Footsteps sound behind me, and I look back to the living room entrance. Harlow stands there, a blank look in her eyes as she stares into the mirror over the fireplace.
“Harlow?” Sam’s soft voice speaks up. I’m on alert now, something is wrong, very wrong. I look at the guys, and they are sharing the same matching panicked look as I’m sporting.
“I can't take it. It hurts too much.”
“What can't you handle? What can we do to help?” Dean asks, his voice sounding like a plea to be able to do something for her.
“Why?” Her voice breaks right alongside my soul. Tears well in my eyes as I watch my heart, my everything, slowly unravel. “Why do bad things have to happen to innocent kids?” Her eyes glisten with unshed tears. “Adults are supposed to protect them, to love them. So why are they the ones to hurt us?”
We don’t say anything, letting her talk. I feel sick and angry at the world. Seeing her like this fucking shatters me. But I knew it would happen someday. The day that everything she’s been holding in throughout her whole life would come bubbling up to the surface.
I don’t know what triggered it, but what’s about to happen isn’t going to be easy for any of us to hear or see.
“What did I do to deserve it?” she asks, looking away from the mirror and over to us. “I was just a little girl. Why was it that the only thing I've ever known growing up was grown men coming into my room and touching me!” she shouts, a sob breaking loose. My body starts to shake, tears staining my own cheeks. My heart is pounding, and I feel so useless. I know this is what I wanted, for her to open up to us, even just once. I knew it would hurt, but fuck, it feels like my heart is being ripped from my body.
“Years, for fuckingyears, I was raped. It’s all I ever knew. I didn’t even know it was wrong until I met you guys.” She looks at all of us. “Remember?” she asks, looking at me. I lock eyes with her, and my heart beats painfully. All I wanna do is pull her into my arms and tell her everything is going to be okay. But it’s in the past, there’s nothing we can do to change the outcome. She needs to work through this because it will help her in the long run. Plus, I don’t think that she has ever had to feel this pain in her entire life. “It was when Trina White was assaulted by that football player? I remember we were sitting at lunch, and you all were so upset. When I asked what was wrong, you told me what happened. You were sick about it. That’s when I realized that everything that happened to me waswrong. That it’s not how my life should have been.”
She lets out a manic laugh as she runs her hands through her hair.
Evie walks through the door, coming back from dropping Rosie off at her friends. Her face falls when she sees the state Harlow is in. I see the pain there immediately.
“It was nice, you know?” Harlow continues, smiling sadly at me. “To have a break from that. You were always so kind and caring, making sure I was enjoying myself. I never had that before.”
I bite the side of my cheek, choking back a sob. Knowing there were people who did this to my love, my everything, and that I’ll never be able to make them pay, kills me.
“But of course life couldn’t let me just be happy,” she shouts. “No, because for some reason I was meant to have my life ruled by fucking MONSTERS!” she roars, picking up a laptop on the side table next to her and hurling it across the room. It hits the mirror, smashing it into pieces, and they clatter to the ground.
“One of the biggest monsters to ever exist found me, kept me, and used me. He offered me up to other monsters to have their fun,” she rants, while pacing around the room as she pulls at her hair in distress. She screams some more, destroying everything in her path. I feel like I’m gonna puke, my body shaking.Fuck! I hate this. I just wanna take it all away, take her pain, her memories.
I look at the others. Dean also has tears in his eyes, his whole body tense as he watches our girl shatter.
Axel is holding Sam as he cries into his chest, his own face morphing into sheer agony.
And Neo, he looks like he’s ready to murder someone with his whole body vibrating, but doesn’t know who. I can see Beast flicker back and forth within his eyes. After this, I know he will let Beast out, and together, they will cause some major mayhem together. And none of us will bat an eye.
She lets out a scream, the sound embedding into my soul. No one stops her as she grabs a vase, throwing it to the ground. Then she throws the books, tossing them one by one, all while screaming and crying. God, this is a fucking nightmare I won’t be able to ever wake up from.
“Like a fucking sex doll! They owned me, used me. I used to wish that I never found out that what happened to me when I was a kid was wrong, because it made everything so much fuckingworse!”
Her chest is heaving, sobs wracking her chest as she crumbles to the ground. Evie rushes towards her, pulling her into her arms.
They sob together for what feels like forever. Evie’s voice is low, but I can hear her whisper to Harlow. “Shh, Harlow, I got you. I'm here for you, just remember you survived, you made it through”.
Harlow looks up at Evie. Her face is red, eyes puffy, and mascara running down her face. “Then there was you.” She smiles, a real smile. “My guardian angel.” She cups Evie’s face. “You saved me. I love Queenie, I do, and without her I don’t think I would have found a way to wade through my suffering. But you, you kept a part of me alive, my heart and soul alive. Thank you.”
“I’d do anything for you, Harlow,” Evie sobs. “You're my world. I’d die for you.”
“You're not allowed to. If you die, I’m coming after you.”
Harlow looks over at each of us, stopping when she sees Sam. He’s a mess. I can see him wanting to go to Harlow, but she goes to him. “And you, my sweet boy. I’m so sorry.”
“For what?” Sam chokes out.
“That you had to live the same life as me. But never again.” She looks at Evie and Sam. “Never again will someone touch us, take us, or own us without our permission.”
“Never again.” Sam nods frantically. “I love you.”
“I fucking love you.” She kisses Sam hard, then stands up. “And I fucking love you.” She kisses Evie, both still crying.