Author's Note: I just want to take a moment to thank whoever is taking the time to still read this story. It means a lot to me because I wasn't expecting anyone to read this or any of my stories anymore. Thank you.
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was mid-afternoon when Lorna arrived back at her father's house. A week without him passed by all too quickly, she repulsively thought. The only positive thing that came out of that was not having to see her uncle anymore. She pushed open the front door, stepped inside and re-shut it behind her. The house was silent—eerily silent. She cautiously walked through the living room and up the staircase to her room. Remembering the conversation she shared with Nicky earlier, she figured it would be a wise idea to get that baggie of heroin the hell out of her room, flushed down the toilet.
However, as she entered into her room, she caught sight of Mr. Morello standing in front of the very dresser she planned to retrieve said baggie from. His arms were folded aggressively over his chest, she noticed, and there was clearly something held between his hands. A deep breath inhaled through her lungs. She reminded herself that having her father capture the heroin was much better than the alternative if she had allowed her beloved girlfriend to swing by and 'take care' of it. It was better she sacrificed a peaceful evening if it meant keeping Nicky from taking any more of the heroin—she certainly hadn't want the girl she loved and cared for developing an unhealthy addiction.
"Care to explain what the fuck this is, Lorna?" Mr. Morello's voice echoed piercingly through the room. He unfolded his arms and held out his hands with the baggie sitting in one of his palms, using one of his index fingers to point profusely at it. Eyebrows arched disapprovingly over brown eyes that held fury in them. He was gone five days and came home to his youngest daughter hiding drugs in her room. Oh, did it enrage him to see that.
Lorna folded her hands together at her side—they were clammy not surprisingly—and kept her gaze anywhere but at her father. A knot was clearly evident in her stomach, she observed as a slight pang emanated from it. "Uh, it's a bag with powder in it. Powdered sugar," she regurgitated a quick lie; she didn't even plan it. The words spilled out of her mouth without a moment of thought.
Powdered sugar his ass, Joe thought to himself. He tightened his grip on the plastic material and glared darkly at his daughter. "You think I'm stupid, little girl? You expect me to believe this is a bag of fucking powdered sugar?"
Rubbing at her temples to stop the forming headache, Lorna swallowed thickly. She wished her father was stupid. Or gullible enough to believe it was only a bag of sugar. "I mean it, dad, it really is just powdered sugar. Uncle George insisted I scraped every less spec of sugar from his donut the other day and then made me put the remnants of the sugar in that baggie," the lie gradually added upon without any hesitation. She'd never had the ability to come up with such a story on-the-spot like that before. She only hoped that it was believable enough.
"Yeah, is that so? Then I'll go ahead and put this powdered sugar on my bowl of cereal," he said matter-of-factly while tucking the small baggie into his shirt pocket. He walked towards the door to leave but stopped and looked back at her as if waiting for a reaction.
"Enjoy that, dad," was the only response Lorna could come up with. She watched as he finally exited her room before allowing a fit of laughter to escape her. The image of him pouring that entire bag of white powder over his cereal was something she wouldn't mind watching, however, she certainly didn't want to be in his presence once he realized the truth of the matter.
With her father finally gone from the upstairs, Lorna pulled her phone out of the pocket of her jeans. She flipped it open with her thumb and scrolled through until she came across Nicky's contact information. As she waited through the rings, another small laugh tumbled from her vocal chords. She couldn't stop seeing the look on her father's face when he went in for that first bite of his sugar-coated oats. The aftermath, however, was not going to be quite as funny, she thought.
It only took a few rings before the line was picked up on the other end. "Hey, kid, what's up?" Nicky's voice greeted through the receiver.
"You're never gonna believe this, hon, but my dad is having powdered sugar on his oats right now," she responded, and then covered her mouth to stifle her laughs at the realization that she hadn't given any other context behind the words she just spoke. That may have been the dumbest statement she'd ever made, she thought. And that thought alone only added to her muffled laughter. God, she must have sounded like a crazy person.
Resting on her abdomen on her bed, Nicky arched her eyebrows puzzlingly over her eyes as she held the phone to her ear and listened to what her girlfriend had to share. To say she was confused would be a bit of an understatement. "Your dad is having powdered sugar on his oats? Good for him, kid. Nothing like a little diabetes in the evening, yeah?" A light-hearted chuckle tumbled up through her larynx. Oh Lorna—oh her Lorna, she thought.
"Not just any powdered sugar, Nicky, it's a special powdered sugar."
Nicky squinted her eyes as if that would miraculously help her comprehend what Lorna was hinting at. Special powdered sugar, the words repeated through her mind. Powdered. Wait, she thought, the powder of heroin. That was the only thing she knew of that had some form of powder in it was that baggie she left on the dresser in Lorna's bedroom. Instinctively, she reached a hand over her mouth. Now everything seemed to make sense to her—no wonder the brunette was chuckling on the other end.
"Shit, kid, your dad found the heroin?"
Lorna nodded with another snicker. "He did but he thinks it's powdered sugar. I told him my uncle made me take off all the sugar from a donut and that's what was in the bag," she repeated her words from earlier, slightly proud of herself for coming up with a semi-believable story.
Mentally, the redhead facepalmed herself. She had a hunch something like this would happen if she hadn't have taken the heroin back. And, now, it would probably only get worse once Lorna's dad realized the white powder wasn't actually sugar. "Oh, Lorna," she softly muttered, cradling the phone gently in her hand against her ear. "I don't think this is gonna turn out good, doll."
"It's okay, hon—I rather my dad get a little upset over some fake sugar than have my girlfriend be tempted to take any more a that stuff," her voice tenderly admitted, and she meant every word that came out of her mouth. She could handle her dad's screaming matches but she couldn't handle the thought of Nicky continuing down the path of drugs.
"Lorna." A soft sigh came from Nicky's lungs. Her brunette girlfriend always knew exactly what to say to make her well up with emotions, she observed. "I just don't want you to get in trouble for my bad choices, yeah? You're too precious, kid."
"Eh, I don't care about getting in trouble—I just didn't want ya to take it back and be tempted, ya know? I worry about you, honey. The thought of ya getting addicted to drugs—heroin—it scares me," Lorna truthfully revealed; her hand tightened around the phone, she longed for it to be Nicky she was holding instead and sighed.
Once again Nicky found herself struggling to get a breath out without it turning into a sniffle. She swallowed hard and bit down on the side of her mouth. "You don't have to be scared about that, baby, I'm not gonna do it anymore. I swear. Please don't worry your precious heart over that, my sweet Lorna," she huskily pleaded, stroking the tips of her fingers delicately around the outline of her cellular device.
A deep breath expelled from her lungs. How she longed to believe her. Yet, until Nicky was away from both of her dead-beat parents, Lorna wouldn't be able to rest easy knowing how close she was to people with drugs. With how vulnerable the redhead was at the moment, it wouldn't surprise her one iota if she went back to that girl for more heroin. Her eyes shut as she inhaled sharply. She only hoped that soon Nicky would be moving in with Red. If not for any other reason, for the redhead's own safety.
"I will worry less once Red finally says that you can live with her. I mean I know ya say ya won't get more heroin or anything but I know you're dealing with a lot so I wouldn't blame ya if ya did. But that scares me. I don't want ya to get addicted to any drugs, hon. They're dangerous," Lorna muttered, swallowing a lump. A faint sniffle worked its way up and out of her, she hadn't even realized tears had fallen until she heard the sniffle.
The sniffle didn't go unnoticed by Nicky, either. Her eyes softened at the heartrending sound. Hearing it only made her yearn to be with Lorna stronger. "Baby, you're crying," she murmured gently, pushing the phone even closer to hear ear. It broke her heart to know how upset she'd unintentionally made her girlfriend. A hand she brushed through her unruly mane of red curls. "You don't have to be scared, kid, I promise you I'm not going to get any more heroin. I promise. Please calm down, Lorna."
"No more heroin, Nicky. Please I don't want anything to ever happen to you," Lorna pleaded, tears clouding her vision as she lay back against her pillow and curled up on her side. She tried to stop the sniffles but they came out all too quickly. The harder she tried to hold in all of her emotions, the more they came out without even a warning.
As if she wasn't upset enough, the faint sound of things slamming around downstairs caught her off guard and only added to all of the emotions she was already experiencing. The tears wouldn't stop coming. Sniffles quickened her breathing. She felt like her body was closing in on itself at that point. Hazy, disoriented, and choking on her own sobs. She knew she was a mess.
Nicky slicked her hair back as she listened in on the other end. A pang formed in her chest to hear how distraught the younger girl was and not be able to provide her any comfort other than words over the phone. "Are ya laying down, kid?" She inquired in a hushed voice, longing to be next to her so that she could properly soothe her and wipe away all of her tears. Instead, she had to settle on soothing her through their phones.
Lorna nodded through a gut-wrenching sob, but then realized she had to answer with words and that only made a second sob come out of her. She couldn't comprehend what the hell was going on with herself at that moment. How, in a matter of minutes, she went from laughing to not being able to breathe because of all of the sniffling and sobbing she involuntarily was doing. "Y-yes," was her meek response.
"Good," Nicky hummed warmly, laying back against her pillow as well. She moved the phone over to her other ear as she inhaled slowly. "Just lay down and breathe, baby. I'm right here; everything's okay. Everything's okay, my sweet Lorna. I'm right here and I love you so much. I'm not ever going to touch another morsel of heroin again, I promise you that. You don't need to ever worry about that again, kid."
Snuggling closer to her comforter, Lorna nodded gradually while shutting her eyes. "I love you, hon. I just want you to be alive and healthy."
Brushing her fingers delicately around the back of the phone held to her ear, Nicky felt her breath slightly catch in her throat. She lay against the pillow on her bed and closed her eyes for several quiet seconds. Her heart was bursting inside her chest. "I love you too, kid," she murmured back. Then, she looked up at the ceiling as a sigh erupted through her windpipe. "I know and I am, doll. I want you to be alive and healthy too. I guess it's good we both try to take care of ourselves, yeah?"
The faint sound of items being slammed—thrown about—from the vents in her room brought a throbbing ache between Lorna's temples. Lying about that bag of white powder seemed to be coming back to haunt her. The sound through the vents confirmed that Mr. Morello must have realized it wasn't sweetener like she'd informed him it was. Anxiety intensified majorly at the thought. She hoped he wouldn't come back upstairs to do anything.
"Lorna? You there, kid?" Such an uncanny silence hadn't gone unnoticed by Nicky. A hand reached up to mess about with her unruly bush of red hair as she waited for her girlfriend to answer.
"Sorry, I just—I think my dad finally noticed it's not really sugar," Lorna whispered, not wanting her voice to be too loud in case her father was lurking in the hallway. A lump was felt in her throat; she could be a professional at digging her own holes with all the lies she continued spewing out, she deemed.
Shaking her head sadly, Nicky mentally facepalmed herself. That comment convinced her that it was a mistake for she to have not gone back to retrieve the heroin. She loathed to think that Lorna may possibly get in trouble over something that wasn't even hers. Guilt rose within her. She bit the bottom of her lip and expelled a deep breath. "No, you don't need to be sorry. I do. I'm sorry, Lorna, I shouldn't have even had that stupid baggie in my possession. I really hope ya don't get in any trouble—you can tell him it was mine, yeah?"
Lorna shook her head profusely at that. "I'm not upset that you left it here, hon. I'm glad ya did because I wouldn't want ya to be tempted if ya had it with you. I'll just tell him I thought it was sugar because that's what my uncle told me. No big deal, it'll be okay. He's just being real loud and it's irritating my ears is all."
"He's being loud? What's he doing, kid? Everything okay?" Concern filled her tone with each query that flowed out from her mouth. Nicky turned on her side, letting her eyes wander out the window that was placed directly in the center of the wall. The sun already passed down through the horizon leaving behind shades of pinks and purples to streak through the sky.
"I don't know, he likes to slam things around when he's mad. I can hear it through the vents in my room. I just wish he'd stop, I don't like how loud it is."
Nicky's eyes went soft as she kept her gaze out her bedroom's window. Her heart clenched for the young brunette. How she yearned to have her right there beside her so that she could cradle her in her arms. She inhaled deeply and leaned back against the mattress. "I'm sorry, kid. Is there anything I can do to help ya?"
"Just talkin' to ya is good, hon. What're you up to?"
Their conversation, however, was rapidly halted by the sound of harsh footsteps sounding through the hallway. Lorna's heart began pounding slightly harder in her chest. A hand was placed over it as if to somehow slow it back down. With the footsteps gradually loudening, she inhaled and closed her eyes for a minute. She didn't want to hang up but she couldn't risk her girlfriend possibly finding out about the abuse. "I don't mean to be rude or anything but I, erm, I'm gonna have to go. My dad's not happy and I think I should clean up or somethin' to stay on his good side. I'll call ya later if that's okay?" The reluctance in her tone was strong; she certainly wasn't pleased with having to cut their conversation short.
To stay on his good side? Those six words repeated themselves in the older teen's head. Concern instinctively formed. She couldn't quite decipher what Lorna had possibly been hinting at. "Yeah, course', that's fine…but I'm worried about ya. What do ya mean when you say staying on your dad's good side, kid?"
Lorna swallowed thickly, realizing that yet again she'd dug herself even further into a hole. Thankfully—but also not thankfully—her father's angrily stomping into the room interjected her from having to elaborate deeper. She quickly said goodbye to her girlfriend, with resistance of course, and braced herself for whatever Mr. Morello was prepared to throw her way.
Rage was displayed on his face as he walked nearer to her. Liars were not something he tolerated lightly. Out of his high state of anger, he grabbed at the collar of Lorna's t-shirt and glared menacingly into her eyes. "That was not powdered sugar, ya little lying bitch. What the hell is that shit? Are ya fucking taking drugs now?"
His face was so close to her own, she practically felt the saliva falling from his mouth directly onto her own face. The unnerving sensation quickly erupted a shutter from her. She loathed the close proximity between them; it caused her to feel severely uncomfortable and nauseated. There was a dark gleam emanating from her father, one that she'd never seen before and it had her body wince once more. She longed to be back at her sister's house where she didn't have to constantly live in fear.
"Fucking answer my goddamn question," Mr. Morello growled, raising one of his hands and letting it roughly collide with his daughter's cheek. The collision was so intense that it left a red handprint behind. His breath was hot over Lorna's face as he continued to glare spitefully down at her. It didn't bother him at all that his hand imprinted against her cheek from the vile slap. What mattered to him was the fact that she refused to acknowledge his inquiry.
"No, no, I-I'm not taking no drugs. That was Uncle George's bag, I just thought it was sugar," Lorna nervously muttered, trying to move away from her father's touch.
Another smack to her cheek. "Then why the fuck did ya make me think it was powdered fucking sugar? You lyin' little rat!" The anger only built up stronger and stronger the more lies that he heard spew out from his daughter's dirty mouth.
Lorna swallowed, feeling her throat slightly raw from the lack of hydration. She sucked in a huff of air. "I didn't lie, I didn't know it wasn't. I swear, dad."
"Yeah well ya fucking did lie! You said you fucking scraped powdered sugar from a donut but you damn well knew that was fucking bullshit. You better swear on your motha's grave that you're not lyin' bout' this bag being my brotha's because if I call him and he says otherwise, you're gonna be in for it. Ya hear me, little brat?"
Resting a hand over her temple, Lorna gradually massaged her fingers into it to ease the building tension. Her body stiffened at the thought of swearing on her mother's grave. She felt the color drain from her face from how uncomfortable it made her. How she loathed her father's ever even bringing Mrs. Morello up in conversation because she knew he only did so out of spite. It angered her to realize just how little he seemed to actually care for such a wonderful woman like her mother was.
"I—I'm not swearing on mom's grave. And I don't care if ya don't believe me. I can't fight with you anymore, it's exhausting. Can't I just move in with Franny? Please?"
"Move in with Franny?" Mr. Morello snickered at the suggestion. As if he'd allow his youngest daughter to go live with his eldest—he didn't need another disgrace to the family, he irritatingly thought. "Hell no. Franny ain't fit to be raisin' a teenage brat, she can't even take care of that little rugrat of hers."
Cupping both of her hands around either side of her face, the petite brunette let out an exasperated groan. "Don't talk like that about her," she gritted her teeth, inwardly shocked at herself. "Franny is a better mom to Marco than you are to any of us. Just fuckin' let me go live with her, please. I don't like it here anymore; you're mean and you scare me."
When she felt his hand come in harsh contact with her cheek once more, she wasn't surprised. In fact, she expected worse with how bold she had been with her choice of words. It wasn't like her to talk back with such an attitude. But she meant everything she said. Living with her father was draining her, wearing her down—physically and mentally. She knew if she stayed there any longer with him, it was highly possible she would end up very suicidal and that wasn't a path she wanted to go down.
"Ya think I'm mean and scary? Ya haven't seen shit yet, Lorna. I can make life a whole lot worse for ya. Better fucking watch yourself, little girl. I should fucking put you in boot camp or somethin' to get rid a yer snarky little attitude. God, I'm so sick of it."
Monday morning brought with it so much dread. Crippling anxiety, worry, and fear as well. Oh, and she couldn't forget the aching cheeks from being her father's punching bag the night before. She stood frozen at the entrance of her high school. Her eyes peered inside the windows of the doors, watching intensely as students walked about the halls. She didn't want to go in there today. The thought of how all her classmates would react to her after the toilet incident the previous Friday kept her from moving any further.
Instead, Lorna sat down on a bench that was placed on the walkway near a flowerbed on the left of the doors. Birds chirped tranquilly through the sky, a couple of them perching on a nearby birch tree. She let her eyes wander over at them, watching as they pecked their small noses against one another. It was a heartwarming sight to see; she felt an instinctive smile mold onto her face. The red cardinal, slightly taller, made her think of Nicky—beautiful and spirited. The other bird—one she couldn't easily figure out the breed of—brown feathered and shorter statured reminded her somewhat of herself, being timid and naïve.
The sound of the bell ringing through the loudspeaker that was nailed on the metal frame right above the doors lured her back into reality. She drew in a deep breath. It was probably wise that she make her way inside, she thought. Yet, trepidation creeped up and she paused on the edge of the bench. Was she prepared for this? The question tore through her mind. She didn't even need to ponder it long, she knew she would never be adequately prepared to face her classmates after what happened.
A hand was lifted up and used to slick back her hair. Another several moments passed by before Lorna decided to push herself up from the bench. She gradually walked nearer the door, however, halted her steps when she caught sight of a familiar head of bushy red curls through the glass. That couldn't possibly be Nicky, she hopefully thought. Her breath slightly hitched in her throat. If that was indeed her Nicky, she pondered, what on earth would the reason be for that? Unless by some godly miracle, Nicky had actually moved in with Red.
She finally stepped inside the building, after getting her emotions back under control, and felt a smile find its way back to her face. Nicky was really standing there, seemingly talking with one of the secretaries—and from the words she could make out, it sounded like her beloved girlfriend was re-enrolling as a student. It felt too good to be true, she thought. But, oh was she ecstatic. Something was finally going in the right direction for her, or so she believed.
And then the universe showed its true intentions. Lorna placed a hand on either side of her face, shutting her eyes momentarily. Out of the corner of her eye, she had caught a glimpse of none other than Annalisa walking from the other direction and felt her heart constrict in her chest. She knew it was too good to have Nicky back here and now, she was being shown just how much the universe truly hated her. Nothing good ever came without an undesirable chaser right behind it.
Everything unfolded in such a way that it didn't give Lorna any time to process what was happening. It was as though the universe enjoyed watching her scramble about while tormenting her in the most subtle of ways. Both Nicky and Annalisa noticed her standing there in the middle of the hallway—probably looking like a deer in headlights—and they walked over in her direction. Lorna swallowed a gob of saliva, bracing herself for what was to come. She knew it was too late for her to run.
Annalisa got to her first and looked her over with an ominous sneer. "I'm surprised they let ya back here so soon after what ya did on Friday, little Morello. Guess they don't take suicidal students serious huh? I sure hope ya don't try to do anything like that again, would be a real shame," the mocking tone strongly came out with each word she spoke. She placed a hand on her shoulder and her blue eyes gazed piercingly into Lorna's, silently threatening her.
Lorna shuddered at her touch and quickly backed away, trying to shake the blonde's hand from her shoulder. "I don't know what you're talking about," she whispered, not wanting her girlfriend to overhear their conversation. However, it was too late for that.
Standing behind the brunette, Nicky heard everything and felt her heart shatter. She arched her eyebrows, letting her big brown eyes gaze down at Lorna. Nothing but compassion and empathy hidden in them. "What is she talking about, Lorna? What happened on Friday?"
