. Here I am monologuing my ass off and he might not even be listening," I thought to myself slightly pissed off.

When David finally spoke up, I jumped in surprise, "I think that is the most serious and sincere I have ever heard you. The fact that you would go to such lengths to help this man is admirable. I can respect that." He cleared his throat and spoke seriously, "However, I want to meet the guy before I let him stay. If he checks out, then I see no problem with it."

I was shocked; never in a million years would I think that David Madsen would agree with me, "Thanks David. You're the man."

I went to hang up, but David spoke up again, "Chloe…"

I held the phone to my ear again, "Yeah?"

"I'm proud of you for doing this. Not many people would care. They would have just left the poor guy on his own. Both you and Max are heroes in my eyes," he said.

"David…David's proud of me?" I thought, "I'm not sure what to make of that. I didn't think I would give a rat's ass what he thought of me, but now he has said it…it makes me feel happy. Is that it?"

I can feel a smile form on my face. Also, I can feel tears start to form in my eyes. "It is such a shock that I don't know what to say or how to react. I am so confused," I thought. I stood there, my mouth slightly open, trying to speak, but words failed me. I was rendered speechless. I finally managed to compose myself and I gripped the phone tighter.

My voice broke slightly, "You're…you're the real hero David."

"Bring the guy over to the house and I'll have a chat with him when I get back," he paused for a moment before continuing "Chloe, after everything that happened I realized something."

"What?" I asked.

"That I wasn't a good step-dad to you. I'm…I'm sorry for all the horrible things I did to you. There is no excuse for how I treated you, regardless of my intentions. I know I can never replace William. I never wanted that." We both were silent for a while. "I just want you to know that… that I love you. I haven't said it anywhere near as much as I should have."

I was stunned, "I have never heard David say anything remotely affectionate to me before." I pinch my hand to see if I am dreaming and I didn't wake up. This was actually happening. "Our exchanges were tense at best… violent at worst."

"Chloe? You still there?" He asked.

I realized that I hadn't said anything for a while, so I spoke up, "Yeah. I am… I was a total dick to you, and I shouldn't have been. I pushed you and tested you at every chance. I knew you had been through some shit because of fighting, but I still fucked with your head anyway. It was childish and stupid. I…I love you too. William may always be my dad, but that doesn't mean that you don't mean any less than he does to me."

I never imagined that I would ever say anything like this to David. If someone would have told me a month ago that I would say something like that to David, I would have laughed at them. It still feels a bit weird, but it's the truth.

"You've matured a lot in such a short space of time. Max might have something to do with that," he said.

I smiled fondly, "Max has changed a lot of things for me. She has thrown my world out of balance and challenged what I thought I knew. Where would I be without her?"

"Yeah," I smiled "I think she might."

"I have to go now, but when I get back, we'll talk some more, okay?" He asked.

"Sure," I said.

"Stay safe," he said. We both hung up the phones.

"I'd better get Aaron," I said. I walked out to the truck to find a sleeping Aaron.

"He looks kind of cute when he sleeps," I thought.

"Wake up," I said shaking his shoulder.

"Not now mama," he said sleepily "five more minutes."

I pinched his nose and he woke up.

"You okay?" I asked.

"I am in five different kinds of pain, and all of them are in my legs," he answered.

"Just give me your hand," I said holding out my hand. When I grabbed his hand, I noticed several horizontal scars across his wrists. "Wait, what the fuck happened to your wrists?"

He quickly retracted his hand, "Nothing."

"Something you should know about me: I'm not a dumbass," I said "you cut yourself, didn't you?"

His face twitched trying to come up with an excuse, and then he hung his head in defeat. "Yes," he said.

I leaned inside and wrapped my arms around him, "I know your pain. Those nights when I lay awake until 3 am with no-one at my side, my dad dead, Max gone, and Rachel missing… I considered it. I really did. I nearly gave into the urges, but I managed to resist. I already drank and smoked way too much, I didn't need to add that to the list. I felt like I had to tell someone, it was eating away at me that I had ever even considered it, so I confided in Max when she came back into my life. I needed to get this confession out of my system. I could tell she was freaking out internally… but she never once blamed me, never once raised her voice… she sat there calmly and talked it through with me."

He returned the hug, "I have waited for the better part of three years to tell someone who would listen to my full, un-abridged, life story."

"And I'll be happy to listen," I said.

"And you don't mind… the wrists?" He asked

"I don't judge," I said "I have some wristbands to cover those if you want to."

"Okay," he said reaching out his hand.

When I laid him on the guest bed, he told me his depressing story of his life, and his attempted suicide. He gave me his gun and told me to get rid of it. Before I did, I wanted to tell David about this. I was almost certain that he wouldn't lose his shit.

Tomorrow I have to go to G-ma's house in (censored). It's a 400+ mile (643.738+ Kilo) journey on Icy wet roads, pray that my family gets there in one piece.