Mom was leaving again to Oregon to look at the venue, try the menu, have her dress fitting... she lied to me.

She was excited. If she wanted to hide it behind harsh words then she did so excellently. She was excited to move onto a new life. One without me, the reminder of my father.

I was bitter about it. I was bitter about everything lately.

"Parker?"

Looking up from my phone, I realized I shouldn't have hung out in the living room. I could've avoided her.

"I'm having an Uber pick me up. I think you need some time to... calm

down."

I blew air out throw my nose.

"Calm down?" I asked angrily. "What is that supposed to mean?"

She cleared her throat and looked around awkwardly. "I know you're mad about what I said a few weeks ago." She wanted to talk about this now?

I turned around stubbornly. "I don't know what you're talking about. Are you finished packing? I know your flight leaves soon."

"Parker, it's been almost four weeks now. Let it go. Talk to Gina. You went out with her once, don't close—"

Fed up, I stood up and faced her. Who did she think she was? She didn't know anything. Nobody did.

"I'm not sure why you feel the need to lecture me right now. You know how messed up our relationship is, right? I know Felix makes you happy and maybe you're changing, but being a good parent now is useless." After my rant, I was breathless. The look on my moms face almost made me want to take it all back.

Her hands trembled as she smoothed down her shirt. "You're right. I just wanted you to know I went through your situation. I've told you once I'll tell you again, pick yourself up, Parker. If you're not getting him back and he's not coming back, then this pain you're putting yourself through isn't worth it."

-

The next day mom was really gone and I was lonely. It was past noon and I was still glued to my bed.

My phone ringing didn't phase me. I answered it.

"Hi—"

"Is your phone broken or have I just been calling the wrong number this past week?" Gina's furious voice boomed through the speaker.

"What?" I asked tiredly. Had I not been returning her calls? I mean, I never even remembered receiving them...

"Don't give me that bullshit, Parker. Come on, what's up?"

I swallowed hardly. "You know what's up."

She laughed and instead of warming me, it hurt me. "Is that supposed to excuse you being a shitty friend to me? I've been there for you everyday, but now that I wanna talk you're too fucking lazy?"

"I'm not lazy," I defended myself. "Gina, I'm sorry if I've been absence—"

"Me and Peter broke up," she cut me off.

My eyes widened. "Holy crap. G, are you okay? What happened? You guys are great together." Peter was the perfect amount of boring to balance out Gina's craziness. She was the perfect amount of psycho to balance out his blandness.

"Well you would've known earlier if you answered your goddam phone." Her voice wobbled. "He's transferring schools. He moving to New York. It's great but I was so mad he didn't tell me." She sniffled. "What the fuck am I supposed to do now? I ruined everything by getting angry, like I always do." I heard her blow her nose aggressively. "Peter said he was tired of how I always blew stuff up... so that's what I did."

"Oh, Gina," I sighed softly. "I'll come to the apartment right now." I was so absorbed in myself I didn't know my best friend was suffering. How could I let that happen?

"Don't," she gasped. "Why couldn't you have just been there, Parker? I get it, you're sad, but we all are. Fuck where are my keys? I'm gonna go to Peter's house. Try and talk some stuff out. Figure our shit out. Hope you'll do the same."

"Gina!" I yelled. "Gina? What the hell?" I called her back several times but she wouldn't answer.

I fanned my eyes to dry the tears. I've managed to ruin all my relationship. How did I do that? Why did I do that? I texted Gina constantly through out the day and when she didn't respond to any of them, I gave up.

Sleeping was my only safe haven. It was like a pause on reality. So waking up during it was infuriating. The small noises caused irrational sparks of fear in my chest. I ignored them and shoved my face in the pillow, trying to find peace again. It was nearly three in the morning. When the sounds wouldn't rest, sick imagines of someone breaking into my moms room took over. They'd murder her and—

A window breaking made me gasp loudly and my limbs locking in shock. Heavy footsteps followed. I took deep breaths and pushed myself up with trembling arms. Standing in the middle of the room, I thought about what the next step was. My first instinct was to contact Florencio. So I did.

Somebody is in the house.

The sound of things breaking and doors being opened made me drop my phone. I ran to the door and locked it. With adrenaline on my side, I managed to push my vanity in front of the door. Then I reached under my bed, pulling out one of the long wooden boards that supported my bed.

"Ah!" I screamed when someone started banging on my door. "Damnit," I whispered with a wobbling voice. Everything felt like it was in slow motion. I turned around and made a run for it to the window. I hurriedly opened it and punched the screen window through.

Rough hands grabbed my body.

What the fuck? How did you not hear that? You're such an idiot, Parker.

I grabbed the board and turned in the mans arms and swung at his head. The crack of his head against the wood made me cringe. The man groaned and grabbed my wrists, squeezing and twisting so hard I yelped in pain and dropped the "weapon."

"Let me go!" I kneed him the groin, stepped on his feet, and bit the hands that held me. I gagged, tasting the blood in my mouth. When he let me go, I threw myself out the window. I didn't make it all the way through so my middle just collided with the windowsill.

"Fucking bitch!" It was like he felt no pain because he recovered from my attacks and grabbed my legs. He dragged me to the floor and it was then I noticed my wet face. Everything hurt. I wanted it to be over.

He flipped me over on my back and tried to straddle me. I kicked him in the face and he screamed when I kept jabbing at his nose. He held his face that was partially covered by a hood.

"Got a lot of fight in you, Parker. Must of gotten that from your mom. She's a real pain in the ass just like you," he rasped.

His words stopped my frantic movements.

The puzzle pieces settled heavily. "Tyler?" I croaked.

His lips curled evilly. Before he could reach me again, I aimed for his legs. He fell to the floor and I grabbed the board again, closed my eyes and hit him. Over and over again. I felt no sympathy, love, connection to the man that ruined my mother and wanted to kill us.

My aggressive strikes halted when he ripped the board from my hands. Tyler lurched forward and twisted his fingers in my hair. He forced my face to his fist. The impact was unexpected and I bit my tongue. The blood spilled past my lips and I saw puddles of it on the floor. My vision turned blurry and my body slowed, but I still tried to hit him, scratch him. I thumbed his eyeballs and for a second I thought I won, but he hit me again.

I already felt myself slipping, shutting down, but he still walked me to the nightstand and slammed my head against it. I felt no pain. Just numbness.

Tyler heaved and threw me to the floor. All I remember before blacking out was him pulling out his phone and taking a picture.

-