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Clawing at Your Broken Back


D.B

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Chapter 15

Beat, beat, beat…

Evie felt her hands tapping in a constant, nervous-sounding beat off the table as she struggled to keep her eyes open, her senses barely working even when she was trying to get a sense of what was in front of her. This was important, she needed to pay attention, and while she kept looking over the marked papers in front of her and fixing anything she saw she missed, her eyes felt like playing tricks on her. She couldn’t tell right now whether or not what her hands were doing was because she was trying to keep herself awake, or else the trembling of her knuckles that was causing her hands to almost bump up and down against the hard wood on the desk she was currently sitting at.

She had literally no idea why she was here. Well, that wasn’t new, she was wondering why Zac was giving her- what was this, her third, fourth chance?- but what she was wondering was why she showed up. She could have just stayed in bed, refused to answer any calls, she felt that strong, extremely tempting desire to just stay there- but then again, that was what she wanted to do, that was her own selfish desire. She didn’t know whether or not to believe her own words that at least she was keeping herself away from hurting anyone else.

But isn’t showing up also what you want? Some small, ever-shrinking part of you seems so insistent in trying to impress everyone else, as if trying to show you could do what anyone else would find easy to do. As if that would make up for everything, or make them even like you. Isn’t that the most pathetic thing you’ve ever heard?

But she already knew this, she wasn’t looking for any sort of approval… or at least, she hoped she wasn’t. Zac, for some ungodly reason, had asked her to do this, and even though she messed up, even though he had shown her far more patience than she deserved, even before she had made him upset, she was still here. She owed him to at least help around here as long as he needed her to, she owed him so much more than she could ever give him. She was just so numbingly worried that she would just being selfish again, just shamelessly grabbing at any opportunity to make herself feel better…

Only that idea didn’t make much sense. If what she and Nadia had spoken about before, if she never really felt that working meant that much to her anymore, that it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things- then how could she expect it to make her feel better? How would that work? Then again, more importantly, if none of it mattered, then why was she even here, if it didn’t matter if her helping Zac like this would make any difference.

Evie doesn’t know how she was able, day after day, to muster the audacity to breathe the same air as everyone else around her; Zac, Phoebe, the teachers who time from time give her concerned looks, the students. Hadn’t she inflicted enough pain on her family and friends’ lives without having to inflict it on people who were supposed to rely on her to do her job, whether she knew them or not?

Still, somehow, she resolved not to let any of it show, at least not in work. Not only would it be extremely unprofessional, but none of them deserved to see her anger or bitterness. That was the thing about her reduced work schedule that showed Zac made the right move, even if he didn't understand- at least there was less chance of her accidentally or being pushed into blowing up like a volcano in front of people. She just wished she didn't ruin this opportunity in the first place, to make Zac lose faith in her- as if he hasn't already. 

She had to control it- that remained the single constant that remained with her all this time, the only thing that kept her relatively sane, to not to express it. She expressed enough of it through her weak attempts to get Zac and Leah to see that she was a hopeless cause. It wasn’t as though she wanted to be bitter when she did it, she could have found a better way to show to them, to show they didn’t have to worry, that they were better off without her without hurting them. She didn’t try hard enough and she knew better than to crawl back asking for a chance to explain herself. Because that anger and bitterness was still there. It all made its way into her words and remained a deep part of her. Maybe that was what she was all along, maybe now did it show itself. Why did she let it? Maybe Nadia had a point about how letting that anger fester only makes it worse, but it still didn’t make it right for her to hard to be around, to act all miserable and angry.

Grabbing the papers, she stood up and gritted her teeth, the only way she acknowledged the pain on her knees and legs. She was supposed to help correct some of these exam papers before they were sent to the teacher. She just hoped she did them right. Obviously she knew that the teacher would just fix any mistakes that she forgot about or made herself, but she reckoned that if she was given this task to do, she ought to do it right in the first place, not leave it for someone else to fix for her-

She was suddenly stopped on her walk through the hall when she felt her knees weaken. Every step felt like complete agony (Physical? Emotional? Evie felt it made no difference) and the muscles in her left shoulder might as well have been screaming at her this morning. It was a wonder that she didn’t collapse out of bed the very first thing. And then, there were her elbows, the elbows where the scars were. It felt like they were burning, at every move she made, as if each single one of the cuts that she made, were trying to rip and claw away at every cell, at every bit of what was left of her body.

Evie knew she should have had more than just that couple of sandwiches to eat this morning. She had been getting her breakfast from Salt ever since she moved out, very early in the morning or late in the evening for her to store in the fridge for the next day. It wasn’t much, usually what she ate on a daily basis was poorer than what she did before to keep her strength up. Brody, Mason’s brother, took notice at how thin she looked, even under the layers she wore, and always tried to encourage to take a bit more, but she always refused as patiently as she could. Not only was she saving much of her money for rent, but she didn’t really care about being thin, or eating more. Not when she didn’t deserve to be strong, not when the only place she really should be is a hole in the ground. But now… Evie may not have an expert understanding of the human body, but she knew her body was going to have physical limitations, and with the amount of food she was consuming had been little to none for a long time now, she shouldn’t have been surprised at how her body felt like failing her now.

Oscar… Oscar had gone through the same thing, two years ago. He had almost worked himself to the point of collapse. Did he experience these feelings as well back then as well? Oscar wasn’t doing well back then, and she knew he was experiencing those feelings of guilt and self-loathing (after so much time of feeling it herself, the idea of him feeling just a glimpse of it made Evie feel nauseous). She and everyone else tried to support him, but could she have done more? Could she have done more to get him through that dark time? It was a weird time to think of it, but thinking about what he went through, she couldn’t help but think- but it was worse then, worse because Oscar went through it, and he didn’t deserve it, all of that, the community service, the panic attacks, all of it happened because she made him, because she made him cover up what happened to Tamara, because she was scared of losing him, and all it proved was that she was incapable of doing the right thing-

Suddenly, the entire hall seemed to be flying upwards, as if gravity had suddenly abandoned the situation and fled to somewhere else. It took the harsh, almost cracking sound of her knees hitting the cold, tile floor to realise she was the one who had fallen down. The papers that she had tucked so carefully in her hands, as if they were made of plastic that would shatter at the slightest touch, went spilling out over the open floor. Her hands were gripping onto the floor by her sides, as if already preparing herself to get back up, but her legs were not cooperating with that demand, rising with her knees scraping along the floor only to freeze mid-way to success. She screwed her face in an attempt to make sure she didn’t start crying, the whole thing was embarrassing enough without her sobbing. She reached out and grabbed the papers and pushed her onto her heels.

Somehow she got into a sitting position and was gathering the paper in her arms and try and get them into order, she could correct this. She heard murmurs behind her, so people must have seen her fall, and even though she hated herself for that, there was nothing she could do about that now, she just had to get the papers-

“Evie, you okay?” Suddenly another pair of hands was beside her, gathering the papers in their arms to hand them to her. And though the rush of irritation and anger that Evie felt rising in her throat was ridiculous and unfair, because whoever it was (her fuzzy brain had yet to dredge up to her knowledge who it was), they were just trying to help, but she felt the guilt of having someone helping her, and she needed it just to stop. God, you couldn’t even walk down a hallway right. When are people ever going to see that you can’t handle anything right? Why do you keep letting them think otherwise?

She looked up hesitantly, to see Phoebe looking at her with concern even as she was still focused on getting the students’ works together. “Phoebe…thanks, but… I’ve… I’ve got this,” Evie spluttered, not knowing what else to say as she collected all the papers that weren’t currently in Phoebe’s arms. The older girl helped her up despite Evie distancing herself back into a wall as fast as she could. She could see students glancing over at them, and she couldn’t blame them. That didn’t do much to ease her.

“You sure?” Phoebe asked the younger girl, tilting her head at her in concern. “It look like you took a nasty fall there.”

 “It’s nothing, I should have been more careful of where I was walking,” Evie muttered. “Besides I’m supposed to get these to Mr McGarry.”

“Listen, let me take these to him and you sit down and-”

“I don’t need to sit down, I got this Phoebe, okay?” Evie replied sharply. Her muscles in her back was tightening to breaking point. The lights were getting way too brightly for her and it was becoming a lot harder to think. But there was more to it than that. She didn’t want Phoebe’s concern, she was a staff member, she ought to be perfectly capable of handling this herself.

“Okay, I was just asking, you look like you needed a break, that’s all,” Phoebe replied, not even bothering to keep the offence out of her voice. Evie had been hard to be around for a while, and it was clear that the week she took off did not do herself any favours. She was still a hard worker (Phoebe only needed to glance at the work she was carrying to know that), but her mood has not lightened up, which meant when it came to jobs involving the students, Evie had mostly been passed over.

And it wasn’t just that. Phoebe heard Zac talk about how Evie was having trouble eating and if Phoebe hadn’t told him about her trips up to Salt every morning, Zac would probably be going down to Evie’s caravan everyday with food. Now, Phoebe could see, with the jumper hanging off from Evie’s arms, the hollowness of her cheeks, the sunken eyes, that she really wasn’t eating well. It was as if the jumper was close to swallowing Evie whole. Phoebe reached out and took Evie by her arm, near her sleeve. “You’re not being a bother, maybe we could go to the staffroom and-”

“Don’t touch me!” Evie shouted quickly, pulling away from Phoebe’s hand. It was as if the moment Phoebe touched her arm, so close to pulling off her sleeve, so close to the cars, it was as if that single movement broke through the entire haze. She felt that immediate urge to hide away, to run away even though she was more likely to crawl than run. The two girls stared at one another, complete in shock of what happened and not knowing what to say, unaware of that someone had scurried across the other end of the hall without being noticed.

“I just… just…sorry… don’t…” she couldn’t make any coherent sentences, but she looked up to Phoebe with a look of fear, as she tried to get her to understand. There was probably guilt there too, because she felt guilt for reacting like this in front of Phoebe. “I need it on.”

“Okay,” Phoebe’s body was as stiff and shocked as her tone was. “Sorry, I just thought you could do without it. Let’s just talk about it. You’re obviously got some stuff going on, and I can help if you want.” 

“Phoebe, save it. I wasted enough of your time by just being here, I’ll sort this out on my own.” Evie took a few steps back into a corner as she kept the papers close to her. Phoebe was just trying to help, but she didn’t understand, she didn’t understand how getting involve was such a big mistake. Besides, it wasn’t any of Phoebe’s business as to how much she was eating. Evie refused to drag the other girl down with her by trying to make her feel better and besides, there wasn’t anything she could do that would help in the long run. Because she would just screw this up even if she was in perfect health. She just needed to deliver these papers and then maybe sit down.

That said, though, the thought occurred to her that she should let someone know about how physically incapable she felt at the moment. It wasn’t good, whatever it was, whether it was the lack of food, the tiredness or who knows what else was going on with her. She may deserve it, but no place can have an employee who can’t even stand up straight. If she was given another job to do, what if she fell down again and this time there wouldn’t be Phoebe to help her, and she screws it up? Yeah, the papers she was currently clutching in her hands like a lifeline were fine, she just needed to organise them again before she brought them to Mr McGarry, but what if something happened to them when she slipped? Evie should have gotten this sorted ages ago, she was good at keeping on her toes, even after all of… this settled in her mind.

But she needed to think about how she explains it. She obviously can’t tell them the full story, not all of it, least of all of what was under her sleeves, but… but she can’t make it look like she was trying to skit off work or anything, she just didn’t think she could do much in her state. She could sense Phoebe still there (Evie shouldn’t really be surprised, Phoebe was always like a dog following a bone, never giving in) and she should just tell her, so she could let the other teachers know, they needed to know-

Know what, how lazy you are? It’s one thing to be here when no one wants you, but it’s another thing to try and slack off with what they ask you to do because you’re just uncomfortable with it! Haven’t you given them enough reason to be sick of you, to hate you?

“Evie?” Phoebe asked softly, seeing Evie frozen as in mid-thought as she approached her. Her face was furrowed and her eyes seemed to blazing over in a look that just looked so angry. Phoebe didn’t know how to deal with that, she just hoped that anger wasn’t directed at her. “You alright? You’ve been on your feet for a while now, maybe you should just stop-”

“No, I just need to work,” Evie answered. “I’ll try not to mess up again-”

“Evie, it’s not about work, this could be serious. Zac should know, if you’re hurt in anyway-”

“I’m not hurt, Phoebe, I just…” Evie sighed, running a hand through her hair quickly. “I’ll go tell him, okay? But I’ll stop when I have to.” She walked slowly, as if not to cause her legs to collapse again. She hated the idea of going easy on herself, but she wanted to avoid another scene. She didn’t know whether or not she would tell Zac, if she could get the answer to the question of either messing up again in her state or letting him down by admitting she couldn’t do the job. Evie had never wanted to make a fuss, or to make anyone else make a fuss about her. She wanted to be the one who kept the help coming, to be the person for everyone else to rely on for a smile. That was what she kept onto ever since all of this happened, she wanted to be the person who helped them, but when they kept on worrying about her, despite all her insisting that they shouldn’t, and the guilt she tried to buried came rushing up, it only felt like she wasn’t the right person for that job, the one that would only make things worse if she tried.

She hesitated for a moment, thinking about going back to Phoebe and explain her freakout from earlier, but her brain couldn’t come up with anything other than either the truth or just plain lies and Evie shouldn’t lie. But that freakout wasn’t normal, Phoebe could surely tell. It was as if she was on the verge of breaking down everytime someone got close or touch her, made her feel like she was carrying a big weight and was being crushed by it. That isn’t how normal people would react with their family and friends.

All it shows is that how wrong you were to stay all this time. As if they wanted to know your problems, but you staying was worse. Did you want them to get hurt, do you want them to die? Because that’s what happen if you stay, you know that.

And Evie did know that, she knew that no matter what anyone else believed (they don’t know the full story, I kept it from them), she poisoned everyone around her by just being there.

But then Nadia’s words even as Evie had walked out of their last session ringed through the fogginess of her brain and into her ears:

Just because you stay away doesn’t mean what happens to you doesn’t affect your family. You all may have made mistakes, but you all still love another and need one another. Just don’t wait for that to them to give up themselves, because no one can wait forever.

Evie had gone over those words over and over again, and found it made little difference. They shouldn’t care, not about her, and she won’t make them. Even if Zac made false assumptions, and even if, as much as she tried to hide it, a small part of her felt wounded, that also doesn't mean he was wrong about other things either. Even Nadia’s point about ‘correlation not causation’… Evie couldn’t take that chance that she could be wrong, that she was the cause of all of it. She felt enough guilt that she couldn’t convince herself otherwise if she wanted to, which meant if she just accepted that, or ignored it, she’d be putting everyone else at risk if she did.

I’ll stop when I have to. Evie couldn’t help but think about how that meant more than just stopping work.

------

“You okay, Mason?” Matt asked as he drank from the bar. His friend was being uncharacteristically quiet today, deep in thought. “Difficulty at work?”

“What? Oh, no, it’s going okay, for now at least,” Mason told him, sipping from his own drink after he answered. “Well, as well as it can when working with siblings.” He couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous about this, even though he knew that Matt was cool with almost anything, it was different when it came to Evie. In spite of their arguments, Matt was still really worried and protective about Evie, so as much as Mason had initially believed that he’d be fine with it, the doubts were creeping into his reasoning now.

“Seriously man, what’s up?”

Mason took a deep breath and spoke. “I’ve been hearing from my friends that there’s a party this Saturday and… I don’t know, maybe you want to come along.” Well, that wasn’t exactly he had planned but Mason guessed he wanted to ease his way into the conversation, apparently by inviting Matt as well.

“Sure, yeah, that’ll sound fun,” Matt said bemusedly, a wry smile passing on his lips. “But I’m guessing there’s more going on, otherwise you wouldn’t be looking like you got someone pregnant.” Following a short moment of silence coming from Mason’s end, Matt’s eyes widened. “Wait, did you-”

“No, nothing like that,” Mason said quickly, feeling a bit irritated already. He couldn’t get the idea out of his head of him being a third wheel in this friendship. “Listen, the thing is… I was planning to invite Evie along as well?”

Matt looked back at him with surprise, his smile gone and his face morphing into an unreadable look. “Why are you telling me and being all nervous about it?”

Mason shrugged, not entirely sure himself what reaction he was expecting and what one he was hoping for. “I don’t know… I guess, I know things haven’t been easy between the two of you for a while, I just wanted to know if it was alright.”

Matt only felt more confused by Mason’s reasoning. Did he really think that he needed to ask Matt for permission? “Mason, Evie’s her own person, she can make her own decisions,” Matt replied before his insecurities kicked in and added in a somewhat indifferent tone. She has always decided for herself, without wanting to rely on others. “For better or worse.”

“I know that,” Mason insisted, even though he didn’t consider that much. Obviously, he knew Evie could make her own decisions, but after everything that was going on, Mason believed he needed more than his word. “It’s just that… I just thought I might ask you, to wonder if she’d be okay if I asked.”

Matt snorted. “And you think that would work? She kept refusing my offers to hang out, why would she say yes to you?” he asked bitterly.

Mason’s offence rankled. “Okay, maybe I don’t know her as well as you do, but that doesn’t mean I can still help her. I mean, when’s the last time you actually talked to her?”

Matt glared at him, irritation rising. “I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to Evie in a while now and apparently that’s what she wants right now. Apparently me asking her what was wrong after spending time giving her space didn’t help.” He shrugged and leaned against the table, looking at Mason helplessly. His memory was dragging him back to the last time he saw Evie; looking so rattled and disorientated, her eyes drowning in what he saw as pain and anger and exhaustion. And it had shown in on the weary lines on her face, the looseness of her hands, how frightened and out of breath she was when Kat ambushed the pair of them. All the while Matt was there and he could do nothing. He had given her space because despite his tone, he knew she asked for it. Some bitter part of him wondered why he was still bothering about her, if she was so insistent on being alone, but the rest of him knew better, and fought with the undefeatable desire that to help her. 

“You know, there are times I wish I can be angry at her. I mean, she won’t talk to me, she’s… she’s so angry, even when she was trying to hide it. She doesn’t trust me enough to tell me what’s going on, she won’t let me help, and… what else am I supposed to do? But I can’t be angry, not really. Because when I spiralled a long time ago… she was there to help. And this isn’t just some… I don’t know, her being in a bad mood or anything. I may not know much, but I know there is something seriously wrong going on with her. After everything she lost… it makes sense that she would still be suffering. This just… doesn’t get fixed overnight. There… there had to be something going on with her earlier, some way I could have realised it and… do more to help. But how can I do that if she doesn’t let me? I don’t want to force her-”

“You were never forcing her-”

“Well, how can I know that Mason? I’m not a mind reader, I can’t tell what it is. I mean, ever since Josh left…. We were always good friends, me and her, but then it was just the two of us left. Even after what Josh did to her… back then, Evie was still being so kind and wanted to help out anyway she could… things changed. She was acting as if… as if I didn’t want to be around her. And I didn’t get it, what did I do to make her feel that way? She said it wasn’t my fault, and that I did all I could… but she was holding stuff back, I know it…” Matt trailed off, caught in his own turmoil.

Mason looked at the irritation was leaving Matt’s expression and felt his own offence shrinking at seeing how much this was troubling his friend. “But maybe it wasn’t about trust. Maybe it was just because Evie didn’t want you to worry,” Mason suggested. “I mean, she was still wrong leave you thinking this stuff, but… I doubt it’s the easy thing for her to do, to keep it all wound tightly up inside. Maybe she thought it was for the best.”

Matt thought about it, and maybe it made sense. Evie had told him plenty of times stuff like “Don’t worry” or “I can’t complain”, and it all felt as though she was trying to diminish whatever was going on with her. “Well yeah, she didn’t want to talk about her problems, and probably she was trying to look after me by keeping it to herself, but… doesn’t that also say something about trust? I… I’m not going to judge her for her issues, she has more of a right than most to vent about what happened, but… she could have trusted me for her to… I don’t know, express it, talk about it with me. I don’t really want her to do anything else than just be honest.” And to Matt, that was the crux of it. Evie never had to hide anything not from him, whether he agreed with her or not.

Mason looked away and sighed. “Well, I guess that’s true. I get it. But… I don’t know, if we can convince her to come to the party this weekend… I don’t know, maybe it can help her.”

Matt didn’t look convinced. “I don’t know how it would change anything. Why, after all this time of being alone, would she say yes?” Mason looked like he was on the verge of talking about something else before Matt thought of something else. It was the raw terror on her face that night outside the Surf Club. “It’s just that…the last time I saw her… she had a bad reaction when someone confronted her… it was so strange… it was as if her body was trying to shut down or something…is that normal?”

“I…I don’t know,” Mason answered honestly. This was the first time he was hearing about something like that, and he couldn’t think about how this happened. Though.... he could remember the last time he and Evie had a talk together, the anxiety attack she had. He had never mentioned it to Matt, because he didn’t know if it was his business, and right now he wasn’t sure if it was either of their business right now. “So what’s your point?”

Matt shrugged at that response. “So, what do we know would happen if she finds herself in a party with lots of people getting drunk, with guys wanting to do… you know…”

Mason deflated and internally recoiled at what Matt was referring to. He hadn’t thought about that, and he didn’t like that they had to talk about it. “Maybe you’re right, but… we have to do something. It would show that we want her to be included. Maybe that’s what she needs, to know that she deserves to have friends” Mason suggested. Of course, he didn’t know this was the case to be sure, but from his learning when it came to mental health, people who experienced loss suffered from loneliness.

Matt looked over to him and ran his hands over his hair. “Of course she deserves to have friends. I want her to be included!”

“I know that, and you know that. Does she know that?” Mason asked reasonably and maddingly calm. And Matt didn’t know how to answer that. Because he feared it was the truth. “It’s just… the things she said… she was acting as though she ruined my night when she didn’t do anything, and….I never noticed it, I never saw it for what it was. She’s lost so much, and it’s so clear she’s still suffering even after all this time…” He gave a frustrated sigh as he finished the rest of his drink. This year had been painful enough for them all, did it have to get worse? Matt wasn’t stupid, he knew that things weren’t going to automatically be okay, or that things would be okay for a while, but it still sucked.

Mason didn’t know what else to say, because he didn’t feel he could connect to what Matt and Evie and everyone else had gone through this year. He wasn’t in the Bay for any of it, he could only watch it from a stranger’s perspective. It was both fascinating and annoying for him to do so, fascinating to hear about other people’s lives that weren’t his family, and annoying that he didn’t feel as involved as he probably should have. Before he could think of something to say, Matt was off again.

“Maybe I’m still lost about how things changed, you know. I mean, I loved that even after what she lost, she still…still cared. But I just wanted to give back, you know. Helping your friends is a two-way street, she can’t let me talk all about my problems and not expect me to listen to her,” Matt explained, hoping he was getting his fears across to Mason in the right way.

Mason nodded along, before a question popped into his head. “Look, this kind of stuff, it isn’t my area of expertise but I did learn some stuff about mental health when I was studying. Maybe it’s possible that she could have repressed what was actually going on with her.”

Matt looked at him in confusion, causing Mason to add, “I mean, when she told you that her problems weren’t important… what if she actually believed it?”

Matt looked at him and shook his head, still in confusion. “I mean, Evie’s smart, she’d know that what she went through is important. Why would she think anything else?”. Matt knew how much Oscar and Hannah meant to Evie, she couldn’t pretend otherwise even if she wanted to. Josh, though… that stuff was still complicated, which itself felt like an understatement. He didn’t like the idea of Evie being broken by what Josh did, but Matt didn’t like the idea of her still being stuck on him just as much. Of course, he knew he could be wrong about that idea, but that thought remained in his head, that Evie was still thinking about him, that Josh still, even when he was God-knows-where, he had control over her life, and that thought just soured everything. Especially when immediately after Josh was arrested, Evie had secretly blamed herself for not seeing what Josh did. Even though, as far as Matt knew, she had realised she was just as blameless as the rest of them.

And it was as if Mason read his mind with his next words. “I don’t know, but maybe with… you know, this guy Josh… maybe she still blame herself for not seeing what he did, and that would just cloud everything else? Then maybe that guilt convinces her to… I don’t know be alone.” This was all just speculation, but Mason felt it was still a good guess. Besides, it was what he felt after Lana had betrayed him and his family. He had spent nights wondering how wrong he was about her, even though deep down he knew there were no warning signs. And it wasn’t just a bad relationship problem, it was a mistake that could have gotten himself and all his family killed. It was easy for that guilt to sink in, and maybe it was the same for Evie.

Matt considered that and sighed. “If you’re right, if that’s what she thinks… damnit, it would make sense. She knows how I feel about the whole thing, but… it wasn’t her fault. Josh… he was a better liar than any of us believed that he was capable of. There was nothing she could do. I just wish she’d know he doesn’t deserve a moment of her time.”

“Maybe she knows that, deep down. I mean, they were together for a long time, maybe she doesn’t know how she should feel about him, I don’t know… and you don’t know for certain that’s what she’s thinking either,” Mason pointed out. “Maybe she’s afraid of something and with everyone keep trying to get her to open up and making suggestions… that won’t help her.”   

Matt knew Mason had a good point. Evie and Josh had been engaged, he knew that would affect her, but this was not the way he had ever expected or prepared for. However, the idea that he was wrong about her thoughts about Josh didn’t do much to sooth him. Because that didn’t change whatever she was going through. And what he said to her… he was angry, and it didn’t change that her keeping him out of helping her wasn’t fair on him, but were his warnings about Josh even necessary to say? Were they too much and somehow made things worse? “Even if we did persuade her that she shouldn’t blame herself, it won’t solve anything else. I mean, even if we were able to convince her…it still comes down to Oscar and Hannah.”

Matt shook his head and looked at Mason earnestly. “She was heartbroken, and even though time passed… I may not be the smartest, but I know that stuff doesn’t go away, if it ever does.” His thoughts had briefly went to the memory of his long-lost sister Elly, and he knew even though it had been too long since he’d even seen her, if anything happened to her, he would spiral out of control, not caring where he landed. And though Evie may initially have had a better control over her emotions, she would be thinking the same. “And on top of that… I mean, what if that was what was driving all of this? Some belief that…

Mason leaned closer to Matt expectedly, waiting to hear what he had to say. “That?”

Matt shook his head and answered slowly, reluctantly. Because he didn’t want this to be true, but if it was, then a lot of what Evie had said to him suddenly makes more sense in his head “That she doesn’t deserve our friendship, or our help and it only make things worse for her? It’s… it’s all such a mess.”

Mason nodded, unhelpfully. “Yeah, it is. But you’re all in this mess, so it can’t be all that bad.”

-----

Evie never thought she would come here. She really didn’t want to, but a part of her was convinced she should make this journey. The thought occurred to her because of Nadia had suggested during their last meeting, how what happened may had affected her in ways she didn’t know how. And she thought about how frightened she was when around other people, even before she had started cutting herself. And somehow, even though she felt stupid for thinking so, even though there were other factors involved, she felt part of that reason came back to him. Hunter.

She remembered the fights they had after Josh was arrested, but maybe fight wasn’t the right word- it was more of Hunter screaming at her, his red, angry face almost ready to rip her to pieces, and her trying to calm him down. Those days, Zac and Leah were fighting a battle to simultaneously persuade her not to blame herself for what happened to Josh, and to keep peace in the house, and while Evie had trouble believing what they were telling her (because I wanted to believe them), she didn’t want to make things harder than it was. But Hunter wouldn’t listen to reason. She guessed that with Charlotte as a mother, Hunter’s anger wasn’t to be unexpected, but this was totally different. Even after he stabbed Andy, Evie had never considered if that could have happened to her (Hunter was certainly angry enough at her to have possible consider it). There wasn’t time, because it was then they all found out the truth about Denny, which overshadowed any other thoughts.

Evie never visited him before his trial, because what was there to say, but now she realised why she should have: because she needed to know what his intentions were, especially when it came to Zac, and to make sure he wouldn’t go near him or anyone else to hurt them again. She didn’t know how long she had left, until she decided enough was enough- she would get those moments when she felt like suicide was the best action, and though they would past and she ended up doing nothing, she knew they would keep coming until she would end up doing so, but while she was left, she would try to make sure Hunter knew to stay away from Zac. She just hated that it took her this long to even consider it, and she hit the wheel of her car in frustration because she could have got a handle on this sooner, she could have gotten Zac to see reason sooner, persuaded Hunter to change his mind…

She was escorted through the prison gates, checked to ensure she had nothing to sneak to the prisoner, and now she was sitting on a chair in front of a table, surrounded by other tables where other prisoners were meeting visitors. While she was waiting, she wondered if she stayed with Josh and if he didn’t run, if she’d be doing this for him? If he was ever caught, would she see him? She was pretty sure she said all that was needed to be said the last time they ever saw each other, but like anything else, she wasn’t so sure anymore.

Finally, Hunter was escorted into the room by a guard. Evie watched the elation on his face disappear quickly as soon as he laid eyes on her. It was clear that she wasn’t the visitor he was hoping for. Well, if Evie owned the world’s smallest violin, she’d play it for him.

He sat down in front of her, and as he did, Evie felt the hairs on the back of her neck curve and stood on end. It was because she knew what he did, that he was capable of trying to kill Andy, that he caused Marilyn’s injury, she told herself, that was all. They stood in silence for who knows how long before Hunter asked warily. “So, what do you think?”

Evie’s eyebrows raised suspiciously. “About what particularly?”, she asked, her tone carefully constructed as to not give anything away.

Hunter nodded, his gaze never leaving her face in a disconcerting manner, though his eyes portrayed a battle of resentfulness and apprehension. “You tell me. Did you come to gloat?”

For the first time, Evie was feeling rankled at his words, at how carefree they sounded, as if he was innocent, as if nothing had changed. She remembered how heart-broken and confused Zac was when Hunter was first arrested, and though both she and Leah tried to help him, encourage Zac that it wasn’t his fault for what Hunter did, Evie could tell that hurt remained. Looking at him now, she wondered how successful she would have been to persuade him to leave Zac alone even if she tried before.  “Gloat,” she stated flatly, as if it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. “Gloat about what, exactly?”

“What do you think?” Hunter asked coldly. He remembered what Zac tried to tell her about Evie. Back then he had initially agreed with Zac, realising how much Zac’s words made sense, and how he had no one else to blame for himself for his current circumstances. Yet, as Hunter soon realised, that didn’t mean that any anger at her disappeared. It seemed so easy to agree with Zac at the time, but afterwards… after getting use to the harsh reality of prison, no matter how much he tried, the bitterness of his situation kicked in with a vengeance. To the point that he couldn’t find himself to care about keeping that anger in

Besides, even if he knows that she had nothing to do with Josh's actions, Evie still seemed to him like a very easy person to be angry at (otherwise he had to admit the idea that he had wronged her), and he was in jail anyway, so why not? “I’m here, barely get any visitors, and now you have Zac all to yourself. Seems like you got what you wanted.”

Now, her own sight was in danger of going incredibly red. Evie suddenly felt a strong, unrelenting urge to deck him. “Got what I wanted? Is that so?” Evie repeated in amazement. Is that what he really thinks? He had no idea of what she wanted- well to be fair, neither did she, but she knew at least if she had ‘got what she wanted’, then Oscar and Hannah and Denny would still be alive. “Okay, let me explain something to you, because clearly you don’t have a clue,” Evie told him, the disdain in her voice was grating. “Zac is not mine. He’s not yours. It’s not his job to make anyone feel better unless he wants to. He’s his own person, a decent person who has been through enough because of both you and me. I may be a lot of things, but I am not happy that you hurt him.”

At least, in a slim, bitter form of satisfaction, she saw Hunter’s smug demeanour deflated at that. He sighed and turned away, scratching at a small beard that was growing under his chin, suddenly looking for any excuse not to look at her.

“You knew what your mother did to him, what she did to all of us. Denny was Zac’s niece, she was finally about to have a new start in life, and you knew why she never got it and did nothing. Marilyn felt she had to leave because she didn’t know who John was anymore, and you did nothing. Zac was so angry, and so ashamed, of what Charlotte did, because of  all the while, you stood by him pretending that you cared.”

“I did care!” Hunter insisted urgently, his voice pleading and his eyes suddenly swimming with shame that seemed to contradict his tone. Evie felt her teeth clench at the sight and immediately felt like backing away, but then she decided she didn’t care. She couldn’t let this change what she had to say. If he felt ashamed, then that was fine. It’s easy for him to cry now that he was just in the beginning of a lengthy prison sentence.

Hunter felt as though he was having trouble getting his answer straight, because he did care for Zac. He felt enough shame after realising how much he let him down, and even though part of him could get why it was being questioned, he didn’t want his love to Zac to be questioned.  

“Not enough to tell him about Denny, apparently. Not enough to admit you stole from the diner to hurt Leah. Not enough to tell him Charlotte’s involvement. You cared more about covering what you did so you could keep Zac, and letting him believe he could trust you. You might as well have spat in his face.” She practically spate the words at him, even though it didn’t make her feel better (frankly, knowing what she did, she almost expected she wouldn’t), but it didn’t surprise her. She knew that when she can be, she could really vindictive.

Hunter’s body was shaking in anger at this point, his fists clenching by his sides on the table, his eyes glaring and filled with anger, anger she guessed was because he didn’t want to hear it from her. Evie still didn’t care. He could reach out and start beating her and she wouldn’t care. He couldn’t do anything worse to her than she did to anyone else, including herself. “I said I was sorry to him, I never meant for him to be hurt, I just didn’t know what to do,” he hissed at her. “You don’t know what it was like… seeing him there with all of you when I never had that chance with my father, I just wanted that, I never thought it would end like this.”

“You’re sorry now, yeah, now that you’re stuck in here. What did you think was going to happen. Did you think that you could keep it all hidden, and Zac would be okay with it?” Evie felt an extreme uneasiness when she said it, because while it was true to Hunter, it didn’t make it any less true about her. Still, she had no time for his excuses. “You had a hard life growing up, I know that, but Zac gave you a chance of a better life, you had the chance that so many other people would beg to get, and you still chose to do all that and used what Zac gave you to hide it. There is no one else to blame, certainly not Zac.”

Hunter felt his anger rising, because he didn’t want to think about how right she was. He’s refused any attempts of  help from the prison for councillors or anything like that, but he was forced to take part in sessions where they all talked about what they did, and if they realised how their actions affected their victims. And it was only there did Hunter ever considered Denny as a person who lost her life because of his own actions. He knew what she meant to Zac of course and he was sad for his father, but he never felt much… sorrow for what happened to her. He didn’t know her, just (as the detectives put it, he realised with horror), another person that filled him with envy at how close she was to Zac. He never wanted her hurt in any way, but… but that didn’t explain why he didn’t think much of her at all. He had attempted to rationalise it because there was nothing he could do for her, he just wanted to move on from it. It was only in prison that he was forced to consider her, and he didn’t like it. Which led to him blurting out without thinking, “So I’ve got to hear this from you? Your own boyfriend kills my mother, framed my father, and you’re going to lecture me about doing the right thing?”

And then Evie gave him the last reaction Hunter expected of her. She gave him an extremely bitter, forced smile and shook her head with a cold and heavy chuckle. “Well, you may be surprised about it but I agree. I could have found out the truth about Josh, but I didn’t. Because I was still feeling guilty about what I let happened to him, because I’m a terrible judge of character, because I wanted to be happy, and for that happiness to stay for a while, one of those reasons, a different reason- I still didn’t see it. And even with Zac trying to persuade me otherwise, that is my fault. I was ignorant, I was completely blind to what was in front of me- which considering how Josh got away with it was so far, was pretty ironic.”

Evie had to take a breath after speaking for so long, and when she was finished, she could see Hunter’s reaction had completely changed. His fists had unclenched, his eyes had widened, and his face had morphed to one of righteous anger to shocked bewilderment. Clearly, he never expected her to admit it straight out. To be honest, she was surprised at how frank she was being. When it came to everyone else, she kept on struggling explaining it to them, even if she came up with excuses such as trying not to affect them with her anger. How everytime she opened her eyes in the morning it was as if the light was burning a wave of disgust and hate at her, how her stomach churns at what she had let people like Hunter and Tank do to the people she cared about and could do nothing. It was true, but she didn’t trust herself not to do it for those reasons. “Yeah, I realise it. I owe them better than trying to pretend otherwise so I don’t feel worse than I already do. We’re dangerous Hunter. We made decisions, mistakes, flat-out stupid or criminal decisions and other people suffer for it because we just didn’t care. We didn’t think. That’s why I left the house, because I’m tired of letting my family suffer because of my own decisions or having to look at the aftermath day after day.”

Hunter was left speechless at this little speech, trying to figure out what was a criticism at him and what was at her. Her frank self-loathing and anger was… honestly unnerving, he had never seen it before apart from… Olivia in her extremely dark days. He had never known the full story of what she went through, only Irene knew, and he didn’t have time to figure it out, but he wished he knew when he had that chance. Olivia had visited him a couple of times in prison, and she was scared half to death those times, he urged her to not visit for a couple of months. He knew it could be the last time he ever saw her, but he hated how uncomfortable she was, (even more so at the idea that she was finally uncomfortable because of him), and he couldn’t make her go through that. “Why are you telling me any of this?”

Evie shrugged. She didn’t know why she said all of that to Hunter, let alone why it was so easy to say it in front of him rather than Zac. “I don’t know,” she said, her voice shrinking to close to a whisper. “Maybe it’s because I’m realising that for all that I hate what you did, I could be more like you than I thought. And believe me…”, and she leaned in so Hunter could hear her plainly, “…when I say that just terrifies me.

But why I came here today? Because I want to know what your intentions are for Zac.”

Hunter looked down at the table, for the first time unsure of how he could answer. He remembered looking at Zac’s face, remembering how ashamed he felt, at how he had hid the truth from him. After a few minutes, he answered hesitantly. “I don’t have any… ‘intentions’.”

Evie just stared at him, “I don’t believe you. I don’t trust you not to hurt Zac again. For all I know, you’re trying to sneak back into his life. Zac’s too good a person, and I know he still cares about you, so he can’t see clearly what you’re doing. But I can.”

“You don’t know me,” Hunter replied acidly. “You don’t know that’s what I’m trying to do.”

“Am I’m supposed to believe that?” Evie pointed out snarky. “After you lied to everyone, we’re just to believe, what, that you’ve suddenly turned a new leaf? What if you’re wrong, what if you get someone else seriously hurt next time?”

Part of her believed that Zac knew this, was aware of the risks when it came to Hunter. But she also knew that he felt as though he was still responsible for Hunter’s welfare, and that didn’t sit right. And there was more than that… part of her wanted to ask about Denny, about what she deserved, but she never did. She knew that it would have hurt Zac, just as much as it hurt her- she shouldn’t think about that, she can’t think about that- but it still should have been said, for Denny. As long as Hunter bore responsibility for what happened to her, Evie didn’t know how Zac could even begin to consider giving him a third chance.

“He wants to give me another chance,” Hunter rallied back. Zac said something similar, and as much as he had got what Zac was trying to say, he still hoped for salvaging his relationship. If it meant playing nice with Evie and Leah and the rest of them, he would do so.

“He does want to,” Evie admitted ruefully. “But that doesn’t mean he’s forgotten. He gave you a second chance before. We all did, and you wasted it. At least I know I don’t deserve a second chance when I’ll just end up hurting them again. Besides,” she added, thinking back to Tank. “We’ve given second chances before, I guessed I learned better.”

Hunter could say- wanted to say- that things were different now, everything he did was in the open, he changed, he wants to do better, - but he didn’t know if it would be enough to persuade anyone. Hell, after everything, he wasn't sure if it was enough to persuade Zac. “So what are you going to do about it? Persuade Zac never to see me again?”

“Honestly, if I could, that’s exactly what I would do. You’ve caused nothing but trouble for him, and for Leah. Leah, who has had so many reasons to have nothing to do with you, but she accepted you. But for some strange reason Zac believes there’s still a chance that he can help you, that he can change you. That’s what makes him much better than you or me, but to me… well, hypocritical of me, I think he’s wasting his time. Maybe he can actually do it, maybe he wants to, despite everything you did or didn’t do, but I don’t think it changes anything. So if you care about Zac, you'd tell him to leave you alone. You won’t cause him anymore trouble, you'd stay away from him. Don’t expect or demand anything from him, you… you let him heal and get on with his life.”

Hunter glared at Evie with eyes that were filled with anger, anger she guessed was because he didn’t want to hear it from her. And her own unease only increased during this conversation, because she did not really knew Zac’s own thoughts about it, and she didn’t want to go behind his back making decisions for him. If anything, Zac would be making better decisions than she ever would but she felt she should still be watching his back. “So what, you’re going to be there to enforce this if I don’t?” Hunter asked back in a tone of defiance so thin anyone who wasn’t listening hard enough wouldn’t believe it was there.

“You’d want to take this more seriously. If you truly want to make up for Zac, you’d stop acting as though the entire world’s set up to get you. It just happened, and you have to live with it. But to answer you, probably not. I’m more likely to put Zac in more trouble. He’s got better people in his corner. Besides,” Evie said, almost feeling frightened at how casual, how flat her voice sounded, because the words were anything but: “I’m doubting I’ll still be alive for that long.”

-------

She had wrapped the wet towel around her arm, subsiding the burning under her skin a bit. Evie bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from wincing at the feeling of the rough cloth scraping against her raw skin. She had done this before, too many times, whenever she had cut deep enough for the bleeding to start, and she stopped it. Looking down at the towel now, covering the cuts she knew were a mixture of faded pink and sparkling red, she hated her for giving into this moment of weakness, the idea of taking care of herself. Her brain however, more than made up for it whenever the pain came to her senses.

You deserve this, think of them. Think of what you did to them.

Worthless, stupid, ungrateful, bad…

Evie couldn’t help but wonder if she was even more unimaginative that those thoughts are always the same, but she was reminding herself of those thoughts anyway, because she knows she can’t let herself to forget. Maybe that was the reasoning why she started cutting, because back when she started… Evie hadn’t changed, physically at least. Mentally, her mind has turned into a conundrum of dark thoughts and guilt and it felt wrong that her body had gotten through so much unscathed when better people didn’t.

There were noises coming out of the other caravans, people shouting and drinking at one another. Honestly a bit too loud but she didn’t mind- well, she wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for how all the noise seemed to add up and combine into one never-ending noise, but the tone of it, the high-pitch of that noise, always gave the sense that it would come to an end any second, ending in large, unavoidable crash…

She didn’t know if she accomplished anything by going to visit Hunter today. She didn’t know if he listened to her, let alone properly consider what she was trying to tell him. Besides, she didn’t exactly have much ground to lecture anyone, not after what she did. Not when she can’t even admit the truth to Zac or anyone else, not the full truth at least. And if someone can’t tell the full truth, to be completely honest with the people they love, then what hope was there.

A big part of her had hoped that Zac had already knew or at least believed what she did, how she was responsible for what happened to Oscar and Hannah. At least then she would have that confirmation, so she knew that staying away was the right course, and to silence the fear that all this time she had been tricking him, just like Hunter had, just like Josh had, tricking everyone to believe she was somewhat worth it, that she deserved to be a part of their lives. That idea… it was a horrifying thought, a viciously brutal thought, that by not being truthful, they truly believed she could be a part of their lives when she shouldn’t, and she tried to fix it, she tried to be honest… but she knew deep down, that trying wasn’t enough, trying doesn’t solve anything. 

And as usual, her thoughts went flying back to Oscar, how he would never trick them like this. He was always that rare kind of person who’s honesty was clear, never holding anything back, but in a refreshing, nice way. He always told people what he thought of them, but never in a way that made the person feel bad- unless you really screwed up. He would never screw things up this badly- she knew this already, but even now it confirmed it more that it should have been him still alive, not her. Evie would have given her life willingly if it meant that Oscar would still be alive, and she would be happy. She had always hated the idea of being away from him, no matter how long, but she’d take it, as long as he would be okay.

Funnily enough, Evie remembered thinking those same thoughts when she left three years ago to rejoin her father back at that cult. Back then, though, Evie held onto the faith that she would return to Oscar, with her father returned to normal and right beside her again. So they could be a family again. More fool her.

Besides, she could have been a better sister to him. All their arguments, all the bitter fights she had with Hannah, the way she treated Denny the first time Evie had ever found out about her- all of it seemed so pointless and stupid that it just overshadowed and blocked everything else. So much time with them all that she just wasted. She didn’t know whether or not which was more unforgivable.

She was back in her caravan right now, and she guessed she was preparing herself for another day of her painful, wasted existence. Thinking back to her earlier conversation with Phoebe, Evie hadn’t told Zac about her pains. Because she know what Zac would do. He’d offer help,  and she wouldn’t be able to trust herself to admit even more once the ball started rolling.

At least that was one way that she thought about it. The other possible outcome was that he would have enough of her whining and send her on her way. Which is what he should do, but that left an extremely bitter taste in her mouth, because it would be equal to letting him down, and there was that small part of her, that seemed to be fighting, even in its small size, a battle against the larger part of her, that wanted to do this right for him, at least. Because with whatever time she had left before she realised she could no longer keep this up, she wanted that time to matter-

But remember? If you can’t hold onto the big things, how can you expect to hold onto the little things? Your own words. Why do you putting your own sense of importance in front of being honest with him, you-

A knock on the door startled her from her thoughts, dropping the towel onto the ground. She quickly pulled her sleeve over her arm, and hesitated at the idea of opening it, because she didn’t know what anyone would want from her, at least at this time. She was already thinking about her usual tactic; if she pretended she wasn’t home, they would give up and go away-

“Evie, it’s Matt? You in there?”

Evie felt something in her drop once she heard Matt’s voice. She hadn’t heard from him in so long, and… VJ’s words hit back to her about how he was feeling, his own fears, and even though she couldn’t feel surprised at how she let him feel that… the guilt had set in not long after. She had felt that guilt before, but it only multiplied after that. She should have realised this would have happened. Matt could pull on an attitude of confidence and carefree, but those who knew him best would know sometimes how he could be plagued with feelings of self-doubt, even when he tried to put on a brave face about it, or when things got really rough, hid it behind snide remarks. After the way his own father treated him, it wouldn’t be a surprise, and after Maddy left, it must have come back to him in a vengeance. The thing is, Evie knew this before, she had often tried to help Matt and show him how much of a great person he truly was, but she had forgotten about it, otherwise she would never have treated him like that, she should have never treated him like that ever-

Before she was even aware of what her body was doing, she had already moved towards the door and opened the lock. And there Matt was at the bottom of the steps. Evie stepped down to talk to him, all the while her inner critic gloating at her decision, her weakness. What the hell do you think you’re doing, you’re gonna get him killed too!

“Hey,” Matt greeted. Both of his hands were in his pockets and he was rocking back and forward, as if waiting for her to make the next move.

“Hey,” Evie replied back, her voice sounding just as lame as his did. Her body felt stiff as she struggled to keep herself from swaying. Looking at Matt now made her feel conflicting things- fear of what would happen, discomfort at the tired look of uncertainty on his face, and the selfish feeling of joy of seeing him again, though somewhat diminished when she saw how tired he looked. He was one of her best friends, the last best friend she had, and the way she treated him was terrible. The way she passed out on times to hang out (even though it would keep Matt safe), the way she lashed out at him.

The two of them stood there in the dark, and at the same time, without the other knowing it, both had the same thought: how did things get this awkward between them? Evie felt so many things on the tip of her tongue, ranging from how have you’ve been- to- I’m so sorry I’ve been a terrible friend, but none of that seemed enough. But looking at Matt’s face now, she owed him a explanation. “I… I treated you badly, but that wasn’t because of anything you did. You were just trying to help, but all I seemed capable of doing was screwing up all the times we hanged out. I… I could have been more honest with you, explained why things… they couldn’t be like they were, but I wasn’t. That doesn’t change that it wasn’t your fault. I don’t want whatever has happened or going to happen to change that, or make you feel bad. You’re a good man, who always try.”

Matt listened to her, and felt his heart sinking deeper than he thought possible at what she was saying. Yes, he didn’t approve of how she handled it, but the way she made it out, anyone who didn’t have a clue of what was going on would think she had called him every bad name in the book and then some. After he and Mason had talked, Matt had a better (though even frightening) idea of how Evie’s brain was thinking, but what he didn’t get was why Evie had suddenly gained the habit of thinking what she did was worse than it actually was. He remembered how she had tried to help him before, it was more than what she believed it to be. 

He wanted to tell her that it wasn’t like that, to try to reassure her, but after a lengthy talk with Mason, he considered approaching this a different way. A way he had no idea of whether or not it would work, but he ended up trying anyway. “Why do you think that? Why do you suddenly think you messed things up?”

Evie didn’t take her gaze of him, her face narrowing with uncertainty. What was she expected to say at that? Surely Matt knew what she did, did he want her to say it all over again? “Well…I mean, didn’t I? You have been so patient with me, and I just threw it back in your face. If I can’… I can’t decide what I should have done, whether I could have…. do things as fine as they were, because after everything, you deserve good things,” Evie explained, silently cursing at how much she was struggling at her words, her breath hastening as she kept talking. “Or if I should have been more honest with you, because I can’t be tricking you into thinking it’s all fine. If I can’t decide what’s the right thing to do, what… what does that say?”

“Evie, I don’t care about any of that. You don’t need to be some picture of perfection. I’m… all those times we spent together, I’m just happy to see… just you,” Matt said, keeping his voice as plain and as honest as he could, just so he could begin to give the encouragement that Evie must need to escape this prison of misery she was in. Why didn’t he see how big this whole thing was before?

Evie sighed and turned her head away to focus on the wall. She didn’t want to sound rude or anything, but she couldn’t just accept it. She didn’t get why Matt would want to, why he was so insistent on saving something that couldn’t be saved. “Why?” she asked bluntly, keeping as much of the disbelief out of her voice as much as she could.

“Because, you matter to me” Matt replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world despite feeling hurt at the idea that she had to ask why. “You’re my friend, and… and you are clearly going through something and it makes sense, you’ve been through enough pain, and… I don’t know,” Matt was struggled with his own words, because he doesn’t want to make assumptions about what she was going through. “And you deserve help to get through it.”

Evie knew he was trying, for some reason he felt he wanted to, but it didn’t make things any better. He shouldn’t want to help her, he should be angry at her, for not telling him the truth, for putting him in danger just by being near him. “No I don’t. I don’t deserve anything good, not your kindness, not your help… I lied to you… I couldn’t tell you the truth about what I’ve done and that was the last thing you needed. That’s not what a good person does. I had all of… this,” she gestured frantically at her head, “and I can’t… I can’t… tell what I was trying to do in the first place! I can’t know what I wanted to do when I kept the truth from you, I just don’t know!”

Her breathing was getting heavier and deeper and she had to step down because she didn’t want to collapse again. All the time, she was aware of how Matt was watching her and instead of hate or anger or disgust or any of those emotions that he ought to be looking at her with, Evie could only see concern.

“Look, I know you don’t have to tell me everything, and I know a lot of this is personal for you… I won’t force you to share every little secret, because God knows I have my own, but… if there is something wrong, I want to help. Anything you tell me will remain between us if you want it.”

Evie just shook her head and stared up into the night above her. “It’s not anything you can fix, it’s nothing anyone could fix.”

And with that, for the first time, Matt felt the first bit of frustration escape into his words. “Well, maybe Evie, you can’t chose that for me. Maybe that’s something I decide on my own,” he replied sternly. As much as he wanted to help her, she can’t make those decisions for him.

Well, go on, Evie, tell him what’s wrong. Tell him so he’d finally get it.

“Me, Matt, I’m what’s wrong,” Evie muttered, her tone a mixture of bitterness and despair.

“Evie-”

“I mean, are you really surprised? You said it yourself, I couldn’t tell even now how much of a bad guy Josh was, and since I could have stopped him before, you may be more right than you know.”

Matt closed his mouth after he realised it was gaping during that, because he was just shocked at how she saw it. That was never he meant, that wasn’t what he was trying to do. What was he even trying to do? Matt had the distant memory of thinking of trying to persuade Evie to forget about Josh, that thinking about him would only make her feel worse, but he couldn’t think about that now, he needed to explain again, properly this time. “Evie, that was never what I meant to say. I never blamed you for what Josh did. No one did!”

“You know that’s not true, Matt, let’s not pretend otherwise,” Evie rebuked, still not looking at him.

Suddenly a wave of exasperation hit Matt. “Yeah Hunter did, but since when did he become a reliable judge of character?”, he asked. “But the rest of us, the ones who weren’t looking for someone to blame just because we were angry, we knew you had nothing to do with it.”

“But isn’t that the thing, isn’t it?” Evie muttered flatly, distractedly. “I did nothing to stop him when I had everything to do with it. I mean, who knows what was going through Josh’s head when he killed Charlotte. Something had to be there, and I didn’t see it, and everyone else suffered for it, Zac paid the price for that, Oscar and Hannah….” Suddenly her voice was caught in her throat and nothing came out but small, almost silent coughing noises and she struggled to keeping her face from contorting into a physical manifestation of the pain she was feeling. Why the hell couldn’t she finish that sentence, how was she never able to just admit the truth? If she could do it in front of Hunter of all people, she should be able to do it for Matt. Her hands clasped her knees and clutched them closely as if that would force the words out of her mouth.

“No one else saw it. I don’t think even Andy saw it,” Matt answered, flinching when he saw Evie’s gaze darkened at the mention of Andy. Of course, he should have known that Andy would definitely remain Evie’s least favourite person even now, and with admittedly good reason. “I spend all that time with him and never suspected a thing. Do I get some of the blame then?”

“No, but it’s different.”

“Why?” Matt asked, only for Evie to irritably groan and look away.

“Alright, you can give me the silent treatment if you want. Maybe you're scared about what to say, but that doesn't mean you need to keep it in all the time.” Matt remarked, his tone more confrontational than he intended.  

“I had more opportunity to know what was wrong and did nothing. How- how could you not blame me?” she asked frantically, looking up at him. “After what he did affected all of you, and I… and I… I lied to you about what was going on with me, I pretended it was all fine, that I could continue on as though it wasn’t hanging over my head all the time, how can you not be angry at me?”

“Do you want me to be angry at you, Evie? Is that what this is?” Matt demanded. “Yeah, okay, it hurt that you felt like you couldn’t talk to me, that you didn’t trust me not to tell me about your problems. And it scares me that its only now I’m suddenly realising the full extent of what’s going on. But what do you want me to do? Scream at you over and over again? What will that solve? You did more good than just that, and I wish you could see that. What does it solve you beating yourself over and over again-”

“What did you mean then?” Evie asked suddenly. She doesn’t know why she asked that, she didn’t know what difference would it make, all she knew was that the moment she heard the words “beating yourself”, she needed him to stop because… he couldn’t have known, there was no way he would know that’s what she had done, what if he did know, how would he feel-

“What?”

“If you weren’t talking about blaming me then what were you talking about? What made you so angry about Josh and me?” 

“What… what I…” Matt groaned frustratingly and embarrassed as he struggled to explain. The main thing he was angry with was the idea that she still had feelings about Josh. And even though it was none of his business, it didn’t change how much that idea rankled him, after how he treated her. But when he thought about it now, with the idea that she had suppressed certain things, as well as the fact that she was smarter than that, made him wonder if it was even worth considering. Dammit, this was going to be so hard to explain. “I just… I just hated the idea that you would feel sorry for him, or think you owed him anything. And when… you pushed yourself away, I… I didn’t know what to think and I just jumped to the worst-case scenario.  Like, yeah Charlotte was some lunatic, but how he covered it all up, how he left you to deal with all of this on your own… it didn’t feel right. I don’t know… I just made this assumption because sometimes I get clueless with emotions, and I couldn’t get why you wouldn’t want to take about it. I didn’t say anything about it before because I know it was still painful for you, but when time passed… I guessed I expected some form of a reaction. When it didn’t happen I just got worried. I guessed I saw it as a shut and close case, but it wasn’t as easy as that. But I never wanted you to think that somehow you were responsible.”

Evie stood up then and faced him, and the hard look in her eye was not something Matt wanted to see again. She knew he didn’t meant harm, but part of her also knew how impulsive he could be at times, especially when it came to all the emotional stuff. That didn’t change anything she felt though. “I know what Josh did was wrong, don’t think I had ever forgotten that. He and Andy deserved to pay for what they done, not run off into the sunset together for some grand old adventure,” she scoffed- a hoarse croaking sound that was worse because Matt could hear some actual amusement there.

“I know that,” Matt said, a bit of shame entering his voice because how could he think that she could ever forget how Josh’s actions affected the rest of her family and friends. Just because she didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t mean it was there. “Evie, I may not know everything that’s going on, but I'm sorry, I shouldn't have given you the wrong impression-”

No, Matt no,” Evie shook her head frantically. How stupid and pitiful she must have been, she was the one who ought to be apologising to him, not the other way around. “You couldn’t know I didn’t tell you everything, and even though you’re right about Josh, that doesn’t mean I’m suddenly blameless. Maybe…he wasn’t the same after what Tank did to him, after what I let happen, I could have stopped him, make him see reason. It doesn’t excuse what he did afterwards, and he still couldn’t take responsibility for it… Zac got hurt, you got hurt, yet here I still am. Why does that suddenly make everything okay for me?” 

“Why do you think that? Why do you think he hasn’t hurt you?” Matt felt as if time had completely slowed down, completely stricken at what was going on in front of him. He needed to take this one thing at a time and that seemed like a good piece to start. Her words were all so harsh and full of anger that he had never experienced before and it really scared him. What he had took for her trying to justify him may be just her not thinking what happened to her was important. It was so much worse than he thought. 

“Matt… I… obviously… it doesn’t matter, it shouldn’t…not after what I did, it doesn’t even come close to equal what he did to you or Zac or…because I should be able to take responsibility for this, it should be easier than it is. People... people should be able to take responsibility, they need to care about what damage they cause, the people who get hurt because of it...”

Matt watched her ramble on with growing despair, half because there was no hesitation in her eyes when she said it, meaning she actually believed it, half because he couldn’t believe he didn’t put the dots together until right now. Seeing her like this, Matt knew he couldn’t remain angry, if he could call it being angry, anymore. She may be holding stuff back, but what she was giving was enough for him to know this was a lot to deal with.  “Evie…he hurt you to an incredible amount, I…what he did, it wasn’t you,” he started, but found there was more nothing he could say. Well, he could ask if she ever considered it, but he didn’t want to play it off as if she was stupid for not considering it, if she had repressed it, and kept quiet. He didn't want her to think any more bad of herself. 

Before he realised he took too long to answer, Evie was speaking again. Matt forced himself to look at her again and found his breath catching in his throat when he saw how her eyes were so pained and melancholic and full of self-hatred. “It might as well have been me. And I shouldn’t try to convince myself of anything other…Goodnight.” and was already heading back to her caravan when Matt finally found something to say, something important.

“I was never pretending.”

Evie was halted right in her tracks and turned around, her eyes in a dull haze. “What?”

“Before, you told me that I didn’t need to pretend. You may not trust me, but I never pretended about wanting to hang out with you, or trying to make you feel better.”

“Matt, it’s… it’s not about trust. I do trust you, it’s just…I know you were just trying to make me feel better, but you didn’t have to.”

“Evie, I have never done anything I didn’t want to do, or say anything for the sake of saying it. I may not be the best with emotions, but I’ve always been like that. And you’re feeling guilty, but that doesn’t answer why things changed between us.” Except he could see how things changed, how with everything affecting Evie. Nothing was the same anymore, whether he wanted to or not. “Listen, if you needed space for yourself, I understand that-”

“That wasn’t it,” Evie said. Maybe it had been before, and maybe she had said so before, but it didn’t feel like it now, it hadn’t for a while then.

Then what the hell is it then, Matt wanted to cry out in frustration, before choosing a restrained “What happened?”

“I couldn’t just keep things the way they were, Matt, it wasn’t fair on you, not when I had all this… whatever it is. I had to stay away, I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“How? How were you going to hurt me? You don’t… you don’t need to be okay all the time, you telling me your problems isn’t going to hurt anyone-”

“Yes it will! Matt, I’m supposed to… I wanted to be the person you can rely on to help, the one everyone will rely on. I wanted to do that, but… but if I am responsible for all of that has happened, I was just trying to make everyone feel better about me, I was making it about me and that isn’t fair on you or anyone else. Just by letting myself think I deserved your friendship was putting you at risk, because… it’s happened before, hasn’t it? Me putting myself first leads to other people getting hurt.”

Matt felt the big feeling of hurt inside him growing more and more. Was she really regretting all their time together, all the times they went swimming or shared a drink from the surf club, He believed she was actually enjoying herself, enjoying his company but he remembered how nervous she was, and how she didn’t make much suggestions, and if she was acting like this…

But, however, before his emotions ran ahead of him, his brain persuaded him to look at this rationally, and held onto the idea that since she was wrong about her being blamed for Josh’s decisions, maybe she was wrong about this. He also remembered despite how tired she had look, the way her smile brightened when she saw him, and held onto that hope.

“I don’t believe that,” Matt said resolutely. “I know you were trying to make things okay, just as much as you were enjoying yourself as well. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.” She's the only one who think that's important or anything.  

Evie stepped down and she couldn’t admit he was wrong. She did wanted to, but that wasn’t important, what right did she have to enjoy herself. “That doesn’t make it okay! I don’t deserve that right, I shouldn’t be making myself feel better, I could have… could have hurt you.”

Her word were feeling like shards, and Matt would have reacted with ridicule and disbelief if Mason and he hadn’t already talked about it. He still couldn’t believe it, but things have gotten this badly for her to actually believe that, and he'd do anything to make her realise that she did deserve to feel better than she obviously did right now. He didn’t know if he was fully prepared to fix this, but he had to try. “You do deserve it, Evie… you one of the few people I can think of right now that deserve it more than anyone else. You wanted to make things right, that was all, I wasn’t going to get hurt, nothing bad was going to happen…” he assured her, though that felt clumsy to him because he hadn’t the faintest idea of how she thought he was going to get hurt.

“Come on Matt,” Evie shook her head again, this time more slower and more resignedly. “After everything that happened this year, no one can promise that anything is going to happen. You can’t do that. How can anything be okay again.”

Matt opened his mouth to argue but found out he couldn’t. Because even if he didn’t agree with her, she made sense there. He knew what Evie was referring to, that tragic day where no one expected anything to go wrong. And look what happened. God, who knew how long she had felt this, without hope. More than a dozen responses ran through his head, but he could get them into a coherent sentence. He had never seen her like this. He had seen her frustrated, angry, cocky, confident, kind, upset, sad- all the emotions apart from this complete state of defeat. And that was the thing; he knew things aren’t okay, and they may not be okay for who-knows for how long, but that didn’t change his intent. He wanted to help her. 

“Just leave Matt, you’d only get yourself hurt by getting involved and it’s not worth it. I… I made that mistake before, spilling all my problems onto people I care about, but I can stop making that same mistake. If I did…” she shrugged helplessly, as if to say, what else would there be to do?

She had already turned back, but Matt felt compelled to talk again. “There’s…” he hesitated, feeling the news he had initially hoped to share so unimportant compared to the bombshell that was this conversation, but if it showed her that he wanted her to be included, then he would take it. “There’s a uni party this Saturday, Mason told me about it and both of us… we had hoped to convince you to tag along. Frankly, we still are, because you deserve a bit of normality. Now, look if you don’t feel comfortable going out to something like that, then okay, but we could try with just the three of us. You shouldn't have to be alone.”

Evie felt her brain in a whirlwind, unable to make up her mind about what to do with this information. Matt was right, she probably didn’t feel like going to something as big as that, but even if it was just the three of them, it wouldn’t make her feel more comfortable. But what if this is what she needed to do, just to assure Matt, to make him feel better, before… before…

Better cut him loose, before you see him dead…

I’m not going anywhere…

You all love and need one another... 

Can you think about anything other than yourself…

Just don’t wait for them to give up themselves, because no one can wait forever.

“Matt, you don’t understand-” Evie started, her eyes brightening a bit with alarm.

Matt snorted. He couldn’t help but notice how much things have changed. Matt was usually the one to hide away his emotions and pull away if things got too emotionally difficult, Evie was the one who was always upfront about her emotions. “Maybe I don’t,” he replied. “But that doesn’t change what I remember. I was at my worst before and you were there for me. If you think I wouldn’t do the same… then maybe… maybe you don’t know me at all, Evie.”

Next chapter's gonna be a big one so hold onto your hats folks. 

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10 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Liked the little surprisingly insightful chat between Mason and Matt. Otherwise, Evie remains in a dark place.Has Matt found a chink?Hard to say...

Thanks, Red. I decided it was time that someone looked past the worry and try and see things from where Evie was coming from. Her family and friends have been trying, but now without mistakes and false assumptions of their own. Matt has a lot of understandable concern and annoyance at how his and Evie's friendship has suffered as a result, which stems back from his own history of relationships ending badly, but I believe, because of that, he can get a better understanding of what she is going through, and how deep down, even though Evie herself never thinks about it, how scared she actually is, which is going to be developed further in the next chapter. On the other hand, even if he knows more know, Evie still won't (also understandably) immediately just accept that encouragement when she remains crushed by the belief that she doesn't deserve it.

I'll be honest with you, it has been more difficult than I can imagine writing this, but also because of how the relationships are impacted. This story is about Evie and her journey, but it's also important how her mental health affects the people around her, and how their own journeys affect her. They're still human, and as a result, it gets messier than any of them would like. 

Anyway, next chapter has something big coming up that will spice things up, so stick around for that! 

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

‘Everyone has a story. If you keep it to yourself, it dies and comes back to haunt you.’ (Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale, published by Atria Books, United Kingdom, 2006).

'They say the past is etched in stone, but it isn't... it's smoke, trapped in a closed room swirling, changing, buffeted by the passing of years and wishful thinking. Even though our perception of it changes, one thing remains constant: the past can never be completely erased, it lingers like the scent of burning wood.' (Toby Leonard More, Daredevil, 1x04, Netflix Series, 2015). 

WARNINGS: The following chapter contains graphic details of a panic attack, suicidal thoughts and self-hatred. This is going to be much darker than what I’ve written previously (if that’s even possible), so thread carefully please. Also, apologies for how long this chapter is. Even I'm appalled at how long it is. 

Chapter 16

Maybe you don’t know me at all, Evie.

Out of all the things Matt could have said, out of all the things Evie had thought up in her head that she thought he would say, that wasn’t it. It wasn’t even close to anything she had expected him to say.

Evie did know Matt, she had known him for three years. Perhaps that’s why she ought to have expected his frustration with not being involved, with not knowing what was going on, but it was also why his patience that night was so… confusing to her. She should have dealt  He kept on insisting that he didn’t blame her for what Josh did, and… if she could laugh she would have at the irony of the situation. That those words which would have made anyone else feel better only made her feel worse. Not that it would make her feel better if he had just been angry at her. As much as she told herself otherwise, that would never make her feel good. The pain she felt every time she hurt herself… cutting herself, it never made her feel right or good. She had mixed up with what she deserved and what felt good. Even if it didn’t matter, even if it shouldn’t matter. She felt wrong, she felt disgusted, she felt like a monster.

Besides, she just couldn’t understand why Matt couldn’t see it. Even though she may not have known, and even though she made sure that Matt knew she hated what Josh did, she made Matt realise that she could never excuse her former fiance, she still did nothing to stop Josh. She let him cover up his murder, a murder he got away with because he had been blind, blind because of what she let happen, and she let them all down. Worse… it led to Hannah and Oscar being killed. The idea of still being alive while they were gone was still too terrible for words. Can’t he see that pattern, why she can’t be trusted…

That night…

“You don’t want me to be there, I’ll… I’ll be no good,” Evie insisted, her brain feeling like it’s melting under the pressure, but she still felt ashamed about saying no to her friend. She didn’t feel like going to a party would be a good idea, only as some pathetic attempt to try and grab some sense of normality, and using Matt’s kindness to get it.

“Of course I want you to be there, you’re…” she could see the emotions in Matt’s eyes fighting for dominance: confusion, frustration, and for some reason, sympathy and hope. “Evie, you’re one of the hardest-working people I know, you’re smart, kind… despite all that stubbornness…I don’t know how you could be still be walking around if you weren’t as strong as you are… maybe, this party can help you relax, make you actually happy.”

“I don’t want that,” Evie answered through gritted teeth, because whatever was going on with her, it wasn’t strength. It didn’t feel like strength was supposed to feel. “…and you shouldn’t either. You shouldn’t be trying to help me, it’s… it’s not good Matt, I can’t let my own selfishness get in the way of… of what’s important.”

“But it’s not being selfish, it’s just you trying to enjoy yourself,” Matt said. “Why would that be so terrible?”

“Because…because…”Evie was rubbing her fingers against her temple, feeling the pounding in her head like drums getting louder and louder.

“I’m telling you the truth, telling you I want you to be there, that you deserved happiness, even if you don’t see it, why can’t you believe it?”

“Because it’s too easy!” Evie blurted out, her voice suddenly frantic, waving her hands around in the air as if that would suddenly make sense. Her eyes were straining at how much tears were trying to escape and also because her attempts to keep them in. Matt looked taken aback, but Evie, despite aware of how much drama her raised voice would probably be giving her neighbours, was apparently on a roll. She could feel the anger and sadness plaguing her body sneaking it into her voice, but it was there because Evie didn’t want to talk about it, that was the thing. She didn’t want to talk about these old wounds, about why doing anything normal again felt so wrong, and why Matt kept pushing on something that couldn’t be. “It’s too easy for me to accept anything you’re saying… it’d be the easiest thing in the world to believe I actually deserve a chance to be happy! It would do no good, because it hasn’t done anything good in the past. I should know better than to just waste my time when it’d just be stupid and selfish of me to do so!”

Matt folded his arms and his gaze hardened the same way Evie suspected her own did, the concern and alarm in his face giving way to anger. “So what, all those times when it was just the two of us, just hanging out… all of it just a waste of time?”

Evie’s eyes widened, the full horror of her words falling back through the air and slamming into her like a fist. Her frustration should never be aimed at Matt. Why did she let it get out of control with the people she loved? “No, that’s not what I meant...”

“Then what did you mean, Evie?” Matt asked sceptically. “Because I remember those times, and we were both having a good time, because after everything this year, we deserved it, but what I also remember- all those times, you were trying to hide all these problems at the same time. I don’t see how that would work out.”

“Believe me, I don’t know how that would work either,” Evie replied, trying not to think about how hard it was for her to keep more of her words escaping from her mouth, before they do more harm. She felt herself anticipating or wishing for Matt to say ‘I give up’, for him to just leave her and forget about her. Her inner voice was doing a good job convincing her of that. “I don’t know how it would be any different this time. You don’t any part of that, I promise you.”

“You can’t just decide that Evie, because maybe I won’t give up as quickly as you do,” Matt said gruffly before trying to soften his tone, realising how harsh that was. “I don’t know how you become convinced that you don’t deserve it, but you do. I won’t stand by and let your pain affect more of your life than it already has and you shouldn’t either. You’re better than that.”

She hated that part of herself who acknowledged how difficult, how heart-tearing painful it would be for her to actually talk about what was wrong with her, but she knew it was there, and she knew it was no excuse for how everything that came out was never the full story as a result. Deep down, she doubted if she ever could truly talk about it, not without it making things worse, and that’s why she didn’t want Matt to waste his time. But that only made things worse, because it did nothing to make Matt realise that him insisting on helping her would do nothing, all because she couldn’t speak openly.

Somehow, the fear of how horrible she was, everything she did to herself being exposed was too much, even if they should know, but that fear won. She knew no one would want to see how she hurt herself, her own misery, her pain, it would all hurt them too much and she will not hurt them again. No one knew how she cut herself, no one knew how much her body trembled when faced with pressure or how everything sounded so loud, no one knew how her thoughts have swam to terrifying places and remained there, urging her to do something to silence it. It felt strange, Evie didn’t know what she had to be afraid of, not really. Too much had happened, so much that the idea of being afraid for herself seemed so alien to her. Yet, that fear was there, it was present, and she hated it.

The week had passed and Saturday had arrived. Evie still hadn’t chosen what she was going to do. She had gone through the motions of the week, but her physical difficulties didn’t go away. She couldn’t stand for a long time, and while no one had called mention to it, she reckoned it was only a matter of time. She heard Zac talk to someone, probably Leah, on the phone in the staffroom as she passed it, and heard him say this: She’s struggling, it’s clear. Even if she insists otherwise, I know she wants to validate herself, and that would be okay, she’s more capable than she thinks, but... I don’t know how to approach her now, I don’t know what to do… everything that’s happened to her… it’s controlling her emotions. I want to respect her decisions and I won't pressure her, but…if it’s killing her, what do I do?

She hated that she put that extra pressure on him even now, hated it. She looked into the mirror, at her shrunken cheeks, at her wasted eyes and her tangled up hair. She looked such a mess that she couldn’t even care for it anymore. Matt deserved better than that, than her, someone who wasn’t so broken and complicated than her, especially when things shouldn’t be that complicated. She had tried to change, but that felt nothing more than a lie, when the best thing would be for her to just go away. Even Zac’s praise didn’t feel earned. 

Because can people really change? Evie didn’t know the answer to that, and knew it was probably different for different people, but she did believe that if a person can spend so much of their life acting one way, it becomes near impossible for them to suddenly break their habits. Wasn’t that the case with Hunter, spending so much of his youth in jealousy and resentment, having someone like Charlotte as his mother and never knowing who his father was? Andy was the same. Evie knew too well how much Josh had despaired of his brother’s reckless and criminal actions, all the times he had put Josh at risk by dragging him into his business but for a while, they all believed Andy had reformed. It took Casey’s death that actually make Josh’s older brother to wake up and realise what his choices were ending up as. It actually looked like it was settling in… until that day he decided to duke it out with Tank. So maybe Andy found it easier to slip back into his fundamental nature.

And that was what Evie felt she was doing this entire time, trying to control herself, control all the horrible stuff in her that made her lose her family so she could stop it, and she felt she failed at that too. She could have tried to remember her intentions before, trying to get on with things and not dragging anyone down in misery, just trying to do right by them, but she doesn't trust that, she can't. And if she couldn’t truly change, or at least control herself, she didn’t know how she could carry on like she had before. Her self-hatred convinces her she just hide who she was the whole time, like those villains in Batman that used to freak her out so much as a kid. Every time she had hide it all away she felt horrible, and felt even worse by every argument she had with them, but it was more than just the guilt. She couldn’t stay, not knowing when they could get hurt again, because of her. And when someone does horrible things, doesn’t it make sense to lose hope on them?

That’s the thing, isn’t it, about life? You start by being idealistic, strong in the belief in things: family, friendship, love, ‘the system’, yourself. Then as time goes by, no matter how long it takes, whatever was holding it all together begins being eroded away by how horrible the world can really be, how horrible you yourself can really be, until you’re left so alone, exhausted and doing things you never thought you would. Or doing things you always feared you would. But Evie tried not to focus on that, because it all stunk to high-heaven of self-pity, and that was never something she could stand. What she did focus on, was how too many times, she saw bad people do whatever they wanted, no matter who they hurt, or how many families and dreams get ripped apart in the process- Andy, Tank, Hunter, Dylan Carter, Murray Granger, and, whether he intended to or not, Josh. Evie had seen it all over the world, too many times on the news, people getting away with anything because of wealth, power, their last name, or sometimes just simple luck or skill. All of it made her feel so angry, at how unfair it was. She refused it to be the same for her, she needed to pay for what she did. 

So why would she ever be considering going to the party? Even if Matt truly wanted her to go along, he couldn't, he shouldn't- how would that solve anything? How can that suddenly make things certain that nothing bad would happen? Just by being there, she could put him and everyone else in danger, because danger seemed to follow her around like a stray dog looking for some poor sucker to take pity on it and take it home. Besides, deep down… she knew that whatever was going on with her, she doubted she could handle being surrounded by who knows how many people, with loud music and noise. She felt her own stomach dropping at the idea of that. She had enough trouble when it came to being in public places, even when it wasn’t so loud…she knew her body, even in its weakened state, seemed to be on the alert for something, whatever it was. It made her feel claustrophobic.

But that wasn’t Matt’s fault. It wasn’t as though he knew it would trouble her so much, but him trying to make things right… it made her want to rip her own hair out in despair, and that sounded so strange because for some reason, despite what she did to him, he still wanted to help, he still wanted to try and that's what makes him a good guy, but even that won't be enough. She could never make up for what she did, and he’d be safer without her.

She wanted him to be angry with her, it wouldn’t make her feel good, but what did that matter, it would have been right at least. Too many things have gone wrong this year. And part of her felt shame for wanting that, because she knew he was a good person, that Zac and Leah were good people, and the idea of them angry at her sends daggers in her heart, and shame as well, for assuming they would. But wouldn’t they, shouldn’t they, given how horrible she was.

Still… as maddening as she couldn’t make up her mind about this, but she also felt awful at the idea of saying no to him. But what if… what if she just came along, as least for a little while, not long, just to talk to Matt, just to make him understand and ensure he was having a good time, and then leave before anything bad could happen…

Maybe this was a sign. Maybe… this was what she needed to do. Just go there, and leave quickly, making sure Matt was safe, and then… she could finally let go. Do what that dark voice in her head was insisting she do for ages. Have a good night with Matt, finally do right by him, and then…

You can’t take that chance. Every moment counts, and any time you waste it around him could end up only worse for him. You know that, deep down, yet you still want to go… It’s better to cut him loose before you get him hurt. If he gets hurt, that’ll be on you.

Did she, though? Evie couldn’t think of anything worse than a party right now, but that doesn’t mean she just dropped off the face of the world without Matt knowing why. He deserved to know, there was nothing he could do, at leas this way she would stop being a burden to him…

Well, too late for thinking about that now, isn’t it? You had all this time to tell him the truth, to make him understand. You wasted it. Why the hell do you think this night was going to make any difference?

Because, deep down, Evie knew, in a grim kind of clarity, that night would be it. The night she ends this pitiful excuse she called a life. She could make herself break out of that petrified state she always finds herself in and end it. And once that thought finally settled in her brain, she felt… an eerie sense of acceptance. Out of all the feelings she could feel… shock, fear, upset, even satisfaction, none of them were present. Just a grim acceptance. Acceptance of the end of something that should have ended a long time ago. Nothing special, just something that… existed. If she had just died in that explosion, instead of Oscar and Hannah… no, before that, if Tank had almost killed her instead of Josh, or in that shipping crane so long ago… before all the suffering, all the lives ruined. Maybe if she died then, none of this would have happened. She could finally stop hurting everyone. And though she hated herself for the thought that entered her head, she knew there was a brief glimpse of relief that the pain would end, she’d be free of all that pain.

She looked around in the caravan listlessly, and wondered if this would be the last she saw of it. It all depended if she’d actually go ahead with it. She should, she should have a long time ago but… but she knew that before and yet she still wasn’t dead. She… it’s hard to understand, and she’s just grateful she doesn’t have to explain it to anyone, but before today,  she hasn’t planned to kill herself. It wasn’t like in the movies, it’s not as though she wakes up in the morning and decide that’s what she was going to do. That urge to commit suicide- because let’s not mince words here, that what it was- just overcomes every other sense randomly, and she’s left with that desire to do so until she gets stuck in a limbo of two sides, screaming simultaneously ‘do it,’ and ‘don’t do it’. Eventually, that urges passes… except it doesn’t, it lingers like a virus in her head, prepared to strike in full force at any moment. Maybe this time, if she felt content enough with tonight, maybe that would be the push she needed. She wasn’t afraid, she couldn’t be afraid, because she knew too well that there are worst things that could happen to a person than dying.  

Her thoughts went to Zac and Leah. She wanted to talk to them, she didn’t want to leave them… in the lurk she guessed. The whole thing felt as though she was sneaking out the back door, and she owed them an explanation as well, and she could tell them one more time, just how so, so sorry she was-, but she didn’t know if she could, not without breaking down and giving into that weakness and if they knew what she was about to do... they'd try and help her. She needed to be strong if she had to do this. She needed to explain, though, she needed them to know it was never their fault. Even if this was what she deserved, she hated the idea of Zac or anyone else feeling guilty about it. Maybe they made mistakes, but so did everyone- theirs wasn’t near as bad as hers. Zac gave her so much, she needed to tell him there was nothing he could do.

Looking around, she looked for a pencil and a sheet of paper. That’s what people do, don’t they? Leave a note? It felt weak, too little, and the words she was preparing in her head- she was already thinking they were too little to give to them, but she could give what she could. At least she won’t have to deal with the knowledge that what she could give wasn’t even close to being enough.

Even as she was writing, half-way down something that, no matter how long it was, didn’t even come close to explaining everything, there was a knock on the door. She froze, unsure of what to do, not wanting to be distracted.

“Evie?”

Evie could hear Billie’s tentative voice behind the door. She felt herself raising half-way out of her chair, but sat down again shame-faced. She didn’t know how she could go talk right now, and she didn’t know what she could do for Billie, but Evie knew that didn’t stop the shame of not answering the door and pretending she wasn’t there.

“Listen, if you’re there… I’m just taking the possibility that you are… I’ve utilised the ‘pretending I’m not behind the door’ thing a lot to get people to go away… don’t worry if you are, if you don’t want to talk, I understand… I get wanting to be alone. I get that. Trust me, I’ve… I’ve lived with that. Part of me was… is nervous about talking about this, because what you said to me before… I could recognise it, and I didn’t want to think about it… I escaped that and things got better, but I know sometimes it… it’s hard not to think things are going to fall apart, but…”

Evie had to stop herself from leaning into Billie’s voice which has gone a more earnest and gentle tone, half of her nervous about what she would hear, the other half disgusted at how needy she felt while listening.

“There was this story I heard, a long time ago. A guy’s walking down the street and falls into a hole, he can’t get out. A doctor walks past and the guy shouts ‘Hey you, can you get me out?’. The doctor throws down a prescription and some pills, and moves on. A priest walks past and the guy shouts for help again. The priest kneels down, prays, and then moves on. Then a friend walks by and the guy shouts, ‘Hey, it’s me. Can you help me?’. The friend jumps into the hole. The guy says, ‘What the hell are you doing, now we’re both stuck,’… but the friend says, ‘Don’t worry, I’ve fallen down in it, I know how to get out.’ Listen, I’m not saying I know the full extent of what’s going on, and I don’t have to tell you there are people who still love you, because… you know that, but I just want to let you know that, being alone, that doesn’t have to be you. Just wanted to tell you. Just wanted to know… we’ll wait.”

Evie heard her walk away, and buried her face in her hands, feeling more exhausted. That Billie didn’t have to say any of it, that she chose to, was making her swell with emotions and gratitude, but also shame, because those words belonged to someone who actually had a chance to be helped, who deserved to be help, and that wasn’t her. How can she tell someone who opened up, who was being so nice, that she didn’t want them to jump into the hole with them, that they shouldn’t? Why did she have to be so weak not to tell them that?

-----

Matt closed the garage door. He was looking forward to tonight, at least. He knew some of the people there, even though he wasn’t at uni. He had never felt any bit ashamed at that, because in terms of job, he was doing just fine, and what was more important, his friends never let him feel ashamed because of it, never. Not Maddy, not Mason… not Evie. Despite raised concerns as a result of the police burrowing around, it was still going strong, though he just hoped Ash hadn’t gotten them all into another stupid scheme again. Still, he knew another reason why he would be looking forward to tonight.

He wasn’t sure before he talked to Evie if she would want to go, but after talking to her… he doubted it even more. Seeing her so downtrodden and alone had already made him feel more than sorry for her, but hearing her, her words almost a damning revelation to him… the problem wasn’t that she didn’t want his help, it was that she thought she didn’t deserve it. And that made something in Matt break. It made him push aside all his own worries and tried to focus on making her see that she did deserve it, that no matter what she thought, he knows she deserved it. He couldn’t even be mad at her for trying to push him away. It took a while, and the majority of the week for him to get his head around it, but he was beginning to understand that with everyone asking her what was going on… unintentionally, it would have added to the pressure she felt, while at the same time, she didn’t need to feel as though she had to hide anything from them. Even if they disagreed on Josh… though Matt realised how wrong he was there too. Evie didn’t try to excuse anything Josh did, she was as angry at him as she was before, but after hearing her blame herself, and expecting everyone else to blame her too… Matt would have happily taken her excusing Josh over that any day. He would have to get her out of believing that, whatever it took. The whole situation regarding her feelings for Josh didn’t feel resolved though, he couldn't rid himself of the suggestion that she mistakenly thought she owed Josh something, but he couldn’t think about that now.

Justin had noticed his bouncing knee while he was working on one of the cars and commented on it, but he ignored him. Knowing what he knew right now, Matt found it difficult to focus on anything else, knowing his best friend was stuck in such a dark place. It wasn’t the stubbornness was new, Matt knew Evie was stubborn, she was one of the smartest people he knew, of course she would be… but he had never seen her so nervous, so unsure about her relationships. Their friendship had mainly been a series of witty teasing and clever retorts, nothing too serious and the knowledge that neither took it seriously. Except Evie had lost her energy for it overtime and she was taking it seriously, even when he didn’t mean too. He wanted to fix that. She mattered so much to him, and she was so wrapped in her own pain that she couldn’t see why she would. All that time, she had been fading away, her smiles disappearing and her light fading, leaving both her and Matt lost in the dark. She must have felt all those feelings, and who knows how difficult it must have been for her to continue keep walking, keep smiling, keep… caring. Despite her stubbornness, despite her chilly and closed off nature at times, she still remained so kind it was a mystery to him how much strength she had to keep the bitterness anyone would have in her situation at bay. She was the one who he could go to for help without making him feel like an idiot or someone overreacting. After Maddy left, his friendship with Evie was one of the few things left in the Bay that made him feel… fulfilled. Even if she was handling some things wrong, Matt couldn't even feel resentment for leaving him in the dark.

Now, he was looking over the appliances left in the office, Justin was weirdly enough insistent over keeping the office clean. Personally Matt and Ash weren’t as concerned as they were with that, but Matt was doing it anyway, just to keep his partner happy. He was doing a good job of it. He was putting some of the tools away when he heard Ash knock at the door and he looked up to see the blonde man pointed towards the entrance at the garage. To Matt’s surprise, it was Olivia waiting outside, not looking exactly eager to enter the place.

“Looks like you got company. Go on, I’ll clean it from here.” Matt had to resist rolling his eyes at Ash’s unusual insistence of cleaning up, because he knew it was his friend’s attempt to make up to him and Justin regarding the mess he got the garage in before. Instead, he nodded his thanks at Ash before walking towards Olivia. He wasn’t sure what she would want from him. It wasn’t as though they were close, especially with her own reaction when Hunter was exposed.

“Anything I can help you with?” Matt asked, crossing his arms at the door. Olivia hesitated, shifting from foot to foot before asking “You spoke to Evie lately?”

“Um… yeah, spoke to her earlier this week.” Matt answered. He had tried to text her, but she wasn’t exactly in a mode for conversation. “Why?”

Olivia began twisting at a loose curl behind her ear before answering. She could see it again in her head, her walking through the hall in school, turning around a corner… and seeing Phoebe reach out to pull up Evie’s sleeve and Evie jumping away as if Phoebe’s hand was a rattlesnake. The image was burned into her memory, because that movement was one that Olivia recognised all too well. She waited at the corner, breathing heavily until both of them had moved on, and walked to the bathroom to steady herself again, the way her support group had thought each other to. “Did she seem alright, to you, I mean?”

Well, it had been clear to Matt that Evie didn’t seem alright, she had been far worse than Matt had expected, far worse than he had feared. He was beginning to think more about what Mason said, about Evie not considering what happened to her to be important, or even existed, but he also felt there was more to the story. Evie had been trying to be brave about it all and pretending that she was coping with everything. Mixing that with her lack of self-confidence… that would only have made things worse for her. Still, he didn’t know if he should say that. He felt as though he was crossing some kind of friendship boundary by talking about this with someone else, especially someone who wasn’t close to either Matt or Evie. This wasn’t some bit of neighbourhood gossip, this was about the mental state of a person whom he cared for and who has suffered enough. Matt didn’t want Olivia staring any rumours or anything. “Why do you ask?”

Why was Olivia asking? The first thing she did in the bathroom was to acknowledge it may not have been what she thought it was. It felt unlikely, though, that she mistaken it, it was way too familiar for her own comfort. Once she did, as much as it shamed her to think about it now, she had actually pondered on what to do. Initially, her sympathy for Evie was rather diminished. She was still rattled about having to see Hunter in jail, surrounded by men for whom all she knew could have been just like… just like… anyways, and having to wake up every morning knowing he wasn’t there, and felt that spark of anger whenever Evie or anyone else spoke badly about him. Maybe what he did was wrong, and maybe, as much as Olivia pretended otherwise, those moments when he was angry made her feel extremely nervous… but they didn’t know him the way she did, didn’t see how caring he could be. Seeing him being abandoned by his family didn’t make Olivia feel any much benevolence towards Zac or Evie in anyway, and she remembered that spite even after what she saw…

But then she remembered the pain she herself felt whenever she had cut herself. Remembered the sight of Evie sobbing over the graves of her family. Remembered the shame and guilt of seeing her cuts in the mirror, and talking about them, to Chris, to the support group, to Irene.

And somehow, for the first time in forever, that drove any thought of Hunter from her mind, and she suddenly felt… strangely clearer. Able to see things with more clarity, able to know what Irene would want her to do. With that in mind, she decided that if it was true, if she was correct about what she saw…then she couldn’t stand by and let someone else go through what she did… even if it was someone she didn’t like.

“Look,” Olivia ventured. “I know… I may not be friends with Evie right now, but she’s gonna need your help, and you got to be patient with her to talk about it, okay, Matt? That’s what she needs.”

Matt felt his own eyebrows raised in alarm and confusion. He certainly did not expect that from Olivia, and the way her eyes glazed over and became distant, as if she was transported into a dark place that Matt couldn’t imagine where she was sent to. Sometimes he had the feeling Evie had been on the verge of going distant, before she kept pulling herself out of it. “What do you know?” he asked cautiously, not sure if he actually wanted to know. If it could help Evie, he would want to know, but he could guess it wouldn’t anything be easy to hear.

Olivia stubbornly shook her head. “I don’t know for sure, I… I can’t know for sure. And even then… it’s not my story to tell, you understand? That’s Evie’s choice to tell, and I… I can’t take that from her.”

Matt felt more confused and irritated than ever. This was by far the most cryptic conversation he has ever had, which by Summer Bay standards, is saying a lot. “What exactly do you-”

“I got to go, just… remember that, and promise me you’ll let her open up to you.”

“Okay, I’ll… I’ll just wait.” Matt didn’t know what that would do though. He was there the whole time for Evie to open up, if she hadn’t done it before, why would she suddenly do so now-

But now a thought occurred to him that if she felt she didn’t deserve help, why would she feel like opening up? She wouldn’t have been convinced to talk, so what other choice did she felt she have? Matt could distantly felt himself nodding reluctantly along with that train of thought before he realised that Olivia was already walking away.

--------

She looked down at her letter, feeling so strange, as if it was something from a dream. She read it over and over again, making sure she had written down the right words, the words that would at least try and make sense out of everything. She didn’t think that was possible, with the entire magnitude of her issues seemed so hard to write down on paper. The words contained a promise: a promise never to see any of them again, never to hurt them again. She was going to leave it here along with the money she owed Alf, go to the party in a few minutes, and then, as soon as she saw Matt was okay, leave when the time was right, leave and then she can stop. She can finally end it all. She just hated leaving like this, but she didn’t see any other way. Zac…she hated herself for not telling him the truth, hated being such a coward. She knew the truth would only hurt, and she wanted to spare him of that, but she knows the way she handled it was not the way to do it, not after she hide stuff or lied to him or snapped at him, but nothing else would have worked. Despite everything, he still wanted her to open up and she didn’t. She didn’t want to inflict more problems on him… but she feared it was more than that, that the idea that she was responsible for what happened to Oscar and Hannah seemed to terrible to talk about, because if it was true, if he could make the connections the same way she did… he would hate her. As he should. If he didn't know already and he was just doing this as some obligation, that is. She didn’t know if she could handle either one of those options, but after seeing him so exhausted dealing with her time after time, she could end that as well, stop herself from tormenting him any further. He still deserved to know the truth, even if she couldn't tell him, but at least with this letter... she would still pay the price regardless and he'll know why. 

She feared what she would do tonight would upset him, it was what stopped her before, but she knew he’ll be alright. He’ll have Leah and VJ, his own family, and they’ll look after him, the way she couldn’t. She caused him enough grief and stress, and he wouldn’t even need to mourn. The least she could do was leave him this to make sure he didn’t blame himself, he should hate her, they should all hate her, they do hate her…

Suddenly her phone vibrated on the table, catching her attention. Looking at it more closely, she picked it up and saw, with equal amounts of apprehension and dismay, it was a call from Maddy.

She may not have been speaking to anyone right now, but during those small excursions to the diner, she heard that Maddy had opened up to Roo again, that she was making some great progress with her prosthetic arm. Roo was so proud and Evie felt a small spark of happiness that Maddy was doing so well, and more importantly, she wasn’t alone in all this. However, that didn’t answer the question to why she would want to talk to Evie.

She felt shame rising in her that it came from one of her former closest friends and she didn’t immediately answer, but she also knew why she didn’t. With everything getting worse all the time, Evie didn’t knew what support she could give Maddy, proper support that is, not the one that basically amounts to saying platitudes that wouldn’t do Maddy any good. Evie didn’t see the point of trying when she knew it would ultimately fail, and she hated the idea of giving Maddy anything other than proper help, but she also hated the idea of not being there for her friend. And there was that history… what Evie did to Maddy, how she went behind her back. Maddy couldn’t have forgotten about that, how Evie ruined her relationship with Josh, and look where that ended. She was left with no clue as to why Maddy willingly talked to her before, how she could be so… nice, especially given her own struggles, but Evie could spare her that obligation now at least. Which was why, feeling completely despicable, she left the phone ring. 

-------

“Evie!” Evie turned around and gave a brief smile when she saw Jeannie Woods, a friend from college, walk up the road to where Evie had parked her car. Jeannie was a medical student from the City, she had been studying for medicine, and became good friends with Evie and Maddy along with her friend-group. She had been one of the few from college who remained in contact with Evie and Maddy when both of them were forced to take some time off from college after what happened in the caravan park… only for Evie to lose touch after she kept herself away. “Hey, how have you’ve been? Haven’t seen you in ages!”, Jeannie exclaimed as she approached with her arms raised, but doing one quick look over Evie, she quickly dropped her arms. Jeannie, for all her energetic energy, had always been good with reading other people’s body language, combined with the gift of never letting anything she saw break her stride. If Phoebe could learn her patience, Evie had the feeling her and Jeannie would have got on like a house on fire. 

“Hi, Jeannie,” Evie replied, her own voice much less enthusiastic than her chirpy friend. She knew Jeannie would never falter at Evie’s downtrodden attitude nor make a big deal out of it, unlike anyone else who had seen it- course, that didn’t change how bad she felt. Even if she shouldn’t pretend, she could at least force a smile at seeing her friend. “I know, it’s just… things have been busy.” But not for long, as long as the resolve she felt earlier remains.

Jeannie’s excited smile slowly smudged into a more gentle one before walking alongside Evie, her hands swinging side by side. Neither of them talked much as they walked up to where the party was being held, other than just the usual small talk. Jeannie filled her in on small details for her plans for the next year, though when it came to her own family, she remained ominously silent. Evie hadn’t had been in touch with much of her friends from college for so long (since she began working at the school), and while she knows it’s probably bad form to lose touch with friends in your first year, too much had happened and she guiltily didn’t know what she could say. Evie didn’t know what she could say right now, because everything she could think of saying sounded less than mundane. It sounded surreal, because Evie felt this was the last time she would be doing so.

“Mason’s already in there, he arrived a couple of minutes earlier with some guy with curly hair…”

“That’s Matt,” Evie told Jeannie. “He’s our friend from the Bay.”

Jeannie nodded inquisitively, avoiding the characteristic urge of hers to look more into the quick light that shone in Evie’s eyes when she talked about Matt. She knew what the group from the Bay had been through this year, and decided against commenting further on their relationships. “Yeah, well that makes more sense there. He’s been looking around anxiously in there for a while now. Obviously, he must be looking for you.”

Yeah, probably hoping you don’t show up. Evie had to suppress a flinch at that, which wasn’t as necessary as she thought with Jeannie in front of her entering the gates to the backyard of the house, Evie wished that wasn’t true, but she couldn’t even try to convince herself of otherwise. She felt way too exhausted to think about it even further. She felt physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted, and had for a long time now. At least that would end as well hopefully.

And, as she made her way through the backyard, Matt indeed looked up at the sight of her, and she could already see the mixture of hesitation and delight on his face. Which didn’t exactly answer whether or not Matt had actually wanted to see her or whether or not he was just doing it for her sake. But then she remembered Matt telling her that he never says anything just for the sake of anything, he doesn’t pretend. Logically, she knew he didn’t, he wasn’t that type of person... but for some reason she couldn’t convince herself of that.

“You made it,” Matt greeted her jovially enough, and Evie just nodded back. “Yeah, I did.”, she admitted, just praying at least this time, she made the right call.

----

Evie didn’t have an answer to that prayer yet, but she was having a sneaky feeling as the evening began to slowly pass into the night, the answer would be negative.

The party had been going on for at least an hour now, and she was feeling a mixture of nausea. There were at least 20 people at the yard right now, the majority of them she either knew or recognised from college, with a few stragglers outside of college like Matt. The way her ears were pounding, you could have sworn there were 100. The music roared loudly into the sky, everyone was cheering, dancing or talking loudly to hear themselves over the mess. Evie was honestly having trouble hearing much over the racing pace of her own heart. She had sat with Jeannie and a couple of the girls for a while, but after not giving much conversation, she moved on. One of the girls whom Evie didn’t know the name of was giving a strange look at her and Jeannie kept wanting to intervene, but Evie had to keep reassuring her to leave it be.

She had talked to Matt for a while as well. They chatted a bit about work, with Evie taking pains not to talk about her own difficulties, and even though talking now brought a wave of discomfort to her, she at least tried. But it wasn’t anything before. It wasn’t even like when they talked after… everything happened, the conversations back then were at least something resembling the good times they had before. Matt noticed it as well, Evie could see it in his eyes, yet it didn’t stop him. Looking over at him where he was standing by the barbecue right now, she was still determined to make him smile properly, to make sure he knew he wasn’t doing… anything wrong with all of this.

Eventually she ended up helping Mason sort out the alcohol he brought with him. Apparently he raided the fridge from his own home without his older siblings noticing. Most of the drink that was there from the beginning had already run out so Mason obviously had the job of resupplying everyone. Though Evie had agreed to help him sort it all out, she was only dreading the night even more. She didn’t have to even look at the internet for the many examples that would show that young people plus lots of drinks plus loud music equals a lot of stupid stunts being pulled. Things so far have been- not quiet, but relatively sane- though if Evie had put money on it, she’d bet it wouldn’t last.

“You planning on drinking tonight?” Mason asked as he was placing another bag from his car onto a table that was laid out. Evie shook her head vigorously. She wouldn’t have wanted to get drunk on a normal day, but today… she needed a clear head. Besides, she didn’t think her malnourished body could handle a lot of alcohol. Also, as embarrassing as it probably was, she may have been a failure, but she’d truly be damned if she was going to spend her last doing a drunken… she didn’t know, a drunken cartwheel or something like that. “I’m not really in the mood for that tonight.”

“Suit yourself,” Mason replied, deciding to leave the issue go. Frankly, he wasn’t sure how the night was going so far. He was glad that Evie had come along, and the look of relief on Matt’s face when he saw her was clear to see, but Mason couldn’t help but think about his hopes about a possible relationship. He had tried to approach her but Evie, while not hostile, had already set up a firewall defence that kept everyone at arm’s length. There wasn’t much room for him to move on, but Mason kept looking for gaps to squeeze through. “There is gonna be a lot of headaches tomorrow morning. Nice night for it, though, at least.”

Mason laughed at that, but Evie only gave him a small smile and a half-hearted shrug. Her mind was clearly somewhere else, and Mason felt disheartened by it. Can’t she see he was trying to spark off a conversation? “Anyway, I’m glad that Matt convinced you to come around. He means a lot to you, don’t you.”

Evie nodded more enthusiastically at that. He did, otherwise she didn’t think she’d be out there. And soon you’ll be out of his life, for good this time. The way you should have ages ago. “He’s a really good friend to have. I just wish I could have been more to him.”

Mason’s eyebrows quirked up at that. “As in… you know…”, he offered suggestively, and Evie’s own eyebrows shot up in surprise at that. “No, nothing like that. No, Matt’s just… a friend.” To be honest, Evie had never considered that road in a very long time, mainly because she knew that even if she had been interested, Matt deserved a much better girlfriend, and besides, her own emotional issues and problems were way too much for anyone looking for a stable relationship to go for. Deep down, she knew Matt really wants a stable relationship. Most men would just look for something quick and exciting. Matt, despite all his swagger, had grown more sensitive than that over the years.

Mason nodded along, feeling there was more going on between the lines, but pushed on regardless. “I bet it’s good to be out here, though huh? For you, I mean,” he specified. “Just to give… I don’t know, some sense of normality back.”

Well, Evie could see where Mason was coming from, but out of all the ways to get back to a state of normality, honestly, she could have done without something like this. Besides, it didn’t matter, if she wasn’t going to be around to enjoy it. “I’m just glad I was invited.” Part of her internally winced at the lie, a well-meaning one but… but maybe it wasn’t fully a lie. Because she knew a part of her had lifted up when Matt smiled at her. Did that mean she wanted to come here all along? Regardless of the circumstances. She was so loss in her own thoughts, she didn’t hear the rising noise of cheers coming on the other side of the yard.

Mason smiled gently at her, trying not to focus on the sense of incredulity in her voice. “So, um… you ever thought about getting back in a relationship?”

Evie couldn’t help but give a small sigh. She could see the almost-excited look that Mason was trying to hide, and could tell what he was hoping the conversation to lead to. It all seemed pointless to even consider, but Mason was still a friend, so she couldn’t rebuff him. “Mason, listen, I’m not looking for anything like that, and it’s sweet of you to ask, but…”

Mason had to hold back a sigh of his own. Was he really that transparent? “No, no, I was just wondering if… you know, if Matt’s just a friend…look I know, that… just because of bad experience in the past, doesn’t mean you have to give up entirely-”

And now the conversation was moving to a place no one needed it to go, and Evie needed to stop him in his tracks. If she had looked behind her she would have noticed a crowd gathering and heard someone shouting ‘Dude, look out!”, but she didn’t. She would have wished she had. “Mason, that’s not the point, You-”

Whatever she was going to say to Mason would remain a mystery, because then suddenly her voice became dwarfed by the sudden roar from behind her. Her head had turned around and froze half-way by the sudden sight of flames rising out of the barbecue into the air, wild and out of control. And suddenly, it was as if Evie had crossed into a different void. Evie wasn’t at the party anymore. She wasn’t talking to Mason anymore, or leaning on the table, or anything that she had been doing not one second ago. She was back in the caravan park, in the moment that wrecked everything…

That was what she felt uneasiness this entire time, why she felt hesitant in the first place to come here tonight, why her heart had been pounding like it was ready to make a runner. It's like she was stuck in the famous 'fight of flight situation' She knew it, but she didn’t let herself think so, because she knew how familiar it all was, how familiar right up to the blast-

Her heart was no longer pounding, at least not where she could hear it. She couldn’t hear anything, as if her ears suddenly created a brick wall that blocked any semblance of sound from going in. There wasn’t even any of the static buzzing noise, instead replaced with an unfamiliar yet equally terrifying high-pitched noise that sounded like a whistle from hell. Evie wondered if she had suddenly gone deaf. Yet somehow it didn’t matter because she was more focused on the fact that she couldn’t hear her breaths, couldn’t blink, couldn’t feel her fingers, her heart, anything other than that usual numbing sensation that was intensified a hundred times fold. She has felt it before, she has experienced it before- she didn’t live with it, that wasn’t the right phrase to use, because whatever this was, it wasn’t living- but this is horrifying, terrifying, all consuming. 

And as always, even as she was hyperventilating, with that numbing feeling came mind-blowing panic, because she didn’t want to see what she had remembered too many times. She felt dizzy, sick, completely overwhelmed by fear. She tried to tell herself it was just a memory, because she could tell that’s what it was, a memory, why was she getting so worked up over it, nothing she could do to change any of it… but when she tried to remember that, that is never enough against the onslaught of memories that come flushing back- a hiss, a ball of fire erupting amid screams, grass splattered with blood, and a pale, lifeless arm, hanging from the side of a bed covered in sheets-

I’m not there, I’m not there…

Course you are. You never left it.

“Evie?”

Someone, distant, as if it was a ghost, was calling out to her, but she could barely hear them, not when her breathing was stuttering into a painful halt. She couldn’t breathe… couldn’t speak. Images were fluttering into her vision, poorly filtered and horribly askew, but she knew what they were, of who they were. She tried to hold on to them, to keep them there, to keep them close… but they always slipped through her imaginary fingers, faded away, and returned shortly only to disappear again… always in reach, yet impossible to hold onto…

The whistle was getting louder and louder, bouncing along the base of her skull and the bruises she left there. Her head was suddenly erupting with short bursts of pain, pain that was probably making her wince. She didn’t know, she was barely noticing, because all she could focus on was making sure they stayed, her family, her friends, Oscar…

She wanted to shout out to whatever was making these images float in her head, to scream at them to take her instead, to hurt her, don’t hurt them, leave them be- but it was all stuck in her tongue, as if the words took physical form and got stuck in her throat. All her thoughts were sludging together, except for one terrifying yet important mantra- She needed to stop this, she needed to stop them fighting, she needed to get them out.

“Evie!”

It’s suddenly sounding much more alarmed and accompanied by touch. Suddenly, as if she was staring out of a lenses, and the lenses were broken, because she can get a slight glimpse of Mason staring at her, his arms reaching out but keeping them from her distant. She could see he look worried, but she didn’t know what to say, and even if she did, nothing came out. This was worse, worse than all those other times her body shut down.

It wasn’t just her physical body freezing now- her blood felt chilled to the bone. It was cold, but there was also a terrible burnt stench as well. Oxygen seemed to have disappear and left with the stench that was filling up her nose. It was all like one of her more constant nightmares, except she knew she wasn’t asleep (at least she thought she wasn’t). She had to get them out, she had to—

Matt.

Matt was right next to the barbecue, the last time Evie saw him. What happened to him, was he okay, was he hurt? She had to make sure he was okay, she had to save him, God, if he got hurt, and she wasn’t there too?

“I… I got to find him.”

I can’t find him anywhere, I can’t find him-

Suddenly, the world was toppling over and Evie could feel a sudden, sharp crack of her knees  through her panic as they buckled, and suddenly found herself on the ground. Out of all the times her body had endured, only now did it decide to fail? Now, when the only time it actually mattered-

She was struggling to get up, trying yet failing. Pain, agony, sorrow, guilt… all those familiar feelings were now filtering around the vacant hole in her, and it was as if she was being kept down by some invisible force. Mason was bending down in front of her, the concern on his face alarmingly clear now. Evie could see his mouth moving, but she couldn’t hear any of it. Suddenly, what little remained of her hearing had left her again, and her vision was already swimming. It was all too much, too much to even focus on… but she needed to find him, she had to save him, every passing second she wanted to tear her chest open with her bare hands and rip out her own heart from the vice-like grip that was around it-

Why did she come here? Why did she agree? This was all her fault, her fault for crashing like this, her fault for being here. How stupid was she, thinking she just go somewhere, intending only to be for a little while, and not expect everything to come crashing down, what if someone got hurt, why didn’t she learn from before, why did she had to put them all at risk, why couldn’t she save them-

Evie could suddenly feel a weight on her arm, as if something had taken a hold of her, and she shook it off violently. Now, barely, ever so blurry, someone now bending down alongside Mason, obviously looking at her. She could distinctively hear them talking, but it was all dwarfed by that damn whistle in her ears. It was all so strange and dizzy that she actually took a brief moment to wonder if she actually did drink alcohol- even though she clearly remembered she didn’t.

Her vision starts a constant yet irritating pattern- it would clear for a little while before fading into a fuzzy state. She could see Mason and the other person, a girl, taller than her with a blond plait resting against her shoulder- Jeannie, it’s Jeannie- and they both look so damned concerned, and Jeannie looks horribly confused and Evie feels so bad, because this is her fault, not theirs. She needed to get up, she needed to get her arms away from clutching her drawn-up knees- she doesn’t even remember doing that- but when she tries, she ends up on the ground again.

Suddenly, that weight was on her arm again, but this time, it felt more steadying than grasping. A few words are now able to break through in her ears and she can hear the words ‘breath, come on, Evie, breath with…” and the rest fades away. She’s not even aware she’s still breathing, she thought she stopped that a while ago. Evie looked up and Jeannie was there, helping lower her to the ground, her thumb gently drifting over her knuckles in a soothing manner, but Jeannie also looks like she has no idea what to do, and Evie is just so sorry.

However, she felt herself rising again, despite Jeannie’s silent insistence that she does the contrary. “I… I have to find him, I’ve got to get him out of here.” She couldn’t let herself fail now. She failed too many times before, she had to make this right at least. She was suddenly aware of herself digging her fingernails into her knees, breaking through the fabric of her jeans as hard as she can. She needed to focus, she needed to save them. 

“Okay, maybe, you need… you need to sit down,” Mason tried to tell her, trying to keep his face calm, but he could hear the clear panic in his voice that gave the lie to it. This was all the clear sign of a severe panic attack. He had seen her experience an anxiety attack before, but this… this looked so much worse. Evie looked so frightened, curled up into a ball despite her failed attempts to get up, and her eyes, despite their panicked gaze, looked as though she had gone off somewhere entirely different. He gotten her to try and take deep breaths, but her breathing was very fast, still raspy and shallow. This wasn’t good, she could pass out at any moment. Mason had seen what exhaustion can do before, but this really disturbed him. Jeannie still looked concerned and confused, but at least she was making sure Evie was staying where she was. He needed Matt to get here quick, hopefully he could get to her.

“I…uh… I gotta get Matt, make sure… make sure she…” Mason didn’t know how to finish that sentence, but Jeannie seemed to have gotten the gist of it. He quickly moved his way through the party, weaving his way through drunken friends and others dancing along to the music. Finally he located Matt near the barbecue, talking to another lad who Mason thought was named Benji. “Matt- what happened?”, he asked, looking at the damaged barbecue.

“Some idiot who drunk too much and decided to mess with the settings. Thankfully, no one was burnt,” Matt answered, seeming to catch his breath. “Why, what’s going on-”

“We need you over here, Evie’s in some kind of trouble…” Mason said while pointing back to where he sorted out the drinks, but before he could finish his sentence, Matt was already racing towards where he was pointing, quickly running against the walls as to avoid the large crowd.

Matt quickly made his way to where that girl Jeannie was bending over Evie who was crouched down against the ground. His heart was already pounding, and seeing Evie so distressed, looking painfully small and fragile, didn’t do anything to ease his mind. “Evie? Evie, what the hell happened?”. Evie, her eyes darting around wildly, didn’t hear him, her breathes coming out unsteadily and radically, her chest was heaving too badly and her hands grasping her knees like a lifeline. “What happened?!” he asked again, this time more urgently, and this time at Jeannie. 

“I don’t know, all I saw was her falling down,” Jeannie explained hastily, keeping one eye on Evie. “It looks like a panic attack, and a severe one. We need to give her the space otherwise we’ll make it worse,” she continued, before shaking off Matt’s confused gaze as to how she could tell this. 

Matt looked back at Evie, who was shuddering as she tried to keep her eyes open, as if keeping track of something she noticed in the corner of her eye. Matt didn’t not feel better with this information, how long had she been not looking after herself? “Evie, can you hear me?”, he asked again, urgently.

Evie heard Matt’s voice in spite of the increasing sound of the whistle, rough, deep and an mixture of anger and concern. Suddenly she could feel herself tremble, and her heart, even while being clenched, was sinking below into unknown depths because he’s seeing her like this, he’s seeing her act like this… giving into anxiety and pain, and that made her eyes water up and her nails dig into her knees again harder, and deeper. If her breaths weren’t already irrational gasps, she would have gasped at the feeling of the skin breaking. She presses harder, and… suddenly, she can see Matt’s face a bit more clearer, breaking through the fog… and Matt, Matt who hates feeling helpless, who hates not being in the known, looks really worried, but he also looks… alive. Whatever happened back there, it didn’t hurt him. That was worth the embarrassment.

Then why was the anxiety still there? Why was she still overwhelmed, and horrible, horrible, images remain stuck in her head-

Oh.

Evie was beginning to realise that it wasn’t just Matt she needed to find.

“You…you need to get out,” she mumbled, her words sounded all slurred, even as she kept her mouth opened long after she said them. She was trying to get gulps full of air in again, but it doesn’t nothing. It’s as if her lungs have left her again, or else they’re still empty and won’t work. All the while, she was trying to block out that voice, that voice in the back of her head that insisted what she already knew, that it was too late…

 “What do you mean, Evie?” Matt asked, trying with desperation to bring his voice to a more gentle tone. Besides him, Jeannie and Mason were crouching around looking concern, Jeannie gently rubbing her thumb over Evie’s hand. “What do you need?”

“You need to get out… it’s not safe…” Evie’s voice became more insistence, even though they felt too slow. “We… we need to find him…”

“Evie, it’s okay,” Mason cut in patiently, and Matt felt a sudden urge of envy, because Mason was sounding more in control than he could manage. “It was just someone being stupid with the barbecue. Everyone’s fine.”

No, no one was fine. No one was safe around her. Even the welcoming sight of Matt wasn’t enough to stop that certainty. “No… I have to… I have to stay away… he’s got to be okay, he’ has to be…”

“Evie, we’re all here, what are you talking about?” Matt asked, his anxiety sneaking into his voice. She looked almost on the verge of tears and the lack of answers was driving him mad. He didn’t know what was going on, but maybe she saw the barbecue go up in smoke, but why would-

And then the penny dropped.

Actually, screw the penny, it was more like an anvil dropping, hitting him with all its force.

God, no.

Evie must have saw the fire, and… what if it made her remember… that day in the caravan park? Matt heard stories like that, where just the slightest reminder could spark… what did they call it… triggers. She was reliving all of it.

It didn’t take a genius to know who he was.

Matt never actually gone over what happened that day. He was able to get over it, focusing on helping Roo and Maddy, and for some reason he was never plagued with nightmares or anything like that about it, but he could distantly remember a sight of Evie dancing with Oscar not long before the explosion happened. Did she… Jesus, did she see him die? 

“Evie…” Matt asked gently, as if his voice had shrunk in the sheer shock of all of it. “You’re not there, okay. You’re here with us, you’re safe.”

Evie shook her head violently, because now she can hear him, but she couldn’t have… it didn’t matter if she was safe, what mattered was that Oscar was safe. “No… no, he has to be here, we… we’re wasting time…I... I do-don't know w-hat's wrong with me…” she felt one hand leave its death-like grip on her left knee and started pulling at her head.

“No, no, Evie, absolutely nothing's wrong with you, everything’s okay, you just need to keep breathing for us okay, that’s all we need you to do,” Matt said, his voice still remaining gentle even it felt as though he was fumbling the whole time. Matt’s stomach was twisting violently, and at the sight of Evie near tears as she kept insisting on the impossible, the octave in her voice inching higher and higher as she backed herself further into a ball, he was feeling sobs of his own reaching into his throat. Seeing Evie like this... so wrought with panic and pain… it brought back harsh memories of Maddy in that hospital bed, before and after she lost her arm. Those hours of despair and hopelessness that entrapped Maddy and kept Matt from helping.  Unbelievable pain that neither Maddy nor Evie deserved and… what was he supposed to tell her? Keep insisting that she wasn’t back at that awful day, but doing that would be forcing her to remember that Oscar… Oscar wasn’t there anymore. He couldn’t do that to her. He felt completely out of his depth here, which burned away at him from the inside.

Thankfully, Jeannie, who had some knowledge of what must have been happening, stepped in. “Okay, Evie can you hear me? Let’s take a deep breath and hold it… I know it’s really difficult right now, but let’s take a breath…” she told Evie. Evie turned her stricken gaze at her friend and tried, honestly tried to hold it in, but in her panicked state, it didn’t last long. Matt saw a sudden urge of guilt and shame in his best friend’s eyes when she exhaled and Matt wanted to bring her into a hug and assure her she was doing nothing wrong… but he didn’t know what reaction he’d get. This was far worse than when she almost had that breakdown when Kat confronted her, because at least then Evie had a bearing of her surroundings. This time, it looked as though it completely left her.

Eventually, the distinct gaze left her, and though her gaze was more concentrated, the panic didn’t go away. She looked around her, becoming more aware of her surroundings, but she was still extremely tense, her entire body on alert even though now, Jeannie was certain, she knew where she was. Her gaze turning from Jeannie, to Matt, up to Mason, her mouth opened up as if to say something, but nothing came out except a chocked gasp. All her breaths were coming up in short, terrified gasps, and Jeannie felt there was nothing she could do other than keep sympathetically rubbing her hand, trying to give her something to hold onto. 

Matt was suddenly aware of a crowd nearby, watching the situation with interest. He thought he almost saw the flash of a mobile phone and felt a strong, savage urge to go over there and give whoever was filming this a piece of his mind, or knock some heads around. Restraining that impulsive nature of his, he turned to Mason and said in a low voice. “We need to get her out of here. We got to get her somewhere… safe.”

Wherever that is, Matt wasn’t entirely sure, but thankfully, despite the heavy confusion clear on his face (for Mason was not there that day, he had no idea how Oscar died, let alone Evie was there when he did), Mason nodded quickly and without argument. That also sent a small wave of relief through Matt: if Mason, the medical student, thought there were no problems with it, he was making the right decision.

Jeannie meanwhile, was asking Evie some basic questions. “Evie do you know where you are?”

Evie nodded, albeit hesitantly, as if she was afraid of giving the wrong answer. “At… at the p-party, w-with you guys,” she answered slowly. And she did know that, she knew where she was, but that didn’t stop her vision being plagued with those memories, the burnt smell of ash and the too bright sight of fire.

Jeannie nodded reassuringly, giving her a bright smile. As if she hadn’t just collapsed and freaked out in front of them. “Evie, we need to keep breathing okay, you’re doing a great job, but I need you to keep it up okay. Count with me, four breaths now...”

Evie didn’t think she was doing a good job, because even through the whistle that was fading away, she could hear how desperate her breaths sounded. And she… she still needs to find them, she has to save them. They were her friends and family, and… they don’t let each other down, they don’t let them die, and they don’t let each other be afraid, and God… was Oscar afraid? Did he had the time to experience that moment of fear before… before… and Hannah… did she knew what was happening to her? Did she feel trapped, desperately begging for help from the inside, where no one could hear her….

It was all crashing down on her, them, everyone, all the flames, the wreckage, the death… it was clouding her senses again, as if she was underwater, drowning under poisoned water choking into her nose and mouth, and the whistle was getting louder, and this whole time, she had just been sitting here, all the while she could have done something… she didn’t even had the chance to say goodbye-

Selfish, stupid, embarrassment, cowardly, bad…

Murderer…

Trapped in a circle with those words around her, prodding and stabbing at her with their viciousness, suffocating her with a barrage of hostility and anguish: you were never good enough, you are a failure, you’re pathetic, you let them die while all the time you were feeling sorry for yourself…

“I know this, I know this, stop it, please!” Did she say those words out loud, did she only think them? She didn’t know, but she meant them. She already knew this, she knew how awful she was, she just needed them to stop, she… as pathetic as it probably was, she couldn’t take this anymore. She hated this, hated all of it. Just let her find them, make sure they’re safe, and then they can take her, end her life, whatever…just leave her alone.

Suddenly, her eyes are opened again (she feels as though they were shut the entire time, thought that probably wasn’t the case), and she found herself in driving away in a car, the familiar vibrations and humming sound as it travelled down the road breaking through her ears’ barriers. She felt her panic rising, because she was totally unaware of how she got here, how she moved from her fetal position back in the yard to the car- a car with who knows else is here- but when her gaze travelled beside her, she could see Mason’s curly hair hanging in front of him as he kept looking at her. Evie registered she was in the back seat of… Matt’s car, she could recognise the interior of it well enough. And that was the back of Matt’s head in the front seat as he drove. Her hands were glued back to her knees even as they were shaking violently, gripping the skin underneath the fabric, and her breaths were still short and raspy. She didn’t knew how long she had until she passed out.

“Evie… can you look at me please?”

Mason’s voice was gentle, patient, not insisting, but Evie still shook her head, feeling tears gather in her eyes, and she could guess she was just moments away from sobbing. Mason’s voice sounded so compassionate, so patient and she didn’t deserve it, the echoes of Jeannie and Matt’s voices, also so caring and nice and she didn’t deserve any of it. They needed to leave, Mason needed to get away from her, didn’t he see how dangerous it was to be around her? How can they even be with her right now? “You… y-you ne-need to g-g-go… g-get away f-from me… it’s n… it’s not… safe…”

“You’re okay, Evie, we…we’re going to back to Zac and Leah’s,” Mason told her. He couldn’t help but marvel at how calm he sounded, because all he felt was frantic anxiety, as well as sadness at seeing Evie trapped in this mental anguish. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face puffy and stained with tear tracks. This was far worse than he had ever seen her, she had it all collected for so long- which meant a breakdown like this was always going to happen. It was just a question of when, and how far the person has fallen. “Jeannie’s got your car and is following behind us… everything’ll be alright.” Even though he hadn’t the faintest idea of whether or not that would be true or not, and Evie, even in this state would know that.

Evie jerked away from his words, looking more panicked that she coughed on her own gasps. “No… everything’s not okay, it’s not… no Zac… no Leah... I c-can’t…c-can’t hurt them…”, even in this state, even as she felt she was being suffocated by an invisible force, she was determined not to bring more people just to doom them as well, especially not them. They shouldn’t have to see her like this, they didn’t deserve that. Their lives would be more at risk than hers would. 

“No one’s going to get hurt, Evie, I promise,” Mason tried to reassure her, even as she looked around pleadingly. He may not know how they could be in danger, but her reluctance to go to Zac and Leah’s now was obvious. His sadness grew at her thinking that they shouldn’t see her like this, but he learned about this- the last thing anyone wants is for their loved ones to see them in anguish or pain. Maybe they ought to take her back to his siblings’ house, at least until she calmed down. Matt had already vetoed the idea of going back to her caravan, because the last thing Evie needed right now tonight was to be alone. “We’re just going to check everything, and you’ll be okay…”

“No.”

It was just one word, but for the first time, Mason could hear her clearly. He turned to her again, and Evie looked back at him. Despite her panicked state, her frazzled hair, the tears on her cheeks and her gasping for air, for the first time Evie’s gaze was more focused- and Mason felt himself frozen in shock at how much pain and anger were in her eyes. More than anyone should have.

“I don’t want to be o-okay… it’s my...my fault, all of it… I deserved it…”

“No, Evie it isn’t… you don’t deserve it, you don’t…” Mason kept his voice quiet as he tried to get across to her. He didn’t want to disrupt Matt’s driving, who was on enough of an edge, and he felt Matt would feel worse if he knew what Evie was saying. He doubted either of them heard her talk like this, talk with so much pain and grimness. Maybe that was why Matt had offered to drive while Mason sat with her… Matt wanted to help Evie, he wanted to make sure she was okay, but all of these emotions… they were hard for one person to deal with, at least without falling apart themselves. Mason felt as though he was hanging on by a thread, and he didn’t know Evie as well as Matt did.

Then came a soft, defeated voice that was almost on the verge of sobbing; “I should be dead, I should have died…”

Mason felt himself recoil in shock, as Evie’s gaze turned more agitated, like an animal looking for a way to escape but no hope in sight, as her hands left her knees and started griping her hair harshly. His chest tightened at her words, and how terrifying accepting she sounded by it, by the idea of her own death. He didn’t know how he could even respond to that. And just to cement his fears, her hands alarmingly folded into tight fists that she started pressing harder against her forehead.

Thankfully, Mason had enough sense despite the horror he felt to quickly grab Evie’s arms and pull them away from her head before she could do herself anymore damage. After what she said, Mason had to prepared for When he was holding them in his hands, he could see her fingernails were tinged red. He forced himself to look back down at Evie’s leggings and the small, nail-sized places where she had been digging her nails.

“They’re… they’re g-gone… and… I c-could h-ha…h-have stopped it… I could have…everything I… everything I…”, Evie’s sight was slowly going dark, and she felt she was losing conscious, loosing what little remained of her hold on her senses. Her lungs might as well have been non-existent, but that was okay, it didn’t matter, her gasps were becoming few in between. She had planned to kill herself anyway, maybe this was how she did it to herself? She just wished they weren’t here to see this. 

“We got to get her to the hospital. Tori’s on station tonight,” Mason called out to Matt, already taking out his phone to call his sister ahead. Matt nodded, but when Mason looked at his friend clearly again, his body was shaking and he was gripping the wheel as tight as any person. Did he hear what Evie said?

Evie barely heard this, giving into the fight to sink into the dark abyss. She was just able to stammer out, “I’m… I’m so s-s-sorry…” (because deep down, that was all she was, just utterly and completely sorry), and then she was already sinking, being swallowed whole by complete exhaustion. Hopefully this time, as her eyes closed, she wouldn’t wake up…

----

Matt quickly stopped the car as soon as he got to the hospital’s entrance and jumped out as quickly as he could. He ran around the back so he could open the back door, and saw Mason arranging an unconscious Evie in the back. He had lay her on her side, and under Mason’s instructions, Matt, without knowing particularly why, gently tilted her chin up in order to open her airway. 

“We got to keep her like this until they can send a stretcher out for her, it will make sure she won’t have any more trouble breathing,” Mason told him, his voice remaining calm even though he had a face of someone being told he would need surgery. Matt nodded vaguely, feeling a bit overwhelmed and really upset. He was suddenly aware of the wetness on his cheeks as if to remind him, and he was just wishing this night never happened, wishing Evie didn’t had to go through any of this, wishing she hadn’t been so alone, wishing she hadn’t pushed everyone away because she felt she deserved to be alone, wishing she hadn’t felt she deserved to be alone, and above all else, wishing she didn’t mean those words… I should have died

Matt nearly stopped the car in the middle of the road in shock as soon as he heard it, completely paralysed by what felt like ice stabbing into his veins, his stomach continuously  twisting painfully and his throat suddenly gone dry, like everything had suddenly left him and came rushing back too quickly, in a scream. It must have been how she felt (felt this entire time), a chaotic mess of emotions and feelings all screaming in her head.

And what made it worse was that she did mean them, she must have. It was all gathering together to form a picture, and the picture was not a good one. Evie was smart, she would never be one of those people who would say something… something that held so much weight and not mean, or mean it like some sick idea of a joke. Hearing her guilt, actually feeling guilty for what happened to Oscar and Hannah, as if it was her fault, it was all so unreal… as if it was all happening in a nightmare, that all of this was happening to his amazing friend… That she was so full of self-hatred, she actually believed what happened to them was her fault... never.

A hand gripped his shoulder tightly and he turned, wet eyes and all, towards Jeannie, who had parked behind them and was now bending down to help Evie. “Bend her left arm and bring it to support her head, it will help her breath better,” she said quietly and assertively, as if she had seen this before and knew what to do, which was very much needed right now.

Matt was quick to do it, do anything to make Evie more comfortable as possible, even when she was unconscious. He gently stroked Evie’s hair away from her forehead, a small attempt to comfort her, as he slowly pulled up her arm and set it to rest below her cheek, which was blowing out as Evie made uneasy attempts to breath, but then, the sleeve of her jumper slipped and fell as he was moving it, and he saw…

He saw…

He saw it and Matt suddenly felt the urge to tear his eyes out just so he could stop seeing it.

But even if he did, he knew he would see it forever.

It was just a thin, pale line that marked itself onto near Evie’s wrist, outlined by purple shades on the skin. Matt may not be as medical-wise as Mason or Jeannie here, but even he could tell what this was. He felt completely immobile, his hands cold in sweat and his heartstrings were pulling so hard he was almost afraid they might break. Matt didn’t know where to go from here. At least before he had an idea of where to go, was committed to the idea of helping Evie see past her pain, but that was before it got this bad, this bad that Evie had felt the need to hurt herself (or was that scar an attempt to take her own life? Did she try to kill herself before? How many more were there? He had too many questions and too many fears for the answers). He had to place a hand on the roof of his car to steady himself, all the while wishing he could turn back the clock, find someway for him to notice what was going on and stop it before Evie did herself harm… because he didn’t know how to make things better from here.

When he spoke again he can hear the sob catching in his voice. “Anything else we need to do?”, he asked desperately, looking at the other two as he carefully, ever so carefully, pulled the sleeve up so that it would cover her scar before anyone else noticed. This, he knew without any doubt, was Evie’s to tell, he would do anything to help her get through this, but this… he didn’t feel right talking about it while she was incapable of doing so right now (he already felt an irrational amount of guilt just by seeing this without her consent. That was what Olivia had suggested, and it was what Matt promised. Olivia must have known, somehow, she could tell what no one else could, and as soon as Evie was taken care of, Matt needed to talk to her, to know what else he could do for Evie.

Before anyone could answer, two of the hospital staff were arriving, a stretcher at hand so they could set Evie on it. Without a word, Matt, Mason and Jeannie set Evie up and with the help of the paramedics, placed her gently on the stretcher. They were asked quick questions and they all did their best to answer: no, she hadn’t taken any alcohol, no, there were no drugs, she looked very much under-weight, they didn’t know the last time they ate…

He was already in the hospital before he knew it, Evie being raced through the hospital, with Mason talking to Tori about a low blood sugar and her breathing problems and before he knew it, she was being rolled into a room, leaving Matt and Jeannie in the hallway. There were other people around, but they were thankfully left alone. Jeannie collapsed in a chair, exhaustion clear on her face as she wrapped a hand around her blond hair. Matt remained standing, holding his head in his hands and trying to handle the emotions he was left with: anger, sorrow, horror, despair, grief, and guilt that he couldn’t do anything to help his friend before.

The whole hallway was spinning in front of him and his chest ached at how much pain she was in, knowing how powerless he was to help, and how terrifying it was to see her so frail, so panicked so… desolate.

Jeannie stood up and lightly touched Matt’s shoulder. They didn’t know each other well, only as acquaintances of other friends, but tonight, there was no denying how much this man was hurting at the sight of his friend suffering, how much he cared for her, and how much, no matter if he denied it, of a shoulder he needed to lean on. He saw something even worse going on as well, Jeannie could see that, but she didn’t pry. Evie had clearly been suffering from her grief, and it affected how she took care of herself. She wondered if it could be a case of a traumatic disorder, which meant finding out what was going on with Evie was only half the battle. She didn’t offer anything to say, because… what was there to say?

Matt looked up, his hands falling from his face, unwashed tears shedding from his eyes, as he considered drying them away. He never liked being so emotional in public, especially with people he didn’t know. It felt as though only when he was around people he was close to could he expose himself in such a way. However, seeing her handle Evie tonight, helping to look after her so expectantly, made him shake away that vulnerability, at least for now.

“I… I think I might just…I need to…” Matt tried to say, but it felt his words were all jammed up in his throat. He hated the idea of leaving now, hated leaving Evie in her time of need, even rationally he knew there was nothing he could do at this point, other than leaving the professionals to do what they have to, but he hated abandoning her.

Jeannie understood, and patted him on the shoulder. “It’s okay. Go, I’ll stay here for a while and I’ll call you back if anything changes,” she assured him, smiling reassuringly on the back. She got it, when seeing someone you care about suffering so badly, especially at their own hand… it is a monstrously lot to take in, and you need a moment to collect yourself and your emotions. You can’t be any help to someone unless you’re sure you’re in the right headspace.

Matt nodded hesitantly, and slowly walked away, breathing heavily and clasping a hand over his eyes to brush away the tears. That was one thing he wasn’t ashamed of- after seeing his resilient, amazing friend breakdown, give up… he didn’t know how else to react. That was not what Evie was supposed to look like- beaten down and extremely distressed and… lifeless. Lifeless. How dare that word lingered in Matt’s mind. He had looked in the rear mirror just in time to see Evie collapse: her eyes fighting to remain open. Those weary eyes must have felt like a hundred pounds to Evie, and Matt may not know everything right now, but he did know that he hated that sight, of her having to fight for the mundane, and he never wanted to see that happen to her again. 

He made his way down to a smaller hallway, where he could take a breath without anyone noticing. He did pass Nate as he was doing rounds, and the doctor asked him in concern. Matt just gently shook him off, not knowing if he had the words to explain the situation right now. But then… it hit him. Zac and Leah.

They don’t know what happened, Matt had to call them, let them know. Evie may not be talking to them right now, but for all sakes and purposes, she might as well be Zac’s daughter. He needed to tell them what happened, tell them to get up here. He didn’t know what to tell them, or how much of the story was his to tell without violating Evie’s privacy. Telling it to doctors was one thing, that was necessary, but to people he and Evie knew, and cared about… that was harder, more complicated than it ever had to be.

He picked up his phone and dialled Leah’s number, all the while cursing in his mind this entire year: for taking Hannah and Oscar from them all, for causing so much damage and hurt to Evie, to Chris, to Maddy, to Zac and Leah, to himself, to Roo… and he cursed Andy, Tank and Josh for good measure as well. He understood what Evie said before a greater deal now. The fact that they were all somewhere else, living free while good people pay the price for their actions… it makes his blood boil. 

“Leah…” Matt answered hesitantly, trying to hold back a sob, because if he started, he didn’t think he’d stop. “You and Zac need to get down to the hospital quickly. It’s Evie.” 

Holy Mother, this was really hard to write. At times I honestly felt I needed the crowd from Monty Python and the Holy Grail shouting ‘Get on with it!’ for me to continue. 

Note: Jeannie is the girl whom Evie set up with Brody at a volleyball match in 2016.

All jokes aside,  I admit I have some regrets about not taking this story down some roads I intended to, but overall I remain defiant of those doubts and will continue. This stuff is very important to me, and being afraid of talking about this emotional stuff is never cowardly, though it is easy for people who suffer from it, like Evie is, to believe it is. Next chapter’s going to be a belter, expect lots of tears from all sides. But, finally, the next chapter will mark a change, and with it, will soon come the beginning of recovery, because by God, Evie definitely deserves it.  

Posted

That explosion may have been a blessing in disguise: Goodness knows what would have happened to Evie otherwise. It's smart to have Olivia work out some of what's going on with Evie because, yes, of course she would, and it's only obvious when you stop and think about it.

I admit I had to look up Jeannie: I thought she was something to do with Brody and one of two characters but my brain couldn't quite decide!

Posted
On 18/06/2021 at 00:49, Red Ranger 1 said:

That explosion may have been a blessing in disguise: Goodness knows what would have happened to Evie otherwise. It's smart to have Olivia work out some of what's going on with Evie because, yes, of course she would, and it's only obvious when you stop and think about it.

I admit I had to look up Jeannie: I thought she was something to do with Brody and one of two characters but my brain couldn't quite decide!

Yeah, basically, I wanted to use the party as a way to show that Evie still has extreme trauma in regards to the explosion in the caravan park, and a trigger like that would be sure to set her off. No one can go through an almost life-ending situation that resulted in the loss of people they love and remain unscathed. The show did show some of that, like when she panicked when the garage caught fire and Matt had to put it out, which I saw as a severe panic attack brought upon by her experiences.  However, the show didn't focus nearly enough on her trauma as they should in order to truly explain what would realistically be going on with her, which is where I felt they did her character a severe mis-service. 

It was difficult to explain why Evie would want to go to the party, because after all the time she decided to hide away to not cause trouble, she wouldn't suddenly change her mind, even with Matt's encouragement. But I was able to explain her decision to go as a way of making amends to Matt for their broken friendship and how she became distant, and then she felt it would then be okay for her to end her own life. Matt did mess up in regards to his thoughts about her and Josh (which came out of a mixture of impulsiveness, resentment and concern and still needs to be sorted out by both him and Evie), but he is still a genuinely good person at heart, and seeing Evie suffering like this will definitely devastate him.

I'm glad you liked the bit with Olivia. I admit, Olivia remains far from my favourite character, but out of everyone in the Bay right now, she'd be the person who would understand Evie's depression more, given her own history with self-harm. When Matt and Zac would need help to understand Evie and why she would want to harm herself, Olivia would know what to tell them what to do. I felt it wouldn't really work if I had someone who did care for Evie more, but wouldn't understand her level of self-hatred to figure out what was going on to her in that regard. Besides, isn't it an old saying: 'Help arrives in the most unexpected places?"

Thanks again Red. 

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Writing this chapter made me fear that I could have gotten things across better. Because yes, Zac, Leah and Matt all want to help Evie, they care about her, but yes also, they made mistakes. They've acted on their frustration and emotions just as much as Evie has, and none of them for the wrong reasons, they haven't been as patient as they should have been. It's not their fault, but they have to acknowledge their mistakes as well just as much as Evie has. This story isn't about 'one right side' and 'one wrong side', I wanted to ensure that none of the main characters got seen as the bad guy, because they're just people suffering. I've seen too many stories about mental health where it's completely one-sided, and I didn't want this story to be about that, and it isn't, because that's not what mental health is about. But I feel as though didn't explain that better, and for that I apologise. 

Anyway, here's the next chapter and hopefully some answers will be explained. 

Chapter 17

Mason leaned against the hallway, breathing loudly as he covered his eyes. He knew a job in the medical world wasn’t always going to be pretty, but knowing it and seeing it are entirely different concepts. It was a miracle he was keeping it together, because right now he wanted to fall asleep and forget it all. Except he didn’t think he could do that for a friend.

Evie’s upper arms looked like a war zone. The skin was completely red, which Mason could recognise from scratching for some of it at least. He remembered when he was young, a friend of his got so nervous that he would itch and scratch himself until the damage was done. But that wasn’t the only obvious sign of self-destruction- the purple shades surrounding the thin lines around her ravaged skin… obvious signs of self-harm, though whether it was just that or suicide attempts, he couldn’t tell. And right now, he’d be happy not to know. He had looked away for the first time and felt like crying at seeing it.

Tori had applied antibiotic cream in order to ensure none of the cuts were infected. Mason had noted that some of them had been washed, in a small attempt to clean them, but just that fact, no matter how small it was, did give Mason a sparkling of hope. Because it would have meant deep down, Evie knew that she had to look after herself, even in a small amount. Because Mason was getting the feeling that she would have hated looking after herself to a big extent.

Mason may have been born into perhaps the most pig-headed, argumentative family known to man, but what he was also born into was a family of three other people who have guided and protected him the best they could. Three other people who he loved despite all and he couldn’t imagine his life without.

And now, despite not understanding the full concept of life in the Bay, he felt he might collapse under the strain of imagining what Evie must be feeling, losing a twin. It was like being torn apart, though Evie would not think about it that way. It is terrifying to even imagine the distress and hopelessness she must have woken up to everyday, knowing the person she wanted to see the most in the world is no longer there. And as horrifying as he words were- I should be dead- Mason could understand it. Didn’t want to, but did. He knew if he lost his family, all of them, he knew that if they weren’t in this world, he wouldn’t want to be it either. That didn’t make it right for Evie to still be in that mind space though.  

Right now, Evie was still unconscious on a hospital bed, with a tube attached to her arm to feed her nutrition in order to keep her body up. Tori was still there, arguing with Nate. Both doctors had seen the scars, and were as horrified as Mason was, though were both better at covering it than he was. Tori put the sleeves back on Evie’s arms as soon as she was done applying the cream, still respectful of her patient’s privacy, but Nate wanted to tell Zac what they saw, feeling an obligation to his friend. Mason rarely sided with his sister, but this time he did. Telling someone about someone experiencing self-harm should be the victim’s own choice, regardless of whether or not she would, and Mason could guess that Evie wouldn’t want her family to see her like this. Maybe- an idea that Mason could understand, even though she shouldn't- she’d feel ashamed if they did. He couldn’t put her through that.

He walked down the hallway, feeling wobbly at the knees. Maybe he was still frightened at how such a sudden turn the night has gone. Not long ago, he had entertained thoughts of romance- what the hell changed?

Jeannie approached her, her eyes as weary as he must look. “How is she?”

The obvious answer is not good, not even close to good. Mason didn’t think Evie would be able to see good with a telescope… but she was alive. Thank God for that miracle at least… though Evie wouldn’t, he realised grimly. “She still hasn’t woken up yet, but she’s stable. Her breathing’s evening out, and we got a tube going to make sure she’s getting the proper nutrients.” His voice sounded extremely flat, like he was reading of a piece of paper. Is that how a doctor announces news, good or bad? Is that what they were expected to do? He looked around the hallway and to his alarm, found no sign of Matt. Mason expected Matt to remain right here, in case of any news. “Where’s Matt?”

Jeannie indicated towards the other end of the hallway, relief edging on her face. She had decided to stay until Evie was awake. Her friends had already texted her that they’ll take care of her car back at the party, but she wanted to stay, at least for a while. Her parents... she'll deal with that later. “He needed some time on his own, I promised I’ll call him if there was any news…it’s bad.”

It wasn’t a question. Even if Jeannie had no medical knowledge, she could tell just by Mason’s dog-worn expression. Mason shrugged. “Whatever we thought it was, it’s worse.” He walked away to where Jeannie had indicated. He needed to talk to Matt, make sure his friend was okay… Mason didn’t know whether or not Matt knew about the cutting, he sure as hell didn’t say anything about it to him… which if he did knew, it was a right call. Mason was honestly praying right now that he did know, that he was trying to work it out with Evie, that Evie hadn’t had experienced this all alone. 

They had to work something-anything- out of this. They needed to prepare a battle plan, a plan of where to go from here, to improve Evie’s mental health- and make sure their own was still intact.

Matt was leaning against one of the walls near the janitor’s door, away from anyone could hear him think. Or cry. His face was all puffy and red, a mixture of anger and sadness. He looked up at Mason’s footsteps. “She’s stable, Tori’s looking after her now. We don’t know when she’ll wake up, but hopefully soon.”

Matt nodded listlessly, and held up his phone.  “Zac and Leah… they’re on their way. I just….”, Matt looked down, giving a shuddery breath. “I didn’t tell them the full story. I didn’t… I didn’t think it was my place.”

Mason nodded understandingly, thinking it was none of their places to talk about it. In the end, it was Evie’s choice to tell them whether or not. That really meant there should be no further conversation on the matter, but Matt asked drowsily, “Did you see… the…”

Mason nodded reluctantly, his heart falling at Matt’s dejected face, because he could see that Matt did know. Or at least, knew too late. “When did you…”

“I saw the… the scar, when we were setting her up in the car. Her sleeve fell down and…” Matt threw his hands up in the air defeated. He didn’t need to finish the sentence.

Mason had to hold back a sigh and closed his eyes which were suddenly stinging. Matt saw one, he didn’t see the rest of the damage Evie did to herself. The scratches, the other scars, most of them unattended. “It’s not good, Matt.”

Matt, surprisingly enough, snorted desirously and stood up, facing Mason. “Really? ‘Not Good’? Well I was going to call it more on the lines of ‘nightmarish distressing’, but yeah, ‘not good’ sums it up as well.”

Matt was deflecting, Mason guessed, trying to use sarcasm to hide his real feelings. “I know, okay, I know. We just… we just need to work on how we go from here-”

“Well, where do we go from here, Mason?!” Matt shouted in response, his full emotions clear on his face now even as he felt his knuckles clench white. He couldn’t bring himself to care right now, not with Evie in a hospital bed. “Because I’m thinking there was stuff I could have done ages ago! Stuff to help her instead of letting her… letting her.” All those times he felt he ought to take more seriously… he was trying to be fun because she wanted to have fun, but that wasn’t the only thing going on at the time and he should have remembered that. Evie was always good at reminding him when he went too far, but her silence made him fear that he did sometimes. In his search for trying to bring things back to normal, he was worried now about missing some clear signs, or else adding to the way she saw herself. 

“Don’t do this to yourself man,” Mason said, his own jaw clenching at the idea. “Don’t think about putting this on yourself. No one’s to be blamed for this. It’s just one big mess, but we have to find a way out of it…”

“How?! Tell me how please! You saw what she did to herself! She… she doesn’t care what happens to her, she… she doesn’t feel she deserves to be alive…she could have tried to done it any time before, she wouldn’t be thinking about Zac or Leah or me… she wanted to be dead, how the hell do you stop that?”, Matt’s voice cracked at that last word and had to turn away so Mason wouldn’t see his tears.

Mason felt a deathly silence falling down on the two of them, Matt’s words echoing in his head like a harsh bell. “It’s not her fault, Matt,” he said quietly and assuredly, even though he knew Matt knew this, even in his rush of anger.

Matt looked back, his face a mask of horror as he collapsed back at the seat. “I know that… I know that…” he said, and it was the truth. Even though he was horrified at what he saw, he wouldn’t even dream about blaming Evie, not when she was still suffering, not for something like this. This wasn’t like something Josh or Hunter did, this was an entirely different situation. “All this time… we could have lost her…” the full length of that possibility was entering his mind, and it squeezed down the tidal wave of frustration and anger in him, leaving only fear. Horrible, unthinkable (yet he was thinking them all the same) scenarios were running in his head, all those times he see Evie walk away… now all he could think about were any one of those moments could have been the last he ever saw of her alive.

“But we didn’t, okay,” Mason told him, sitting down next to him, his own mind refusing to accept the possibility of an alternative. “We didn’t lose her, she’s going to wake up soon, and we’re gonna fix this and we’re going to convince her to help us as well, for all our sakes. Hold onto that thought.”

Matt leaned his head back against the wall. Because yeah, Mason may have the answer right now, but, as with so many other things in life, better said than done. This was not going to be dealt with in a night, or a week. “You know… I knew she missed them… I knew she was still grieving for them, whether or not she knew that… but she… she wanted to be dead… she thought it was all her fault… what happened to Oscar…to Hannah…”

Mason rested his chin on his hands, breathing heavily and pinching his temple. He didn’t knew that until now, didn’t think about what Evie said before she passed out, but she feared it. He was confused why she would come to the conclusion about her own fault, and by Matt’s look, Mason knew Matt was trying to figure it out. Deep down, of course, Mason seriously doubted it was Evie’s fault, but there could be no denying she did feel that way, and did for a very long time now. “Do…do you have any idea why she reacted that way at the party?” he asked, looking for somewhere to start putting the pieces together.

Matt shuddered at that thought but answered anyway. “The fire… the fire that broke out at the barbecue… she must have seen it… it… it must have brought back the memory of… what happened that day… the day Oscar and Hannah died…”

Mason quickly looked back to Matt, slowly putting the pieces together. He knew Evie’s brother had died in an explosion, but beyond that he didn’t knew the full extent of what happened, or if whether or not… he never considered the idea that Evie had been there, had always believed that she wasn’t there when it happened. “Matt, are you saying that…she was there at the caravan park?”

Matt nodded reluctantly, looking grimly at Mason’s growingly alarmed face. “It was a fundraiser for the hospital, and… I can’t be sure but… the last thing I remember seeing Evie before the explosion… she was dancing with Oscar and then…God, Mason, what if… what if Evie actually saw him…”

Matt buried his face in his hands again, exhaling deeply and unable to finish his sentence, leaving Mason in horror at the implications. It was bad enough lose a sibling, but the idea of seeing them die right before your eyes, in such a violent way… It was all beginning to make sense, the constant look of helplessness on her face, her feelings that she didn’t deserve help, the look of complete panic at the party when things turned bad. It was all relieving traumatic memories, memories that would have prevented her from being assured or confident about… anything. What if all of her behaviour had been symptoms of PTSD? However, while this new was already troubling information, there was something bugging him. In her distressed state, Mason heard Evie muttering ‘I have to find him’. Back then, Mason thought she was referring to only Matt, but now... “But if she did… then why would she want to be looking for him?”, Mason asked, his voice daring to shed a bit of hope. There wasn’t much he can do to assure Matt right now, but it could be a small comfort at least.

Matt looked up at his friend, and realised what he was saying. He remembered Evie in absolute fear mode that night, desperately looking for Oscar. She either never saw Oscar die and had held onto the ever-slipping hope that he was still alive, just trapped under the wreckage like Roo and Maddy were, or had but suppressed that in the hope of finding him. Matt honestly couldn’t decide which was worse, because that hope, real or not, wouldn’t have changed anything for Oscar or Evie that night. “It doesn’t make much of a difference though whether or not she did see it? Not now anyway, she’s still suffering!” Matt pointed out.

Mason nodded wearily. “I know, but at least… we ought to know what we have to be prepared for.” He shook his head, his curls bouncing against each other as he did so. “If we knew this before, we never would have even considered taking her to that party…”

It was Matt’s turn to assure his mate now, putting his hand on Mason’s shoulder. “We didn’t know. I don’t know even Evie knew how to explain it. She wouldn’t want us to blame ourselves. Remember what you said, no one’s to be blamed for this,” he said, before adding with a snort. “Apart from Andy Barrett and Wayne Snelgrove, that is. And Josh. I mean… she was… recovering, if you could even call it that, at least that what it seemed that way. And she wasn’t just looking after herself, y’know. When there was trouble with Maddy… Evie was the one to find her again. She had may have been learning to live with… what happened, if you actually could. When he left though… when she found out what he did… it all seemed to regress back, you know, and things went worse from there, even if it didn’t seem like it.”

Matt shook his head, because now was not the time to be thinking about Josh. This wasn’t about him. He knew that he still felt guilty not only for not realising what was wrong sooner, but the false assumptions he made. He knew Evie didn’t give him much to go on and it had hurt, but he still made those speculations. He needed to apologise to her, quickly. Besides, he had further questions. “I… I had a bit of trouble sleeping the night after… Roo and Maddy… they had a lot to process and they had… they had nightmares about that night. I don’t think that could have been avoided in any case, but… the way Evie reacted. It was… more extreme than I thought would happen.”

Mason shrugged. “People experience the after effects of… events like that, in different ways. Evie had been through the same thing as you all have, but… with the grief she experienced, that would have compounded on top of the trauma… creating like a toll ten times worse for her.”

Matt felt that made sense, and he was both grateful and admiring of Mason’s steady, encouraging voice. He’ll certainly make a great doctor someday. However, it didn’t make it any more easy to hear. Matt didn’t know how he can help here, especially with Evie so determined not to listen to it. Now…even though he doesn’t understand why she would feel guilty, why she believed she should… he can kind of get why she wouldn’t let herself believe his assurances, not with all this emotional mess hanging over her head. Why she couldn’t let herself trust that. “I know… seeing how hopeless she looked and sounded, the guilt, not believing things would get better… that’s depression, isn’t it? That’s some of the basics, isn’t it?” Matt asked, hating what the probable answer was going to be. When Mason nodded, Matt had to keep from closing his eyes in despair. “How are we supposed to fight that?”

Mason did have an answer to that as well. He just wished it was a definite one. “I don’t know, but… it’s Evie’s fight. We have to help her fight, we… we need to ask her what she needs, we can’t assume anything about this. That’s caused enough problems as it is.”

“But why would she want to tell us? Wouldn’t she… just see that as bad? She believes that she doesn’t deserve our help, or feel better, and it’s all driving back to what happened to her, so much that she refuses to even consider what happened to her.” Matt gave a bitter chuckle at that, realising… “That kind of makes sense.”

Mason looked at him confusedly, prompting Matt to answer. “Evie… Evie’s extremely moral, y’know. She see things as black and white, and she… she has no time for people who do really bad things. It’s why she refused to see Josh after he admitted to killing Charlotte, she couldn’t forgive what he did to Zac. But… if she thinks she has done harm, she wouldn’t forgive herself either. She wouldn’t let herself. So if we try and ask, why would she want to tell us?”

Mason sighed, trying to hide the fact that he had no answer to this, but turns out he didn’t have to: Tori came running down the other end of the hallway, coming to a stop as soon as she saw Matt and Mason sitting down. “Evie’s okay,” she started, already noting the alarmed faces on both boys. “I just wanted to tell you that Zac and Leah have already arrived, they’d probably want to know what happened.” Tori looked more specifically at Mason at that point. He had been the one to inform Tori of Evie’s health troubles as they arrived at the hospital, and she didn’t exactly knew what to tell Zac and Leah without potentially breaking patient-doctor confidentiality. This was an extremely different case, because the patient was unconscious before informing the doctor, but after seeing the self-harm evident on the poor girl’s arms, Tori could guess from experience that she wouldn’t want Zac and Leah to know.

“Thanks, Tori,” Mason said. He stood up, but looked down again when Matt remained sitting, deep in thought and still looking extremely upset. Mason tugged on his shoulder before Matt looked up at him.

“Uh… yeah,” Matt nodded absent-mindedly, and stood up with him. Tori turned around and walked to the hallway, with Matt and Mason following her, slowly, as if they were unsure of their own steps.

“I’m scared.” Matt wasn’t aware that he spoke until five seconds after he heard his own words. It didn’t sound like him, it sounded… well, it sounded exactly how he felt… really scared. He had never admitted that before, that he was scared. Of what exactly he wasn’t sure, whether it was talking to Zac and Leah, seeing Evie frail (which was so not like Evie), unconscious and trapped, or what was going to come soon enough. There was nothing Mason could reply to that with.

He had to tell Zac and Leah what happened, and what was potentially going on with Evie, but he didn’t think he would stay for long, especially with Evie not in any life-threatening situation. He ought to leave, knowing he needed the space to get through what happened, it all seemed too much to think about here. He had given Evie the space he thought she needed before. “I… I think I need to go to the bathroom,” he mumbled, trying to get ahead of his emotions before he had to talk about it and walked in the direction that Tori indicated.

Honestly, Matt didn’t think he could leave. Not with Evie stuck in a bed, unmoving and not knowing what was going on around her, but still in excruciating pain even if she wasn’t conscious. Matt looked around the hallway, and felt a strong sense of dread about this whole building. He couldn’t leave Evie now, even if it was only for a few minutes, even if she begged him to leave, even if Mason tried to drag him out. Evie may have pushed away, but now he knew why she thought she had to, which was why he couldn’t let her think that anymore. He had left her alone before, he won’t do it again.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Tori asked Mason as they both stared after Matt, stepping so uncertainly, as if at any moment the floor will disappear in front of him.  

“Well, not okay, but… he’ll get through it. He wants to focus on helping Evie, as far as he’s concerned, that’s all he needs to do.” It didn’t feel like a straight answer, but it was the closest Mason has.

“Okay, we… I’ve got bandages over the scars and the sleeves are over them. I don’t think Evie will appreciate us letting Zac and Leah see that while she was out,” Tori told Mason in her professional voice pushing down any bit of strain she felt, after seeing so much self-destruction done to a person. It was something that she was long accustomed to, no matter how horrible the scene looks like. She had to, because it was a sign she was keeping it together, and she had to keep it professional, or else the job would have killed her a long time ago. “I can have a pysch consultant on standby, in case she doesn’t tell them. She’s got to speak about them to someone… Mason, do you think she’ll tell them?”

Mason shrugged helplessly. He honestly couldn’t tell, he even doubted that Evie would know what she would do right now when she woke up. As for speaking to a counsellor… Mason had come to know Evie rather well, when they were actually speaking a while ago. He knew she was a big fan of art, loved going to the gym, all these little things about her that she shared, but not in great detail…but Mason didn’t have a great tell on her if she was the type of person to share her feelings with a stranger, no matter how qualified.

“Let’s go, then,” Tori said with a sigh, already heading down the hallway before Mason realised he wasn’t following. “Tori, wait,” he called out after been taken controlled by an impulse, rushing up to her. Tori looked around, her eyes raised inquisitively. “What, do you remember anything el-”

She was cut off by Mason suddenly tugging her into a tight hug, holding her close. He couldn’t explain that impulse, but after tonight, he just felt the heartfelt need to find the closest sibling he found and hold them close.

It took a while for them to break apart, and Tori looking at her brother with a look that was half kind and half perplexed. “You okay?”, she asked delicately, looking at her brother, carefully.

“Yeah, I just… I just needed to do that,” Mason admitted, red-faced with embarrassment, but before he could explain his impulse, Tori playfully pressed her hand against his shoulder, giving him a smile that said she knew all he wanted to say. “You wanna go home or…?”

“No, I think if I go home now, I’ll drive myself, Justin, Brody and Buddy crazy while not knowing what was going on,” Mason told her. He didn’t know whether or not he meant that as a joke, because no time tonight felt like the right time for a joke, but Tori’s smile turned into a sharp grin as she turned away. Mason knew it was more than that though, because right now he had a duty to a friend.  

-----

Zac stepped up to the caravan and using the key Alf gave him, opened the door to Evie’s caravan. He stood inside, look at the cold interior of it, and sighed.

When Matt called Leah and Zac, urgently telling them that Evie was in hospital after having collapsed, they dropped everything and rushed over there. Evie had suffered an extreme panic attack after going to a party, and whatever Zac had expected, it had been much worse than he feared- Matt thought she was experiencing flashbacks to that day Oscar and Hannah died, that some stupid accident that happened at the party set off her triggers. Zac knew Evie was stuck in a state of depression after losing them, but he never thought she’d be experiencing post-traumatic stress as a result of it. Zac knows the statistics: about 7 or 8 people out of every 100 people would experience PTSD at some point in their life, and not everyone who goes through a dangerous and traumatic event will develop it. It will still affect them, but for some people it will be worse. The factor of the personal losses would have made it ten times worse for Evie. The idea of her relieving what happened that day horrified Zac, and he couldn’t help but think that would have led to her feelings of hopelessness and stress… her constant belief that she was doing a bad job at work, with the stress piling onto her, making her double-guess herself in a way Zac had never seen her do before.

And the nightmare… Zac couldn’t say for sure she had more than one after that time he had walked onto her having the nightmare, but there were other nights, when he heard gasping from her room, and walked towards her room, slowly looking to see if she was alright or if she needed his assistance. But when he got close, he could only hear deep breathing. If she had been keeping having nightmares, about that day, (as he had initially feared but kept down because that loss was bearing too much on him for him to focus on it), she must have been hiding it too well. That she felt she had… it tore away at Zac, eating away at him ferociously, mercilessly.

What added to that fear was the icy feeling he felt the moment he walked into Evie’s hospital room. Tori and Nate’s warnings had never been enough to prepare him for the ghostly sight of Evie lying there, her face looked a mixture of pale and purple red with bruises, and that sight frightened Zac, because he hated the idea of her in pain. Her breaths were coming out gently, easy, no signs of strain or labour, and for that Zac was grateful, so at least she was peaceful. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear Evie was napping.

Zac knew that sometimes, ever since this happened, he hadn’t been as patient with Evie as he wanted to. He knew he was experiencing his own losses, and wanted to be able to look after his own family, and the idea that Evie wouldn’t let him help her, the way she didn’t want any help when she so obviously needed it, made him feel angry. He got himself worked up by fear and frustration and doubt that everyday didn’t make any difference. He hoped that talking to Nadia would help, but nothing changed. When his frustration didn’t cloud things for him, he knew it wasn’t easy for her to talk about it, and Zac could tell that Evie didn’t want to make other people deal with her problems, as if she would only make things worse. He hated the idea of her feeling guilty over things she had no control over, but he was so insistent in trying to get her out of that dark place she found herself in, that he never tried to truly understand why she would think that. Of course he gets the idea of feeling responsible for not seeing someone they love for who they are, it’s how he felt about Hunter and would continue to feel if it wasn’t for Leah, Evie and everyone else. But everything else, Evie’s insistence that they ought to stop looking after her, the belief that she had to hide it all in… he was too focused on figuring out how to help someone he loved, Zac didn’t stop to think about why. He hoped that by getting her out of it, he could understand why. But maybe it didn’t work like that.

Even though not being open about it didn’t make anything better, Zac could tell she wasn’t trying to hurt anyone, and probably did believe it was for the best, but that was not what this whole thing was about. Zac couldn’t understand why she would feel like she would only make things worse, especially around her own family. She was so much more than just some obligation. He loved her not because he had to, he loved her because he did, and he had to help her because he loved her. That never meant he’d be unwilling to do so. He never got rid of that fear that she thought otherwise, that unintentionally all he did was further encourage her to push herself away, but whatever it was, it wasn’t the important thing now.

Evie was still out in the hospital, and Tori suggested the best Zac could do right now was go get some clothes for Evie when she wakes up. Leah and Matt remained, and Matt looked so heartbroken and stricken that Zac was now worried something else had happened. Matt didn’t offer any other information when he told them what happened, however. Zac had tried to push him, but Leah, who could tell Matt’s body language better than Zac, persuaded him not to do so. It had been the same with Evie, Zac refused to push her in case she’d explode, until he realised he had to, to get her to open up.

He opened up a couple of the drawers and selected some of the clothes, what he felt Evie would prefer, and stacked them in a suitcase. Looking around, he was struck at how empty the entire caravan felt. The suitcases Evie took with her when she left remained stacked together, unopened. The only things he could find present in the caravan were stuff that Evie would need for work, jumbled up together. It was as if she just took them along for convenience. At least it will be quick, because he needed to get back to the hospital quickly. It was then Zac noticed a letter, neatly folded up on the corner of the table, with the words highlighted in noticeable red ‘For Zac’.

Even from here, Zac could recognise Evie’s handwriting. He moved over to the table and picked it up. He sat down on the couch and opened the letter, reading it in a subconscious state of apprehension.

Zac,

I remember the first time I saw you in more than… maybe 10 years, the day you walked into that cult to try and talk some sense through Ethan. You… you could tell something was up even after all the assurances our dad gave you, that… that I gave you. Looking back at that day now, I knew that you were the type of person who would never give up when anyone was in trouble, no matter… no matter what they’ve done.

I’m not saying you should stop trying, not only because I know you wouldn’t, but you should still try and help people. The kids at school, people looking for a fresh start… out of everyone who could do everything possible to help them, you’d be the one to do it.

But even someone as… as hopeful, as frustratingly dedicated as you, has to realise that not everyone can be fixed. That is not because of some failing in you, that’s… that’s just who some people are, completely unsavable.

I know these past few months… they’ve been hell for you. Yet you remain insistent and willing to try and help me, to try and get back to whatever I was before. The problem with that, Zac, is that I am one of those people who can’t be fixed. I don’t deserve you, your kindness or anything other that made you the kind of person anyone would hope to be like, and I never will. I have never forgotten the struggles I put on you the moment I agreed to live with you and Hannah at the farmhouse, and yet, no matter how much I tried, that hasn’t changed. I just made things worse, all the time, and I know you’re really mad, you’ve pushed way past your limit, and you can’t bear the burden of having to deal with me and my mood every single day, but at least now you won’t have to deal with it, not anymore.

I couldn’t talk about whatever was going on with me, because I knew how difficult everything was for everyone and I didn’t want to make things worse. Whatever was going on with me was my own problem, I refused to make it anyone else’s. And… that felt right at least, it was something I should do, because no one should ever make the people they love be dragged down with their own problems, problems that only I held responsibility for. But overtime… things just seemed to be getting worse. You and everyone else only seemed to be getting more worried and more frustrated, and I kept snapping at you, and that wasn’t fair on you. I felt so horrible for being distant, for going off every other moment, but I couldn’t stop it. You were just trying to understand, and I was just filled with anger… all the time. I couldn’t tell myself it was the right thing to do anymore, because I wasn’t sure if I believed it. I didn’t know if I was keeping it all in in order to protect myself from it, because it all seemed too scary. I couldn’t trust myself to do the right thing, because I knew I did the wrong thing so many times before, more than anyone should. I didn’t want to hurt you or anyone else, I know I’m asking a lot for you to believe that, and in the large scheme of things it doesn’t matter in the slightest but I wasn’t. I wanted you guys to be happy, but overtime, it just felt impossible for things to be that way as long as I was around.

I know you keep insisting that what Josh did wasn’t my fault, but it was. I could have stopped him before you were ever sent to prison, and that was mine to atone for. I let him hurt you. Overtime I realised it was a lot more than that. Josh was never considered to be a suspect in Charlotte’s murder in the first place because Tank blinded him. I let Tank into our lives, and I let him attack Josh, almost killed him. Maybe if I listened to you from the beginning, it would never happen. Maybe Josh wouldn’t have killed in the first place. But it all trailed downwards from there, like a chain reaction leading to destruction, because Carter set you up for a crime you never committed, you would never have seen Tank again, Andy wouldn’t have fought him and… and Oscar and Hannah wouldn’t be dead.

I’m responsible for the death of my own brother, my twin, the person I was supposed to protect at all times. I’m responsible for the death of my aunt, the person who had helped look after us since we were kids. I may not have set off the explosion but I might as well have. Because of my stupidity and my recklessness, I hurt so many people and there was nothing I could do to stop it before it was too late. I’m more than just a horrible, terrible person because of it, I’m a monster because of it. I should have died that day.

On the extremely unlikely case that you didn’t already knew this and you were just putting up with me because… for some reason, I should have told you this face to face. You had to have known, you didn’t have to put up with me. I should have been honest with you from the get go, because I have felt this guilt for too long for me to be quiet about it, and at least if you did know, you would truly understand it. But, I was too cowardly to say it. You, Chris, Roo, Matt, you all lost someone you loved because my actions sparked off all this… this mess and I couldn’t tell you the truth about my own responsibility. I was hanging around you all, and… you all meant so much to me that I felt like trying to be happy, but that would mean acting as if I didn’t feel this responsibility and that was so wrong of me. Maybe I was looking for a way to atone for what I did, or didn’t do, as if I believed that everything could be… not great, but okay again. But… there is no forgiving that, there is no forgiving me letting the people I loved, the people I was supposed to look after, die. And it was wrong of me to use you guys as a way to try and make amends. I should have left a long time ago, I should have died a long time ago, long before I caused all this misery, if I wanted to make sure you and everyone was safe.

There was no other solution to any of this, at least not any other one that would be fair to you, to Leah, to Matt, to everyone else. I was too dangerous to be around and if I stayed, all would end up was that you would end up getting hurt again, perhaps next time to the point of no recovery. I messed up too many times before, but I will not do it again, and especially not to you. I could barely live with myself with what I have already done, holding for some selfish need, because you don’t need me, no one needs me- I definitely couldn’t live with myself if any more bad things happened to the last people I truly love. None of it was fair, the way I was still breathing, the way you kept on insisting to give help that I didn’t deserve, the way me, a person who has done so much bad than good with what life gave them, who steals boyfriends, sleeps with murderers and lets actually good people pay the price for her sins, kept walking through life unscathed. It’s like something that comes out of a horrendously bad comedy…

Zac couldn’t physically read the rest of the letter, his vision becoming clouded with tears to focus on any of it. The tears came as a unfounded, harsh relief, because Zac didn’t know if he could see anymore of this, even though he felt he ought to. Finally he understood, he could see why she was stuck in that cycle of pain. It was never that she didn’t want to be helped- it was that she didn’t deserve it. She honestly felt that she didn’t deserve to live, that what happened to Oscar and Hannah was her fault. It was awful enough that she believed she should be blamed for what Josh did, but to try and make a connection between that and her own family… her own losses…

He collapsed against the seat behind him, tears running freely down his cheeks as he gulped down sobs. He buried his face in his hands, honestly wishing he could just forget the whole thing, that it was all just a long, nightmarish dream and he would wake up in his bed, and Leah would be there, and Oscar and Hannah would be still be alive, and Hunter, his own son, wasn’t a criminal, and Evie hadn’t been suffering like this…

She wanted to kill herself. Zac could read between the lines. This was a suicide note. If anything went differently tonight, he might have never seen Evie again. If he had known this before, he would have never let her leave the house, never let her be so alone and dealing with this alone. Giving a person space was all well and good, but not enough when that person’s mental state had fallen so low that they actually believed they were a threat to other people. Evie’s insistence on being alone… it was more than just avoiding the pressure such emotional trauma gives a person, she actually believed the people she loved was better off without her. Zac felt she just let everything inside her build up and up until it was all too much. Zac had marvelled before at how much she tried to keep a positive energy after all she had to endure, but if she felt she shouldn’t be positive, if she shouldn’t enjoy life, that she was wrong to do so… so much of her behaviour was making more sense, and not in any way that felt good. That she thought of herself as some kind of burden for the rest of them broke his heart.

Even as he was crying, Zac regretted his frustration just as much as Evie clearly did in her letter. Both of them let their own emotions cloud their logic, and yeah Zac couldn’t have known it gotten this far, but he regretted his harshness even more than he did before. He never wanted her to feel ashamed about anything she did since Josh left, right or wrong. What Evie said about not knowing when she should have known, the feeling of letting down someone they love… Zac understood that now more than ever.

Zac just felt so….unbearably pained at how much anguish she must have gone through, all this time, carrying a burden of anguish and guilt and self-loathing. Hatred for responsibilities she thought she failed at. Hatred for her own handling of her relationships. Hatred for suffering she thought she’d caused. It was like a void opened up inside him, numbing him.

Did she feel like this… all the time?

He wiped away his tears as he took deep breaths to calm himself. Neither of them handled this in the ideal way, but it stopped now. It had to stop. No judgement, no more frustration, he will help Evie get through this, whether she accepted his help or not. Zac knew it was more difficult than that though, she has to learn that it was okay…not to be okay on some days, that it was okay to lean on people. That, in a way, it was stronger to lean on people than keep standing on your own. He knew it would be difficult, but he’d be willing to do anything if it would help her.

More than that, though, she needed to know she wasn’t a burden, she wasn’t someone they had to put up with. Evie and Oscar… taking them in was the best thing that ever happened to Zac, it helped gave him a family, one that he always wanted. What happened to Oscar was never her fault, and he would do anything to make her see that. It won’t be easy, he knew it won’t, but he will not lose her. He didn’t want to lose her in any way, but especially not like this. But first, he had to make a call, he had to talk to someone who, right now, may have the key to help him understand.

-----

“Thanks for meeting me,” Zac told Nadia as they met outside the hospital.

“I could tell it was urgent,” Nadia said as they both sat down on the bench. And by looking at Zac now, she could see on Zac’s face confirmation that it was. His eyes were red as if he had just been crying and beyond that, he looked completely devastated. “So maybe it’s best that we cut to the chase then. Firstly, how is she?”

Zac nodded anxiously. “She’s… I don’t know if I used the word okay, but she’s alive. They suggested I give her a few minutes before I can see her. I was at her caravan getting some clothes for her, and…”, he handed Nadia the letter he found. He watched as she read further down it, the light in her eyes dying a little, and she physically inhaled at the spot he was definitely sure he started crying at.

“Zac…” Nadia shook her head, some hair escaping the tight bun she made as she got up. She had dealt with suicidal cases like this before, and each one was a messy affair. No one was happy to hear their loved one going through something like this, but Nadia knew it was necessary to know so they could prepare to help their loved one. Zac knew this, which was why he called her, and was why she, despite how late it was, answered. She could tell Evie was in a depressed state, but she had hoped that things haven’t gotten this bad for that girl.  “I’m sorry. There’s nothing else I can say.”

Zac nodded, acknowledging the helplessness he felt for the first time. He remained determined to try and see why Evie was behaving the way she was, but now that he did… he wasn’t sure what he should feel. He had to know, he wanted to know, but he couldn’t be glad that all of this was happening, that this was how he found out. “I don’t know if this was breaking client confidentiality, but… did she ever…”

Nadia could see the tense fear in his eyes and sympathised with her old friend completely, but she had to be careful about what to say. She still had a duty of confidentiality towards Evie, the only thing that would remove that responsibility would be illegal activity or an immediate threat to life. “She never gave off any suicidal tendencies during our sessions, but her guilt regarding her brother and aunt… she never directly said she felt that.”

Zac felt his own breath on edge, as if he was just seconds away from shattering. “But… but did she give any implication’s that how she felt about it?”

Nadia shook her head. “I asked, but she never directly said that,” she repeated sadly. She knows Zac understands and respects Evie’s right in this regard, but she’s also aware that doesn’t make it any easier for him.

Zac’s hands folded into fists and he rested his chin on top of them. “I just… I don’t see how she could think that she was ever responsible for what… what happened… she’s drawing a connection together when there was none…do you remember that saying we were thought in economics… Post hoc ergo propter hoc…”

Nadia nodded. “ ‘After this, therefore because of it’. The oldest believe in the book, despite the fact that it’s hardly ever true.”

“I know that, and it’s not true here!” Zac insisted, feeling increasingly agitated. “Evie… she had no control over what Josh or Tank or Andy did, she… family means the world to her and that she thinks she caused their deaths…” Zac understood why she no longer took any more satisfaction in her work now, or why she kept thinking she failed. She would never see it as enough compared to the tremendous amount of guilt she had been feeling all this time.

“Zac, I know that, you know that. And deep down, maybe Evie knows this as well.”

Zac looked up at her in confusion and almost outrage, causing Nadia to elaborate. “We both know that Evie’s guilt is real, she is feeling that guilt, I’m not trying to downplay what’s going on with her. But do you think she could realistically truly believe that she is responsible for everything that happened?”

Zac thought about considerably, and he guessed he could tell what Nadia meant. Evie was a smart kid, logically trying to form a connection between events with so much time in between them… wasn’t logical at all. He didn’t answer the question but Nadia could tell by the look on his face what he was thinking.

“She probably doesn’t, but in her mind, it is the only logical reason she could find for feeling what she does. She has to find something that could explain why she felt that guilt, that pain, something that made sense in her eyes and fuel that sense of self-hatred.”

“But why?” Zac asked desperately, aware his eyes were watering again. “Why would she feel that? Why would she want to increase those feelings of self-hatred?”

Nadia had the answer. She was going to bring it up with Evie during their next session, just seeing if she could try and reach out to the girl before seeing if she needed to recommend more sessions. It was not an easy answer, but it was the closest she felt she had to the truth. “Firstly, it’s nothing to do with what she wants. She doesn’t think about any of this in terms of what she wants, even if she thinks it’s so. And the answer she feel she has to: Survivor’s guilt. Think about it Zac, she walked away from a life-threatening situation where her brother, the one person whom she loved more than anything else, was killed, while she walked away unscathed. How would that make you feel?”

Zac hated being forced to think about this, because Nadia was right: the very idea of it was completely unbearable. What made him hate it more was that was probably what Evie felt as well. And what made it even more nauseating was that it was a life-threatening situation for Evie as well. It was only a miracle that Andy and Tank’s stupidity didn’t kill more.  “It would have… have made all her problems seem completely pointless- in her own view.”

Nadia nodded sympathetically. “And she felt she had to accept the idea that she was responsible, because…  when you called me, all that time ago, you told me she was doubting herself. She didn’t want to believe it, but she couldn’t just not believe it, because she couldn’t take the chance that she could be wrong, which could lead to further disasters. And she couldn’t be able to face the alternative.”

“Which is what?”

“That there are some things in this life that happen out of our control. We can plan for everything, hoping everything will turn out alright and sometimes, but life can throw all those plans into the wind. And we can’t control that, Evie can’t control that.” Nadia believed in all of that, and had hoped to say all this to Evie, as long as she had given Nadia a window to sneak all this information into, but then Zac kept on talking as if he was making sense out of all of it as he talked more. “I thought that she just pushed it all aside to try to not let it affect her, not let it affect her relationships with… me and Leah and everyone else around her. But… if she just keeps ignoring it, it would control everything about her.” That’s the ironic thing about feelings, Zac thought. You try and ignore them and they become more apparent than you would like. “But what if… if she was never aware of how important what was going on with her because she didn’t felt she deserved help.”

“You want my opinion? It was probably both. She must have known what the problems with her mental state were important, or at least she knew they were there. By the looks of what she wrote here, she was determined not to ensure anyone else didn’t have to deal with something that to her wasn’t worth dealing with if it got you or anyone else hurt. And she gave into that little voice in her head that it wasn’t important, until it gotten big enough that it became also about pouring as much punishment onto herself as possible.”

“That’s not her choice to make,” Zac pointed out. Right now, it was hardly the most important thing, not with Evie in her current state, but it still mattered enough. Evie may wanted to protect him and everyone else from what was going on with her, but she wasn’t the only one with a say in that. No matter how stubborn she was, no matter how much he had missed before, he loved her. He wasn’t going to stand by and let her… let her die. “I… I know she wasn’t trying to hurt any of us, but…”

“But you get hurt either way,” Nadia accepted. “You’re right, she shouldn’t have kept it all hidden, but would you hold that against her?”

“No,” Zac said immediately and certainly. “This isn’t… this isn’t some usual thing of someone keeping private things from their family, this is… this is about her, her own life. I won’t hold that against her, I just… I just want to make sure she was okay.” Deep down, despite his worry and frustration, that was all he wanted. Evie had tried to do the same for him…

Two months before…

Zac sat down heavily on the chair outside in the porch, completely overwhelmed with disbelief, anger and grief. He had just came back from the cop station and came back with a heavier heart than when he entered. He had come in to try and find out what happened to Hunter after he was arrested for attacking Andy, only to be met by Kat with the news that Hunter had confessed to the robbery of the diner from a year ago. Zac had already felt dread when he heard the news, but now he had to deal with this awful, latest information, information that he knew was so closely connected to Denny’s death…

He heard a noise behind him and looked up to see Evie standing behind him. He had told them of what he had learned about Hunter and their reactions were as expected: Leah was devastated at this news, as if she could see the pain it was clearing causing Zac and regret that someone who she accepted with great difficulty let his family down again, Alf was all in a rage, and given his personal relationships to Marilyn and Denny it was hardly surprising, Evie… Zac could see the anger clear on her face, at her narrowed eyes and mouth tugged in a firm line, at the implication that Hunter could have known about Denny and did nothing, but she simmered it all down to short, bitter questions, but Zac could see her keeping her anger down regardless, because she saw how much this was hurting him.

Zac didn’t see that anger now in her, he saw apprehension and sadness clear on her face, which was probably mirroring his own expression. He knew it wasn’t easy for her, and now he began to recognise her pain to having to see Josh arrested, awaiting his trial without bail. Just like Hunter was right now.

“Hey, you okay?” Zac asked, rising up on his seat. Evie nodded uncertainly, as if to say ‘kind of but not really’. He nodded, trying to find something good to talk about before the conversation drifted towards Hunter. “So, you got the applications for the work placement ready?”

Evie’s eyes shot up and there was a slimmer of light before she nodded. “Yeah, I… I got them all set up,” she told him, talking about the papers she needed to prepare for when she began working at the school soon enough.

“That’s good, I know you’ll be a great addition to the team,” he smiled gently at her, meaning every word. Silence fell after she nodded gently with a smile of her own. Finally Evie’s hesitant voice broke through it.

“I know what you’re thinking Zac, and… it’s not your fault.” Zac took a deep breath and sighed out, leaning back into his seat again exhaustedly. Evie must have seen the guilt he was feeling clear on his face. He just couldn’t get rid of the idea that he failed, failed Hunter for not making him realise that he couldn’t keep acting out in violent anger, failed his son for making him realise the better way and truly confessing everything he does, and failed the rest of his family for not seeing what Hunter had done. God, what would Denny think?

“It’s just…it just feels like all a mess, and Hunter knew, he knew all along and he didn’t tell any of us.” He shuddered a breath in despair, not crying but he felt that was mostly because of the shock more than anything else.

Evie walked towards him and sat down softly on the edge of the seat. She took hold of his hand and gripped it gently. He looked up at her again and she rested her other arm on his shoulder. The same way he did when she found out that Josh killed Charlotte. “You did everything, to give Hunter a better chance at life. If he couldn’t rise up to do right by you, then that’s only his fault. You couldn’t have known, please, please don’t blame yourself.”

Zac could hear the same words he had told Evie so many times after what happened to Josh. Of all the things right now, the last thing she deserved was to deal with that guilt, but he appreciated it all the same. He knew deep down he couldn’t have known, but he felt ashamed all the same. Reaching up, he brought Evie down into a hug that both probably needed, each taking comfort around each other’s arms. Evie burrowed her face into his shoulder at the same time Zac breathed in the scent of her hair, holding her close. He just felt so grateful to have Evie and Leah trying to help him through this, and he was determined to do the same for them. He will not let anything else bad happen to them, he will look after them.

Well, look how that ended. He just wanted to give back and look after her, and look how that ended. “I didn’t do enough,” he muttered shamefully.

“No, you didn’t,” Nadia agreed reluctantly. “You know I don’t sugar-coat it, you could have understood it more from where Evie was coming from, but at the same time, she didn’t make it easy for you to understand either.”

Zac knew Nadia was right but that didn’t stop the wave of guilt he felt. Because he could have tried harder to understand Evie’s plight. “I…I thought she was drinking, she came back home one night… Alf said she was dizzy and he thought she had vomited… I asked her if she was drinking and she didn’t deny it… she didn’t outright admit it but she didn’t deny it… if she wasn’t… why wouldn’t she say that. I… I know what that road is like and it doesn’t do any good, and I didn’t want her to go the same road I did, but it was so much worse… why couldn’t I see it?” He was so focused on dealing with some problems, he couldn’t see the other ones.

“Did she tell you straight out she wasn’t?”

“No, but-”

“Then why would you think otherwise? As the doctors say, when you hear hoofs, you don’t think zebras. Maybe it didn’t help her, but not because you knew otherwise. You know just as well as I do that alcohol is used by so many people as a way of nulling the pain they feel. You were dealing with what you knew.”

As far as Zac was concerned, that didn’t made things okay, not now. All those times they argued, what if they would only fuelling Evie’s depression? He knew he had a right to be frustrated, but he wished he could do things differently now if he could. “God, she’s stuck in a hospital now, and… that’s the last place she deserved to be right now, and… and I could have stopped this from happening, protected her… I could have been there for her more than I was…” Zac was crying again as his body leaned forward, as if wanting to just collapse of the bench and onto the ground. He hasn’t even seen her yet.

“Okay, listen to me,” Nadia said, her hand a steady anchor on Zac’s shoulder as she brought him back up again. “Okay, is the situation horrible? Absolutely? Did you make wrong decisions? Yes. Did Evie make wrong decisions? Yes again.”

Zac interrupted her, because yeah Evie could have handled this better, but that didn’t make her responsible, not when she had so much to deal with. “It’s not her fault, she-”

“I never said it was,” Nadia interrupted him, just as firmly. “This is not about blame. This was a difficult year for both of you, for the same reason: you both lost people that were part of your family, and you each reacted in a different way. To expect completely rational behaviour, the entire time, is like expecting a bull to consider not attacking a vegetarian- it’s just not reasonable. You had been too frustrated, but you were not trying to hurt her. She was distant and pushed herself away, leaving you to wonder why, but she wasn’t trying to hurt you either. We got to move past this guilt, realise our mistakes, and strive to do better. Evie spent all this time thinking that… if someone does awful things, even after they’re given a second chance, they don’t deserve another chance to do better. I’ll say this, in some cases she wouldn’t be wrong, but this is not the same case for her, and not for you.”

She finished this with a heartfelt smile, which Zac tried to return (albeit a watery one), but he couldn’t stop picturing all of Evie’s emotions that seemed to sink into the words she wrote. Anxiety, grief, suffering, desperation and raw anger. “She wanted to die, Nadia. She… she didn’t think her life was worth living! How am I supposed to fix that? I want to, I swear I do… but… I thought if she got involved in work, something she was so interested in before…. I thought that would solve things… she was trying but she didn’t see the point in it, when she was so good at it, and I was trying to figure out why… but she wouldn’t tell me, and I just got frustrated…It just seems so hard!”, Zac said, his voice wavering.

“You always knew it wasn’t going to be easy. You know I won’t sugar-coat stuff like this. Even when we didn’t knew what we know now. It’s a messy progress that is going to take… weeks, months, who knows. For all we know, this guilt Evie feels? It may be trailing around her for the rest of her life. Are you going to give up on her?”

“Never,” Zac said, without a slightest bit of hesitation, reluctance or grimness. No matter how frayed things got between them, Zac never wanted to give up on Evie. Those times when he said he wanted to stop being worried- it was because he wanted things to get better for her, for all of them, so that after so much time of loss, pain, anger and fear, he and his family can begin to heal again.

“Then we start from there. We take every small bit of it at a time,” Nadia said. “What do you think is the first step?”

Zac thought about it deeply, because now he had to be 100% certain about this answer, and ensure that a) it would actually help the situation, and b), that Evie would take it onboard. The entire time, even though they tried to respect Evie’s decisions, their entire strategy was on the offensive. Thinking about trying to decide what was the best decision to do for Evie, and trying to persuade her. But that has done that no good now. So now Zac realise, as painful as the idea sounded, he needed to step away and play outside the box. Trying to go back to what he thought Evie had already knew before she could talk about, but obviously couldn’t. “I… I would have to ask her what she needed, because she needs that control, doesn’t she?”

Nadia nodded in encouragement, prompting Zac to continue. “And… and if there’s any more bad days and Evie feels as though she was messing up… it’s okay to have bad days, that no one expects perfection from her, but the fact that she tries is more than enough.” He thought Evie knew this all along, that there was never any pressure on her to do things perfect. If he had known, he would have done more to assure her of that.

Nadia smiled at him again and for the first time, it looked hopeful. “Seems like a good place to start than any. And listen to this as well,” she added, keeping a firm hold on Zac’s shoulder. “This isn’t breaking confidentiality by telling you this. Whenever you were mentioned, I can see how much Evie cared about you. She looks up to you, and that was what made the idea of letting you down even more painful to her. Knowing you're safe would be the one thing that would be keeping her through this. She loves you Zac, so hold onto that thought, no matter what.” 

-----

“I don’t believe this, Zac!” Leah collapsed onto the nearby seat, just feeling horrified at how things have taken such a devastating turn. She was too shocked to even cry.  She knew what Evie was going through was more worse than most people would expect. They were trying to ensure she properly deal with the losses she felt, because Evie seemed to jump into anything without confronting it. Leah feared she did it so she wouldn’t have to confront it, as if trying to focus on what she had instead of that pain. But this…Leah understood regrets for dead loved ones, but for Evie, it was worse, because she genuinely believed what happened to her family was her own fault. So much of what she said before… it had all stemmed from that damning belief. They would never have left her be alone if they knew she had those… those thoughts! They were harrowing! “She… she can’t feel like this, she can’t!”

“She does,” Zac replied back, his voice reduced to a simple stunned tone, as if he still couldn’t see how this could happen. Except he could. Thinking about it now, there was always that small fear that things could get as bad as this, but Evie never gave any obvious signs of suicidal thoughts. That doesn’t mean he couldn’t have found out on his own though. “We… we have to fix this, we got to make this right.”

Leah looked at her husband uncertainly. She knew Zac wanted to make this right. She had seen him so conflicted all this time between wanting to help Evie, and was tired of trying until his niece was willing to listen. However, she needed to make sure Zac didn’t rush into this. This was not the time to be rash about it, and though Zac was more patient and understanding than most, the emotional side of him would be running full time here. Leah knew he couldn’t have known it would lead to this, but she wished just as much as he did that they stopped this before. “We need to think about this. We went into this without knowing what she needed. This time, we have to make sure what she needs.”

Zac nodded along. He knew what they have been trying hasn’t been working, no matter how much they tried to change. Now, if they keep what’s at stake in mind, they’d be able to focus more.

“And above all, we need her to know that none of this was her fault. Especially not Oscar and Hannah, there was nothing she could do-”

“We have to address it, I know,” Zac pointed out, looking back at his wife with a sorrowed look on his face. “But we can’t just tell her that.”

“What? Why not?!” Leah asked astonished. “Zac, she can’t keep thinking this, it’s killing her!”

“I know,” Zac said with patience he didn’t feel. “But we have tried so many times before. No, it may not have been… been as we thought it was, but we tried getting her to see what Josh did wasn’t her fault and she couldn’t believe us. It’s so… ingrained into her that she can’t rid herself of those thoughts, even with our encouragement.

We… we need to tell her, first thing, that we're there for her. That things aren't going to be like before. From here on out... we have to approach this gently with her, try and understand why she feels this way. We need to find a way to make her reach out to us, not the other way around. Just reassuring her that it wasn’t her fault, that… that isn’t enough. Maybe... she’ll want to believe it, but she wouldn’t let herself. We have to properly talk about it with her. As painful as it is, we need to explain that to her, and then get her to understand how it can’t be her fault, the different avenues there are to dealing with it.” Because as Zac realised now, they had tried to bring all of it up at the same time, when they ought to have taken it step by step. Besides, even if they do convince her, there will still be the guilt she feels of not being able to save Oscar. A guilt that is more understandable, but just as difficult to rid yourself of.

“That doesn’t solve everything, though,” he continued to say. “I mean… her troubles at work, the other stuff… I still don’t get why-”

“You’re jumping ahead of yourself,” Leah stopped him in his tracks. “Remember what Nadia told us, we need to take this one bit at a time.” To be honest, Leah wasn’t sure at first what she thought of Nadia, but right now, thankfully she had the answers they needed, and had trouble of finding. Leah realised this was the problem in the first place. Zac was so eager to help Evie, he tried to tackle all the problems he could see head-on, all at once. “If we jump at her thinking of all these problems at once, she’ll be overwhelmed and you’ll crack, okay?”

Leah just stared at her husband, not because she wanted to see if he agreed, but because she could hear the continuous tremor in his voice and the pain swelling in his eyes. “Zac…” she said, reaching out to him on the other seat and touched his hand. He looked down at him, and when he looked up at her again, the pain had increased.

“I knew she was hurting… and I was caught between trying to act as things were normal and trying to emphasis the problem, but… she was just getting worse, and… she’s so far gone, Leah, and I didn’t help her enough. I… I just let her think like this…”

“You couldn’t have known,” Leah said helplessly through Zac’s blubbering, though she knew in some way, while he wasn’t right, he wasn’t wrong either.

“Well I could have Leah!” Zac insisted, actually crying now. “She… she couldn’t see any future for herself and I could have done more to get her to see that there was, I couldn’t-”

His voice broke on a sob and whatever little composure he gained since reading Evie’s letter began breaking. It dissolved completely as soon as Leah stood up and pulled Zac into her arms. He buried his face in her neck as he clung to her, tears running freely down his cheeks as he cried.

“I’ve got you, I’ve got you,” Leah repeated soothingly, kissing the top of Zac’s head as she hugged him close. She hasn’t seen him this brokenly emotional since he opened up to her about the nightmares he had since he left prison. She knew he needed this, so when Evie woke up, when they let them see her, he’d be able to comfort Evie better without the risk of falling apart himself.

--------

The first thing Evie noticed as she opened her eyes was just… just how bright everything was. For a moment, she wondered if she had gone blind, because all she could see was nothing but a light that covered every bit of her weary sight, it’s glow way too white…

As if to distract herself from the light, Evie began to realise her body felt extremely light, as if she was floating away, her brain completely empty apart from a buzzing sensation. It felt weird, a completely dazing sensation, as if everything had left her and was now floating above her, too far from her reach if she ever wanted to reach out and grab any of it out… she couldn’t even tell if she wanted to, or what she was reaching for. She wondered if she was actually dead, if this was what it felt like, look like, for who knows how long… because who knows what the afterlife, if there even is one, looks like… was this what Oscar saw? Hannah? Denny? Her father and mother? Casey Braxton? Did… she hated herself for thinking this, but her brain drifted towards if even Charlotte felt like this, the moment Josh pulled that trigger…

But, just as she was trying to figure that out, it all came back to her: the barrel of fire, the paralysing fear, the panicked breaths she took, Mason and Matt and Jeanette’s worried faces… where were they, are they okay, what if they died, what if they died and she couldn’t help them…it was a pattern happening again and again, and she didn’t… she didn’t find him, she never got a chance to save him, and…

Suddenly, the raspy, quick-paced sounds of her breaths started to echo through her ears, a shrill, tearing sound that took too much energy from her to even try. It had always felt like that, too much energy for her to breath, but what made it more difficult was that hearing herself breath resonated a hard truth for her. Dead people don’t breath. They wouldn’t have to, and even if so, they probably wouldn’t be facing so much difficulty in doing so. She was still in the land of the living.

That awful fact didn’t do anything to control her breathing, the fogginess of her brain or the slowly dimming of her bright vision. Her body was going close to shut down again before she could feel something running down her arm in a… soothing manner, a extraordinarily calming manner. Evie didn’t know what to make of it until she heard a voice that was so filled of emotion… “You’re okay, Evie, you’re alright. You’re back with us.”

It was as if that voice was a gift in itself, even though Evie still couldn’t bring her brain to remind herself who that voice was, because her breathing was slowing down. They still felt and sounded incredibly strained and unendurably raspy, but at least there were gaps in between them, in and out, in and out. The light was fading away as well, bring a bit more colour into her sight. The dark glow from the corner of her left eye gave her a good idea of what time it was, she could see now she was lying on a hospital bed, (but still with no memory of how she got here) and on her right… on her right…

Evie was sure she had gone insane a while ago and now it must have gotten to the point that her vision was playing cruel tricks on her. Because she could see Zac and Leah standing beside her bed, Leah brushing her hand gently over the sleeve of Evie’s arm and Zac staring keenly at her with…

Well there had to be no doubt about it. She had to be going insane, because the only thing she could see in Zac’s expression was solely love. That didn’t make sense, that wasn’t right, she was practically the definition of unlovable.

“Z…Zac…Leah…?” Her voice was hoarse and so scratchy, as if she was slurring her words… just like she was earlier, she realised as memories from today came rushing back to her. 

“You’re okay, Evie,” Leah assured her, trying to keep her face dry despite how difficult the sight in front of her was. Mason’s warning did nothing to prepare either her or Zac for the sight of seeing Evie bedridden and pale, with tubes like snakes keeping her connected to rumbling machines. Watching Evie, someone she had come to see as a daughter, more than a niece, struggle to breath and open her eyes felt like something out of a nightmare for Leah.

Evie continued looking at their faces in a dull gaze. She wished they weren’t here, they had better things to do than look at her like this. She was sorry for causing them this grief, but saying so didn’t help. Because whether she liked it or not, she’s been causing them grief long before she ended up here. She’d been causing Matt enough-

Matt. Suddenly, she attempted to get out of the bed, only to be stopped gently by Zac and Leah. “Matt… Mason… are they okay… I didn’t… I only saw them…”

“They’re okay,” Zac promised assuredly, incredibly grateful at seeing some light escape into her eyes at that moment, as well as how steady his voice sounded, as if he hadn’t been crying ten minutes ago. Still, he marvelled at Evie right now. She was stuck in a hospital bed and she wanted to make sure that her friends were alright. He smiled gently at her, despite the fear he felt that he would never smile again. “Mason’s gone home for the night, but Matt’s waiting outside, if you want to speak to him.”

Did she want to? Evie didn’t know, didn’t know what else she could say to him. She had no idea of what to say to either of them right now. Part of her felt like asking why they were even here, but even in her fuzzy mind, that sounded incredibly rude. Being stuck on a hospital bed wouldn’t make even less rude. But after how she reacted, the completely unnormal behaviour, they probably wanted to send her away, send her away to some institution where they wouldn’t have to worry about her…  “I…I...”. Her mouth felt like sandpaper that kept ravelling and unravelling as she tried to speak.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to say anything, not now,” Zac told her, gently carding his hand through her dirty black hair. He knew there was a lot they had to talk about, but now was not the time. “I… we’re… just so… so grateful to see you.” Even if it was in a hospital, because that still meant at least she was alive. Zac was determined to keep it so for Evie. “I… I went to the caravan and got some clothes for you.”

It seemed like an incredibly small thing to even talk about, here, but Evie could note the underlying message that was under Zac’s words, no matter how light he tried to make them sound. His voice had an incredible sad note in it, and Evie, who hated that he sounded that way because of her, could guess why. He must have seen the note, read it. He must have read it and saw how horrible she truly was, how awful she was, how she was responsible for… for… he must know, he must have known before, but why would he had put up with her… Oscar and Hannah meant so much to him, he would never forgive her… he won’t… “You saw the letter then.”

The slimmer of hope in Zac’s expression faded away, as he looked down at his shoes. When he looked up again, his face didn’t display any of the anger or hate it should have. “Yeah, I saw it.” And with that, he stepped forward and Evie was too tired to even flinch at whatever he was going to do… but instead he edged closer and gripped her hand in his own, in a gentle and comforting manner. “What do you need me to do?”

She didn’t wake up, she was stuck in some strange limbo, or some feverish dream. She couldn’t have heard what she said, she surely couldn’t have. Zac said he saw the letter, and yet here he was asking what she needed. As if she needed anything, she needed to die, she needed to rot, she needed to be punished… “What?”.

“Anything you need. You want some water? Something to eat? Need us to… to give you some space or… anything you would need us to do for you.”

They were such simple words, words that should have been said a long time ago. Yet Zac kept the dismay from entering his expression at seeing how completely shocked as she stared up at him, unable to speak. As if what he suggested was entirely alien to her. She averted her gaze, focusing out the window, before looking down at her feet. Zac didn’t ask again, waiting for her answer, but now, he could understand why she had so much trouble and even seemed extremely dubious about answering this, as if things would suddenly turn worse if she did. So much has happened, and so much she holds herself responsible for, for her not to trust assurances. But the least Zac could do was try something different, something new.

Evie was completely thrown by the question that her head had gone completely blank. Even the usual guilt and self-hate was thrown back to give way to a state of confusion, no matter how brief. Though almost unaware she was even talking, or why she even opened her mouth, Evie heard her own gravelly-sounding voice attempting to string the words together coherently. “I just- could you- I mean, it’s not important, really it’s not-”

“What is it that you need, Evie?”

Evie finally looked up at Zac and something flooded her chest- it felt strange, and she couldn’t put her mind on it right now, but she felt somewhat lighter, like she was levitating in the air. “Could I… please… could I get a glass of water?”

It was out there, and as soon as the entire sentence escaped her lips, Evie felt so incredibly stupid. She felt her fingernails for the first time gripping the rails of the bed. Why did she even think that was an okay thing to ask? Compared to everything she did, after letting Oscar and Hannah… after failing them, what right did she have to ask anything as small as that, there was no way they’d want her back, she didn’t deserve them, and she shouldn’t give them false hope when she knew damn well she could be dead soon enough anyway by her own hand or who knows what else, if she let them in she was selfish, she didn’t deserve them, she hurt them all, that’s all she does and-

“Here.”

She looked up, and saw Zac in front of her, excitement shining in his eyes, holding out a half-filled glass of water gently on the side. It didn’t feel urgent, it didn’t feel insistence, he only put it up close to her, as if she would change her mind. That simple act made her feel…made her feel…

Good.

Was it that easy? No, it couldn’t be, it… it shouldn’t be. Yet she took a tentative hand and raised the glass to her lips. Her lips felt incredibly dry and cracked, so the refreshing coolness of the water made her sink into a frighteningly state of ease. She leaned her head back into the pillows behind her. Knowing that Zac and Leah were here should, she knew, make her sink easier into that relaxing feeling. But even as she did so, the discomfort was rising inside her again, bringing with it a familiar tension as if preparing her body to start bolting towards the door. Just because she felt it was relaxing didn’t mean it was the right thing to do.

“Why… why are you doing this?”, Evie could only ask what seemed to her to be the only reasonable thing she could say at this point. “Why… why are you… why are you even here?”

Before, Zac would have acted in well-intentioned indignation, because of course he would want to be here, of course he’d be rushing over here to look after her, but after knowing what he now knew, he knew that wouldn’t be the right reaction, nor would saying “I want to be here” mean enough. “Why do you think we shouldn’t be here?” he asked calmly, though every part of him wanted to explain why immediately.

Evie, once again, was completely thrown off at the question, because the answer was so bloody obvious. And once she brought herself to answer, the words were all rushing out, “Because… because you shouldn’t be here, concerned about me. I… I pushed you all away, and… after all the crap you had to deal with, there’s no way… it’s my own fault, I shouldn’t be reacting like… that over something that was my fault in the first place and…” she felt tears bringing up in her eyes and she strained her eyes to stop them from coming out. She didn’t want to cry, she shouldn’t cry, but what she was going to say made her voice crack. “Oscar and Hannah are dead, they shouldn’t be… two really good people dead and it’s… it’s all because of me.” Evie felt herself trembling as her breaths quickly turned to gasps because… she realised this was the first time she said such a thing out loud. She knew it was true, she had to be honest about it, but saying it felt completely unreal, disturbing, wrong...

A steady hand was on her shoulder, rubbing her shoulder in a comforting way. Somehow that helped steadied her breaths, just as before, as if just knowing it was there was enough. Her vision had gone blurry with tears that she refused to let drop, but they were present anyway. Oh great, you pull on the waterworks like that would bring attention from what you did. How terrible you are, how weak you are, how pathetic you are, how much you don’t deserve to be comforted like this. They hate you now, and they’ll tell you that now, and they’ll tell everyone.  

Evie could barely acknowledge the return of that damn voice in the middle of her distress. She knew she must be crazy for hearing that voice, but it never went away, this was no exception. It was better for them to hate her, better that than them dead. Yet Zac, who had walked over to the other side of her bed, didn’t look like he was going to tell her that he hated her. He looked pained while she was rambling, as if he wanted to interrupt but held himself back. He was still looking at her with something that looked like love but it was impossible. How could he possibly love her, he couldn’t put behind what happened to Oscar and Hannah, that just something he wouldn’t or shouldn’t do…    

“Okay, now I’ll answer you. I’m here because you are one of the most important people in my life, Evie. Because… because the day I brought you and Oscar back to the Bay was one of the best days of my life. Because you deserve every bit of love, patience and kindness I can give you, no matter how much you need… because you care so much about the rest of us and I would do anything for you.”

“No…no,” Evie shook her head, only to stop after the massive headache that simple action brought upon herself. “Zac… it’s… it’s not safe… it’s not good… not after what I’ve done…”

Zac waited for her to finish, even though the urge to stop her from saying all of this never went away. He watched her try to reason with him and he was just struck at how tired she look. He had seen her look tired before, (even as he was wondering how many times that she hid it, and felt she had to), but this was something entirely different. He saw it written all over her face, and he was beginning to feel the pain she did; the numbness, his limbs so weak it almost felt like he wasn’t in his own body. It’s been taking it’s toll on her, to keep living this way. It’s killing her.

He knows what happened to Oscar and Hannah weren’t her fault, but he understood the guilt she felt of not doing anything to save them- even though in the circumstances that would be impossible as well. “I would never blame you for any of this. I know… I know you feel like you deserve the guilt you feel, I know you believe it was your fault. I know it might… it might always feel like that. Nothing anyone can say or do can change your perception of what happened. But there’s more going on, and I want to help, no matter what has happened before, no matter how long it will take for me to convince you that it wasn't your fault, because you deserve it, Evie. No letter would change that.”

Zac watched Evie stiffen and he immediately worried. Had he overstepped? Had he say too much while she was in such circumstances? How would she respond? Leah stepped in, moving her hand from Evie’s shoulder to card her fingers through Evie’s hair in a mother-like fashion. “We know you’ve been hurting, and I know you don’t want to admit that, but admitting is nothing to be ashamed of. We want no promises from you Evie, because we now understand how difficult it is of you to assume anything, even from us right now. We didn’t understand before, and we don’t understand everything now, but we will be more willing to wait, because that was what you need. We know that now and we’ll love and support you no matter what.”

There were just so many thoughts rushing through Evie’s head and she didn’t know how to stop the rush. The first emotions pushing these thoughts along were outrage and anger. How could he say this, not when he must know what she did. She knew Zac was smart, and she still didn’t get how he could have hope for her, not after everything. She’d just be fooling them again when there’s no hope and she’d end up dead or worse, they would end up dead and it still doesn’t change the guilt she feels, why else would she feel it, why would she be messing up so badly, it doesn’t excuse anything, it doesn’t change anything, she needs Zac and Leah to know this, but she just couldn’t form the words for all of it because she is just so goddamn tired, so exhausted of living this way, so tired of fighting-

“Stop.”

It was just one simple word, almost a whimper of a word. Zac and Leah looked at her, waiting for her to continue with uncertainty. Evie, hating herself every moment, looked up at them and spoke again:

“I… I can’t deal with this… not now. I know you’re trying and I know I owe you answers, but… you’re telling me you love me and… and…” she was now straining hard to keep the tears from falling. “It’s all too much… what you’re doing is… so much and I don’t deserve it…please just… just… please leave.”

Even she felt shocked at how broken she sounded, and how undecisive she felt. She knew they should leave, that there was nothing for them here, and they would only get hurt. But a part of her- larger than it ever has been before- wanted them to stay. She didn’t know if this was because she wanted to lay herself bare for them, explain everything more, how she deserved the full throb of those scissors cutting through her flesh like paper, the bruises, the scratching, the pain, all of it- or if she just wanted them to stay because she couldn’t bear the idea of them leaving. It all seemed so stupid, so selfish, but she didn’t know what to think, she wished she could stop thinking, just for once…

“I think… I think I should talk about it, but I don’t want to hurt you… I… I can’t decide, and I don’t want the extra pressure right now.”

It felt a flimsy excuse, a flimsy explanation, but Zac and Leah understood. Leah dropped her hand, but leaned forward anyways to kiss Evie on the forehead. Zac did the same on his side, a range of emotions entering and leaving his face- fear, sadness, a slimmer of hope- and then they walked towards the door. “We’ll be right outside,” he told her, his voice bearing none of the exhaustion from before, and instead incredibly earnest. Something that should have given her hope but… but what good was hope anyway for someone like her?

But she couldn't deny the fact that watching him leave made her feel... lighter, as if some pressure had been removed in some way. And he looked honest when he was talking, that he didn't blame her, but... what did it change? It didn't take away her guilt, it didn't change anything. So why was she hoping that it did?

Posted
On 29/06/2021 at 12:49, Red Ranger 1 said:

Again that explosion feels like a blessing in disguise. Things are out there now and maybe they can deal with them.

Yeah, I did feel uncomfortable about taking this route because I didn't want anything about this to be dramatize, but I still felt it was important to write about her trauma, and at least this way, there are still stuff going on that no one else knows for certain about, and Evie will be able to reveal her issues to them in a better way, because it's still her choice to tell them about it. Evie still feels all these negative feelings, but now, such a small change has brought things into a different light for her, so that next chapter, it may be easier for her to explain things to people. We'll have to wait and see, but it is still up to her to talk about it. 

Meanwhile, it is important now that people are considering things more from Evie's points of view. It's not their fault that things have gotten this bad, and it isn't Evie's either. Life just happened, and they made both right decisions and wrong decisions. But now, once they'll talk to Evie, find out and understand what is going on with her and why, they'll have better luck making the right decisions and addressing their own problems. 

Thanks again Red for continuing to follow this story!

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

Survivors asked themselves, with harsh remorse, why they still lived when so many others had perished. In many cases, their survival seemed despicable. They knew that for them to live, it had been necessary for others to die; that if they had been lost, someone else would have been safe. (Richard Davenport-Hines discussing the after affects of survivors of the RMS Titanic, Titanic Lives: Migrants, Millionaires, Conmen and Crew, HarperCollins, United Kingdom, 2012).  

So here's the next chapter guys, and thanks again for your patience and sticking with the story. All rights reserved to their rightful owners.

Chapter 18

“Hey, Evie,” Nadia greeted her softly as she sat down next to Evie’s bed.

Evie looked up at her exhaustedly, too tired to wonder why she was here. She had tried not to sleep the night before, tried to stay awake so she could figure everything out. There was so much she had to think about, too much to wonder what to do and what not to do, but sleep overtook her all the same. Maybe it was because of everything that happened the night before, maybe because of how soft the bed was, or maybe because it was all so much to think about that her brain just had enough and shut down. That in itself sounded like too good to be true. All she could think about was Zac and Leah’s words… and how much it didn’t make sense. How much she hated herself for dragging them into a situation they probably didn’t want to be in.

But then why would they lie? Especially now, after she revealed the worst thing she did? Was she missing something… were they missing something? Evie had thought the whole thing had a simple solution, yet not for the first time, she felt she was so far from coming ever close towards simplicity.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Nadia asked her patiently, not specifying any further. They both knew what she meant to ask.

Evie’s head rolled over the other side, her eyes falling shut briefly as if keeping them open was too much of a strain under the light, and she gave a humourless huff. She felt exhausted and drained (Which, given the feeding tubes currently wired to her body, is unhumorusly ironic. Tori had talked about how they’re pumping nutritional supplements into her body given her malnutrition state, but she wasn’t listening. None of it mattered.). “What would talking solve?”. Her voice remained hoarse and heavy, her vocal chords under even more strain.

“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” Nadia said slowly, as if weighing Evie’s potential responses. “But, to answer your question- has not talking about it improve anything?”

Evie sighed heavily and wanted to answer back Yes… but realised that she couldn’t. As much as she wanted to give say yes, she couldn’t say that not talking about it improved anything. 

Because it hasn’t.

She had spent so much of her time keeping it all to herself, because she didn’t want to make her problem’s anyone else’s. But somehow she messed it up, and it turned to keeping it all hidden. It left everyone frustrated when she thought it would help, and she tried to make it better… by pushing herself away, when she hated herself for it. If she couldn’t bring herself to talk about it, the least she could do was stop hurting everyone else. Yet, they kept coming back.

“I’ve made such a mess of everything, I screwed up so badly…” Evie started, collapsing back onto the bed. She felt all her defences were stricken away stuck on this bed, which led to the excuse she tried not to say before, not to try and make herself seem better than she was, but she felt so exhausted, that it came blurting out of her mouth. “I…I thought I was doing the right thing, I swear, I…”

“I know you were, Evie,” Nadia replied. “But what you’ve been doing all this time… it hasn’t been working, and it hasn’t made anyone else better.” She hesitated before answering. “I know why you felt you had to keep yourself away, I understand what was going through your head, and why talking about it… not seemed impossible, but not worth it. And I know you did what you did because you didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Doesn’t make things better though doesn’t it?” Evie replied bitterly. “Isn’t that what they say, ‘the path to hell was paved with good intentions’? I’m sure there plenty of people who did horrible things but thought they were doing the right thing, so intentions shouldn’t matter.”

“In some cases no, but in other cases… well it’s worth a discussion anyway.”

Evie shook her head again, though she knew what Nadia said was true. “It…won’t help, it won’t change anything, but… but what else can I do? It’d all be damned if I do, and damned if I don’t. I’d just be dragging everyone down with my issues, and they’ll get hurt and…”

She couldn’t finish that sentence, prompting Nadia to speak again. “You know what I saw when I arrived here last night? Every single person here worried about you. They weren’t angry, annoyed, thinking you were an inconvenience or a bother. You saw that too, I know you did. That's the strange thing about people, they'd rather take on more pain and suffering together than watch someone suffering alone. Could you still really consider them being dragged down with you?”

Evie stared at her for a long time, before sighing and leaning back against her pillow, her eyes dazed and confused. “I just…… they could have just felt they had to do it, but they… they were too nice to say so… I didn’t want to push that pressure onto them, I know I screwed up, and what I was trying to do means nothing but I thought I could… I could do this right at least… I messed up so badly before…”

Nadia listen to what Evie said, and what struck her that Evie didn’t so much as ramble as she was talking. Nothing she said sounded like an excuse, she seemed to focus on trying to get Nadia to understand. And Nadia did understand, she knew how difficult it was sometimes to accept that their loved ones would willing want to deal with their problems. It was an opening for Nadia and she was going to try and slip in. “And why was it difficult for you to just accept that they willingly wanted to help you?”

Evie shrugged helplessly and realised, now that she was stuck here, she ought to just say the truth. She could lie, try to minimise everything… but enough was enough. She realised this now, truly realised this now, that there was no proper option other than the truth. “Because of what you suggested before… I was responsible for what happened to… to Oscar and Hannah. Two really good people lost their lives because of me. Two lives worth… so much more than mine and yet they’re gone and I’m still here.” She gave a empty chuckle at that, because what else could you do at a situation like this, the unfairness of it all. Still, Evie felt struck at how easy she said it, despite how horrible it was. Maybe it was because she already said it to Zac, that she finally put it out there. It didn’t feel as right as admitting it ought to, but deep down she knew why. Because she knew that saying so, and if Zac saw it that way, he would hate her, and she was filled with dread at the mere idea of that.

Nadia sat there in silence for a while, leaving Evie to get her breathing back under control, for it had hastened as she was talking. Sometimes when people admitted things for the first time, truths they had hidden from other people or themselves, it caused an increase in adrenalin as if the admission was as crucial as life or death. It was important for them to get it out there, but it was also important to let them regain their control in the immediate aftermath. When Evie did so, Nadia asked her starkly:

“Did you set off the explosion that day then?”

It was a simple question, yet it seemed to set off rockets in Evie’s head, almost making her entire body jerk. No, she didn’t, the mere suggestion felt too terrible for her to focus on, she would never do such a thing, not to them, not to anyone. “No! I wouldn’t, I didn’t!”. Evie almost shrunk back into herself at the surprising sound of the ferocity in her voice. Before she could apologise, Nadia was nodding.

“Exactly, and the first step is admitting that. Andrew Barrett and Wayne Snelgrove started that fight. That was their choice, not yours. Do you not agree?”

Evie did. She knew that, she knew what Andy and Tank did, and she hated the pair of them for it, but then… the guilt she felt remained despite that fact. “Yeah, but… if I hadn’t brought Tank into our lives then… he wouldn’t have blinded Josh and then Josh probably wouldn’t have… wouldn’t have killed Charlotte and Zac wouldn’t have gone to prison and… I mean, doesn’t that make sense?” Evie asked desperately, turning back to Nadia, the unspoken plea clear, as if Evie was pleading for Nadia to make sense out of it. Evie wanted to do it, but she felt so exhausted. She felt as though there was more to it than what she was saying, but she refused to focus on that, she didn’t want to sound so pitiful-

“In a way, it is easy to make a connection to try and make sense out of all of it. Linking past events in the face of something as traumatic as you’re going through is extremely tempting. However, that doesn’t make it true.” When Evie didn’t answer, either in objection or acceptance, Nadia leaned forward. “Do you remember what we talked about last session? Correlation, not causation. Just because it’s easy to create a pattern, doesn’t mean it was there. Josh made his own choices, you had no responsibility towards his decisions. No more than you did over Andy’s or Tank’s. Maybe they didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt- other than each other obviously- , but the responsibility lies with them. Just because you shared some responsibility over an event before, doesn’t mean you share the responsibility of everything that happened after.” 

“So what?”, Evie replied with a derisive snort, feeling the agitation rising up in her. “That doesn’t change anything. All of this stuff… I caused all of this and I didn’t do anything to stop it hurting the people I care about, and… and I never faced responsibility for it…”

“For what? You have no control over what they did. You didn’t do anything directly or indirectly to cause the explosion. What is there to face responsibility for?”

“Because it all still happened and there was nothing I could do to stop it! I couldn’t protect Oscar, or Hannah or anyone! I let them die!” Evie shouted, her voice a raw mix of anguish and anger. She didn’t want to say it, because that didn’t seem enough to show her shame, her guilt. That didn’t make it not true though. She closed her eyes and stood straighter on her bed, looking Nadia closer in the eye. And strangely enough, there was a strong gleam in Nadia’s eyes that looked like- not disgust, anger- approval?

“And that is the main thing that has been driving all of your depression this entire time. You survived an extremely dangerous situation, a situation that could have just as easily have cost you your own life, yet people you loved didn’t. And that makes you angry that you weren’t able to help them, so much that the idea of being in danger yourself becomes squashed and never gets a moment to reveal itself. I read about what happened, and I don’t think you’ve accepted how easily it could have been you killed in their place. So every excuse you had to be angry at yourself and push that desire for help down, you took it-”

“That can’t just be it,” Evie interrupted her, her voice returning to its hazily tone. “It was all still real, I… I felt that guilt, I didn’t just make it all up in my head.”

“I never said you did,” Nadia replied. “Everything you felt was genuine, Evie, I assure you. But I’m gonna run past a hypothesis with you, and you tell me how right or wrong I am: What I’ve seen tells me you hate the idea of letting your loved ones down. You wouldn't stand the idea of standing idly by while something like this happens. But that feeling isn’t enough, you needed to find a way to connect all of this, so it would seem logical to you, so that you had a legit reason to be angry at yourself other than the idea of feeling that helplessness.”

Evie looked down, because as much as she felt it too easy to accept that, her rational subconscious was begging her to actually think about it. “I still let them down, I should have been smarter, I should have worked harder-”

“What about Zac?”

Evie’s eyes narrowed in confusion, looking back at Nadia. “What about him?”

“He met Tank in prison, try to get him out-”

No, no, absolutely not. Evie could see where Nadia was going with this, Josh brought it up before as well, and it was a thought Evie refused to even acknowledge. “No, it’s not the same…”

“What about Ruth Stewart?”

“It isn’t their fault. They couldn’t have known!” Evie insisted stubbornly.

“Then how could you have?”

Evie opened her mouth and for the second time, found there was nothing she could say. She could insist that it wasn’t the same, she couldn’t hold it against Roo or Zac, not when they were suffering as much as- anyway, it didn’t feel right to blame them. Andy… it was different because he went there to start a fight, and that would never have ended well no matter what would have happened and he should have known better. That didn’t change the question, though. Because… she felt it was different, but there was no credible reason as she could see why it would be different, especially with what Nadia was telling her-

Only because you want to believe it. You want to accept the idea so you can escape this guilt. Well, it ain’t that easy, you want it to be but it doesn’t matter what you want, remember?

Evie gritted her teeth, because she knew she would want to believe what Nadia was telling her, but if she was, what would that mean for Oscar? It felt it would be disrespecting his memory. And he was dead anyway, so what difference did it make, or if it did to the fact that she wished she was dead. “That doesn’t mean there could have been something I could have done-”

“At the risk of sounding callus, I’m sure there could have been. There could have been something you could have done. Just the same as there was something either of them could have done. If you felt something was wrong, I’m sure you would have tried to do something to protect Oscar or Hannah, did you feel something was wrong?”

“No,” Evie admitted, ready to continue with the argument that she ought to have known, but somehow she didn’t say anything more, allowing Nadia to continue.

“Then it wasn't your fault. You were caught completely unprepared by it, same as everyone else, so there was literally nothing you could have done. There are things in this world beyond our control. Trying to go back to the past to figure a way in which you could have done better does nothing to change anything. It’s tempting, it can help you figure out what to do in future situations, but doing so in a way to torment yourself is always a mistake.”

“What if I don’t want to be in future situations?” Evie bitterly retorted. “What if I shouldn’t be in any future situations, when there’s someone else who ought to have the chance more than I do. What if I deserve to be tormented?”

"Would you say that to anyone else? Do you think anyone else deserved to feel the torment you're feeling? Do you believe they deserve to be dead?" Nadia asked. She knew these questions were sharp, harsh and not the type of questions you ask someone when they’re in a hospital bed, but she had an opening and she needed to take advantage of it before Evie closed up again. Now, the girl was watching her with something akin to horror.

“I... I don't... not...no”, Evie rumbled. She never wished death on anyone, not even someone like Andy or Hunter. It made her feel incredibly nauseous just thinking about it. She knew, as much as it made her feel guilty now, that she had wished harm to other people, when she was angry, but that never went as far as that. She never wanted anyone dead and meant it… except herself, strangely enough. That felt different, because she felt she ought to be dead…

“I should be dead, I should be dead,” Evie muttered, realising she was voicing her own thoughts out loud. Nadia listened, though that in itself was hard to do so, before asking.

"Evie, I have to know now, so I know what to prepare for," Nadia said slowly, already knowing the answer, but she needed confirmation before she could act on it. "Have you felt like committing suicide?"

Evie's body froze, went entirely rigid as she stopped muttering. Her eyes hardened before she nodded. Nadia feared there could be more, but held off. She was just scratching the surface, and more questions down the line she was thinking of right now could overwhelm Evie. 

“I know you feel like that, I know you may feel like that for a long time…”

“Well, then why do I want to be dead? Why am I constantly blaming myself if I hold no responsibility over this, when it’s just another example more people dead or worse off when they’re around me?”, Evie threw a barrel of questions at her, and then, after what felt like a long silence, came a final broken question: “What is wrong with me?”

“What do you think? If it isn’t what you have believed all this time, what else could you think it is?”

Evie shrugged, though she knew the answer. “Depression, maybe, that I couldn’t see past it…it all felt so hollow and I couldn’t do anything…it made me feel like I wasn’t stuck in some loop… but that doesn’t explain all of it...”

“Well to start, nothing is wrong with you, Evie. Nothing. You are just experiencing depression, just like hundreds of people around the world do. It explains why you wouldn’t feel that drive that you have used to get through so much in your life so far, how you couldn’t remain focused or interested in what you have been before,  knowing the most important person in your life is no longer there alongside you.”

Evie gritted her teeth again and shook her head. Nadia reached out and held onto her hand as she continued talking.

“And something else. Something you haven’t thought of, something that actually wouldn’t occur to a lot of people, but is just as equally driving what is going on with you.”

“And what’s that?”

“Survivor’s guilt. You feel a sense of responsibility for what happened to Oscar and Hannah due to the mere fact that you survived and they didn’t…”

Evie shook her head, a screaming match in her own head trying to drown out Nadia’s words. Evie didn’t know who she ought to let win.

“I know you don’t believe everything I’ve told you right now. I don’t expect you to, especially after all this time stuck believing one thing, and all your losses stacked up… it would be hard to see otherwise. I’m not expecting anything from you, but if I may ask one thing- after what we discussed, why would you think this sense of guilt feels so much in this case?”

Evie didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to think about anything, yet she could think of an answer regardless. She had almost died, Nadia was right. The explosion was a case where she could have been killed or maimed just as easily as…

And there you go, thinking about yourself as usual, and she was thrown back from that thought and, looking forward, focusing on the blank wall it was with those words she answered. “It’s not about me.”

“Evie, I’m sorry, but like it or not, it is,” Nadia insisted, not letting go of Evie’s hand. “You are important to so many people and this is about you. I don’t think you’re trying to avoid talking about it now because you want to lie, I think you’re afraid it’s selfish. You may not trust yourself, but take it from a professional, it isn’t selfish.”

Evie looked back at her, giving a defeated sigh, and against every urge in her body, answered. “I guess, because I was almost killed, what happened to… to… could have just as easily to me and the fact that it didn’t… that I didn’t… when it should have been me…”

Nadia acknowledged that last bit reluctantly, knowing it won’t be easy for Evie to break out of that thought, she wasn’t going solve it in one night. “It all came down to chance that day. There was nothing you could have done in that moment to change anything.” Evie didn’t acknowledge this, so Nadia tried a different approach. “Okay, let me ask you something else. Zac was in a situation somewhat similar to what you’re feeling. If he was feeling the extent of what you’re feeling what would you say to him?”

Evie felt even more nauseous at the idea of Zac even feeling a fraction of the self-hatred she felt for herself, yet she stammered out. “It’s…it’s not the s-same…”

“Humour me, then.”

Evie bit her lip. Though she still didn’t believe she didn’t deserve it, she was grateful for the way Nadia was talking to her. The older woman’s voice was sympathetic, (though Evie didn’t want to hear any sympathy for herself, yet she was so tired that she couldn’t deny the gratitude that swelled up there, not anymore), but it was also challenging. She made Evie think, she wasn’t treating her like a fragile vase that could shatter at any moment. It made her feel… normal, as if, despite herself insisting otherwise, she could actually be normal.

Evie thought about her question for a moment and answered honestly. “It wouldn’t be his fault. He… he had the best intentions and he couldn’t hold responsibility for what Hunter did. And… even then,” she continued, her drudged-up brain surprisingly coming up with something else. “he has the chance to do better than before, and he would take it.”

Nadia leaned forward, a small smile edging on her lips. “Then don’t you think you ought to try the very same?”

Evie looked deeply at Nadia, saw no indication of forced words or sarcasm, and lay back onto the bed, screwing her eyes in concentration. It wasn’t as though what Nadia was saying didn’t make any sense anymore- it was because it was making too much sense. Her words felt too logical for her previous believes to hold a candle against it, yet those feelings of guilt and self-hatred remained. Because Oscar was still dead, regardless because of her, and she couldn’t help him. And Hannah, the woman who took them in, who was her aunt and protector as much as their parents were when they were growing up, was dead too, and Evie felt guilt for her and Chris, for still being here while they weren’t. Chris, who was so nice to everyone he wasn’t in competition with, who suffered so much yet kept working with a smile on his face- how could she have faced him for so long, knowing she felt responsible for what happened to someone he loved. How could she have been around him all this time, while pretending, being just like Josh. Maddy who faced a life-changing few months away from her boyfriend and the woman she considered as a second mother while Evie remained unscathed, walking around while- 

Oh.

Maybe that was what Nadia meant.

That she felt the guilt for just being alive and well when such horrible things happened to the people she cared about, that she took whatever bad thing she had ever done (because even if she was wrong and Nadia was right, she still messed up before, that hasn’t changed, and the fact she may be suffering from depression still didn’t change anything to Evie,) and connected it. It didn’t seem certain, not to her, especially with all this guilt that seemed to say she messed up badly and it still cost Oscar and Hannah and so many others, and it doesn’t change the fact that she still made those past mistakes- but it could still be possible.

No it isn’t, you’re just looking for any excuse not to blame, and Nadia here is handing you one on a silver platter! You think you can solve anything from talking about it or admitting it, you’re wrong. You’ll still be the selfish, worthless excuse of a being you’ll always be. You should have killed yourself ages ago, right before you made a scene and caused everyone to waste their time on you…

Still, it didn’t change how tired she felt, all the time. How much she sees all of it, all jumbled up together every time she closes her eyes, how she can’t sleep or eat, how she can’t be in public spaces without shutting down. She may deserve it, she can’t rid herself of that feeling, even if things no longer seemed as certain as they have before, but she was so fed up with it, with all of it. “I don’t know how long I can keep doing this, remembering everything that happened, everyday.”

And with that voice in her head, all but booing her for every word she spoke, about how selfish she was being, how weak she was being, yet Nadia didn’t do any of that, and that mere fact made Evie focus on her.

“Could you tell me about it then?”

----

Matt got up wearily, trying to bring the courage to get up in the morning. He knew what he was going to do today, and while he knew that he wanted to do this, wanted to help Evie no matter what, the nerves were still racking him. He had to be certain to say the right thing this time, and to do the right thing that would actually change something for Evie- he was just worried it wouldn’t be enough.

He had some ideas on how to help her, but before he had to talk to Olivia, because now he had to know how to approach Evie now, after seeing what he saw. That image of what Evie did to herself was haunting, but he needed to know how to help her so she’ll won’t do it again. If there was a more healthy way of her healing and coping, Matt had to help her find it in a way for her to still maintain her own control. That was just as important.

He had stayed at the hospital long during the night before being practically forced out the doors by Tori and Mason. Evie was awake for a while, talking to Zac and Leah, but then she wanted time alone before she went back to sleep. Matt wished he had a chance to talk with her, just to say… something, anything, just for her to know how grateful he was that she was alive. However, his logical side got in the way of all the mixed up emotions he was feeling and made him respect what she needed right now. They would have plenty of time to figure out what she needed later. He didn’t know what was going on before, he never imagined it went this bad, but that was going to change. That gave him a bit of hope.

Matt was just about to leave when he noticed Roo getting up as well. The older woman was walking around the counter, and noticed Matt getting ready to leave. “How are you feeling?”, she asked cautiously, knowing that last night wasn’t good. She hated hearing how much Evie was suffering, but knew it was still difficult for Matt.

Matt shrugged at the question. “I don’t know, just a bit of… I don’t know how to explain it, nervous anticipation? I want to know what’s going on and I want to be able to help, but…”

“You’re also afraid of what you will find?” Roo suggested when Matt couldn’t finish that sentence. That fear wasn’t anything to be ashamed of. Roo knew from first-hand experience of how terrifying it was for someone to get through the mental anguish a loved one was feeling. It won’t change that person’s willingness to help- but the willingness didn’t make it any more easy.

“Yeah, kinda,” Matt admitted, his face red with embarrassment. It wasn’t easy admitting how scared he felt (Which was why he immediately reacted impulsively at times, though he had gotten better at it before), along with the bad memories of how his relationship with Maddy ended, but he had to anyway. If he needed to see past it, he needed to get it out of his system. “Is that okay?”

Roo smiled ruefully and reached over to pat Matt’s hand. “To be honest, Matt, I’d be worried if you weren’t feeling that. It’s just… a way of someone sorting all that is going on. You'll sort through it though and get things right, you always do.” Roo knew that when it came to his friends, Matt would be running through brick walls to help them. This was coming way too much of a routine for Matt and Evie, especially at their age, to deal with so much crap and all in so little time.

Matt shrugged again, his expression more grateful now however, removing his hand away from Roo. “Just wish I knew this beforehand… I gave her space sometimes, because I wanted to respect her wishes and not be overbearing, but then other times, when I tried to hang out because… I thought it was what both of us needed.”

“Why did you need it?”

“Because… she’s my friend and I… after Maddy left, I was determined to hold onto the people I care about. Sometimes, dealing with this emotional stuff… I’m not as good as I hope to be, but after…after what happened, I thought trying to talk about it would help, or at least I know what to do to help. I just feel as though I mixed it all up though, got so much the wrong way, I should have known better…”

“But you can learn better now,” Roo assured him, knowing where his insecurities and doubts can lead him. “You were trying in your own way, and you can still do that, but with a better idea than before, yeah? Hold onto that thought. And I get how hard it is to try and help Evie before, I get it. The type of energy misery brings a person is just suffocating for them and that energy spreads to everyone around them, especially when the person suffering it tries to prevent it from happening. You have to shoulder it, but to look after yourself and your mental health as well, for both your sakes.”

Matt’s face grew a small smile, a bit of hope daring to make itself known. “Thanks,” he said, before thoughtfully adding, “How about you? You looking after yourself as well?”. He knew it was a tricky subject to approach, even between the two of them. Just as he feared of what was going on with Evie and her grief for Oscar and Hannah, he also feared this could spark a relapse for Roo and her recovery.

Roo shook her head fondly and smiled again, this time a bit more hesitantly. She knew what he meant, and there were still times the guilt had threatened to overcome her but she got by it, because she knew Oscar and Hannah would never hold it against her, neither did anyone else in the Bay. “I’ll be fine, don’t you worry about that. You have enough to think about, okay?”.

Matt nodded, deciding to trust her. After all the trust Roo had given him, Matt felt it only right to do the same. “Anyway, I’ve got to go talk to someone. I’ll see you later,” he called out before leaving through the door.

-----

“Matt, hey,” Chris said upon opening the door and seeing his friend. “How’s Evie? Did you see her today? Is she awake?-”

“Um… I…hey, first of all,” Matt asked, trying to hide how overwhelmed he felt by all the questions, or by Chris’s uncharacteristic nervousness. “I haven’t seen her yet, but I’m going to see her in the afternoon. Actually, I’m here to see Olivia, is she in?” 

Chris’s wide eyes scrunched up in confusion. As far as he knew Olivia and Matt didn’t really hang out. In fact, with the exception of VJ, Olivia didn’t really hang out with anyone around the Bay now-a-days. “Uh, yeah, why, what’s up-”

“Chris,” Olivia came up behind the stairs, a pensive look etched on her face. “Listen…um… Matt needs help with something and we need your help with it as well.”

Chris looked back at her, and felt the tension surrounding her and Matt. Whatever they wanted to talk about, it probably wasn’t good. “Right, okay, let’s sit down then,” he said encouragingly, patting Matt on the shoulder and looking back at Olivia with a look of concern. She gave him a reassuring smile as they all sat down. Olivia broke the silence once again, guessing from the look on Matt’s face what he came here to talk about. “Did Evie tell you anything…?”

Matt shook his head, knowing the situation was more murkier than Olivia expected and looking apologetically at Chris’s confused expression. “There… there wasn’t really much time to, but… she was unconscious, we were getting her to the hospital, her… her sleeve slipped and I saw… I saw…” Matt had to take two breaths before continuing, “It was a scar, like… it was red, like it was cut recently, around her wrist…”

Olivia had to suppress a shudder as Matt talked, not liking the vivid of his description. She used to shut down upon getting even close to the subject, which made the group sessions she went to difficult at first, but at least now she could stomach it without running from the room. That didn’t stop her feet automatically moving in a nervous tap, nor the sadness she felt upon seeing the look of realisation dawning on Chris’s face, only to be replaced by one of horror, then by one of apprehension, looking over to Olivia with even more concern.

Matt, meanwhile couldn’t finish the rest of his sentence, which didn’t matter, because by the shared looks of Olivia and Chris, they thankfully got the picture without asking for more detail. Remembering something else Olivia had said before, Matt found the courage to answer: “I didn’t tell anyone else… Mason found out while he was helping the doctors, but we agreed not to tell anyone else unless Evie wants us to.”

Olivia nodded encouragingly, despite Matt thinking of several lingering questions that pounded in his own head: what happens if Evie doesn’t want them to tell anyone about it, ever? What if she decides to keep it to herself? What do they do then? How do they help her?

Another question that popped into his mind was how did Olivia knew, yet he didn’t voice this. He could tell this was personal to her, just by the look of run-or-fight on her face. Matt felt grateful she was even letting him talking about it in the first place. “Where do I go from here?”

Chris sighed and looked towards Olivia. “The same as I said before. You can’t make any assumptions about it, but you need to find a way to ask what is going on and let her come to you about it. She… she needs that control, and no one ought to take that away from her.”

“But what do I do if Evie decides not to talk about it? She may not feel comfortable about talking about it with anyone… I don’t know if I ought to bring it up with her, because what if she shuts down? If we don’t bring it up, if she won’t talk about it, and…if she keeps doing it and…” I would never forgive myself if I couldn’t stop what is happening to her, he couldn’t finish that sentence either, because the end of it seemed so horrible to utter out loud.

“That doesn’t mean you give up on getting her to change her mind,” Chris advised him, forcing himself to get over the shock of the news as quickly as he could. He felt despaired at this he knew that no one deserved to feel like they had to hurt themselves. And that was the thing, anyone who felt that felt they had to. No one ever did for a laugh or some sake of drama. After all this time helping Olivia, just the very idea of downplaying or degrading the emotions of a person who suffered like that made him angry and almost made him get into a fight with a couple of boys at the Diner who were shouting their mouth off about the topic for some strange reason.

He hated it even more that it was happening to a person he knew, a person who he considered a friend, and the niece of the woman Chris imagined his future with. It felt like a large cloud overwhelmed him, giving a terrible wrench in his stomach and made his eyes downcast. It would have killed Hannah all over again if she knew what was going on with Evie. “Even if she doesn’t talk to you about it immediately, that just means we have to find a different way of getting her to be in a more relaxed state.”

“That’s the most important,” Olivia agreed. “She’s gonna feel on the edge, simultaneously terrified and frantic about it. You need to ease into a state where she would want to talk about it.”

“What would I have to do to achieve that?”, Matt asked. “Because… I just feel…”

“I get it,” Chris replied honestly. “But you need to be sure you are calm and don’t overreact to anything she tells you. You can’t force her to change anything- I know you probably already thought that, but listen to me Matt, it’s incredibly important for her to do this at her own pace. Trying to bring about change fast and quickly, without processing any of what’s going on with her- that’s not going to help.” Chris knew he was reciting all he had researched and learned while trying to help Olivia, but that still didn’t reduce how essential it all was right now for Evie and Matt, and how applicable it was for a lot more situations.  

“Whatever she shares with you,” Olivia added. “Respect the amount of trust she gives you by opening up to you, no matter what it is.” Part of her is still feeling uncomfortable wading into this territory, let alone someone who she still doesn’t like, especially with Hunter locked away, but she remembers Chris’s kind words from before, the bravery of the people in her support group who talked about their experiences, and she pushed forward just as Matt, with a look that said an light bulb went off in his head, spoke.

“And whatever it is, I… I can just be gentle and let her know I’m there and want to support her,” Matt said. He wasn’t sure if it was a statement or a question, if it was a sentence he believed or said out of disbelief. He had no idea of it would be enough, he hoped it would. The thought occurred to him, sparking a memory of how he learned to look after Maddy’s needs long ago. It was just the same thing, he had to remember that. When he returned back to the present, both Chris and Olivia were nodding, as if to say he was on the right track. Matt honestly didn’t mind that Chris was telling him stuff that he already knew, it was good to be reminded of it anyway. It acted as confirmation.

“You’re on the right track. Even if she doesn’t want to talk about it, just letting her know you’re there, that can help more than people can think, but… listen to me, Matt,” Chris said, his voice turning a surprisingly urgent tone. “It’s important to… to… this is going to be hard to explain, but… you got to…focus on the feelings she’s feeling when she is… self-harming, not the action itself.”

“What do you mean?” Matt asked, not really sure how anyone could exactly separate the two. “I mean… I know I can’t straight ask her about… the…” he struggled for an appropriate word to use without feeling tears rise in his eyes again and settled for, “injuries, but…”

Chris looked at him pointedly in a uncharacteristically serious look until finally it clicked with Matt. “It’s… it’s more about the feelings, why she feels she would have to do it, isn’t it? That's the most important?”, he asked thoughtfully.

Chris nodded and Olivia said, “Talking about what is causing it and what can be done to make things better is... to be honest it's as closest as you’re going to get her to know she is being supported. It won’t solve much at the start, but…” she sighs, looking over at Chris hopefully. “It’ll be better off than before. The fact that you're considering this right now, should tell you that you're going to have a good idea.”

“Hopefully,” Matt said, but his doubts remained. He knew that what Chris and Olivia were telling him was probably the right stuff to know, and the right things to do, but they still haven’t seen Evie talk the way she had. The despair and guilt she felt… would anything he say make any difference? He was beginning to understand all his attempts to reassure her that he wanted to hang out with her didn’t help- because it could only make her worse. He needed to restrain his frustration, he knew that, but that didn't stop how terrified he felt about not doing this right. 

“Just one more thing,” Chris added before Matt could question that. “It’s… different, I know, and it’s… it’s a lot more than you expected, but… it’s still Evie. This is still the same Evie that is your friend, just a different side of her. Treat her like you would anyone else.”

Matt heard this and acknowledged it with sudden realisation. He realised that all the time when he was worried about Evie, thinking of how much she was behaving wasn’t like the way he knew her before… but then he realised that shouldn’t matter. Of course, he cared for Evie, and wanted her to get better, to realise she deserved good things in the world… but asking for her go be things the way they were was unrealistic. So much has changed that while some things about Evie would remain the same, she wouldn’t go back to how she was before. But that didn’t mean their friendship was over. He realised he need to make sure she didn’t feel ashamed of who she was before, or if she had changed. She was still Evie.

-----

“Sometimes… that day is the only thing I dream about… and it gets all too loud and I can see them all… I try to warn them, to get them out, but nothing changes… I can’t solve any of it, and then…Other times, it manifests into something different…sometimes I’m just lost, hearing their voices calling for help, but it’s all so dark and I’m just stumbling and straggling and I can’t find them… they all end the same way, no matter how different they are,” Evie admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.

It was strange, almost unnerving how much she revealed right now, but as soon as Nadia asked, a lot of it came blurting out. The nightmares (which she was just talking about), the moments when she was overwhelmed by feelings of unexplainable anger and sadness, how her body goes into an immediate state of alert whenever she gets overwhelmed by loud or sudden noises. Nadia described it as a panic attack, telling her how normal that was as well, even if it seemed completely abnormal. Evie still felt nervous and ashamed though, because she knew this was only scratching the surface. She still hasn’t talked about her self-harming herself, nor how she believes she deserves to be punished (not know, because she can’t know that anymore), nor how she felt nervous in other people’s presence, nor how she doesn’t eat anymore because each bite feels undeserved, nor how her head is constantly at war with itself, her thoughts chaotic monsters raging for dominance. Talking about the nightmares and the constant state of fear… was wearying but also… strangely light, as though an enormous amount of pressure was lifted and removed from her shoulders. That made her feel slightly more at ease… but it also terrified her, because it felt good and she still couldn’t convince herself she deserved that easiness. That prevented her from revealing anything else. She felt like talking about how waking up doesn’t make anything better, because they’re… they’re still dead, and the day, no matter who else was there, even if it was unfair to anyone else, the day was pointless.

Nadia listened the entire time, never interrupting to ask questions, until now.

“And would you like to tell me about what happened last night?”

 Evie felt her own face turning red with embarrassment. She didn’t know if she could talk about it. That prodding reminder that it was all her fault remained and clouded her sight. She was still felt with anger that she was still alive yet Oscar and Hannah weren’t, and it felt really selfish to talk about it affecting her, despite Nadia’s assurances. “It doesn’t matter… I overreacted… that was all…”

Nadia sighed. “Is that what you truly believe?” she asked sceptically.

Evie gritted her teeth and shook her head. “No.”

“No,” Nadia agreed. “Do you believe it is more likely that seeing someone messing around with a highly flammable object was going to trigger memories of that day?”

“Yes,” Evie admitted. She can see how that makes more sense, even if it didn’t set right in her head.

“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Nadia told Evie, noticing the redness growing on the younger girl’s cheeks. “Evie, I promise you, when you have experienced a traumatic experience like that- even if you weren’t injured- and received no help for it, it is normal to be trigged as you were.

I read what happened that day, and I heard enough about it from Zac. You refused any medical treatment because you wanted to keep looking for Oscar. You tried all you could, Evie… though I know to you that isn’t enough. It will never be enough.”

“I… I don’t think I’ve ever felt so useless in my entire life. They… they meant everything to me, and everytime before, there was always something I could do for them… but that time…they were just gone, and I felt so meaningless.” Evie shuddered, and not just for that. This is the first time she ever spoke about how she felt about all of it. She couldn’t help it, before she had resisted it, but somehow Nadia’s soft voice encouraged the words to slip from her mind to her tongue. She realised, for the first time, that she had always known these feelings were there, about all of it, including the stuff about Josh. She just truly believed none of it was important, so she pretended that it wasn’t there.

“So, what, I’m just destined to have an reaction like that whenever…” Evie just gestured with her shoulders, her voice holding no sign of fear or despair, just acceptance. She didn’t even focus about how she didn’t really admit anything about how she felt when it happened. She didn’t know if she could explain how this was ten times worse than any attack she had before, even if she knew why. She felt her stomach turning over itself around at the reminder of how she reacted the night of the explosion. Why did Nadia had to remind her of that, of how panicked and scared she felt…

“No.”

“How do you know?” Evie asked suspiciously, and Nadia smiled.

“Because we get better. Now that we identified the trigger, we can stop it. If you wanted to arrange a fourth appointment, I’d be happy to talk to you more about it.”

“If… if I want you to…” Evie murmured, as if none of those words made any sense to her.

Don’t do it, don’t be selfish…

“Of course, Evie,” Nadia replied, feeling suddenly sad all of a sudden. She expected this, but it still felt awful to see when a person still couldn’t see the chance to get help would be available to them, or that they deserve to  reach out for that chance with both hands. “This comes down to your choice. I can’t drag or force you to talk about any of this. Me, Zac, Leah, your friends… we can guide you towards the right path all you want… but it is up to you to walk it in the first place.”

Evie realised this, she knew this. This was her responsibility, and she didn’t want to anyone else to bare it. This had nothing to do with the idea of proving herself, that barely mattered to her anymore, but she couldn’t believe that she deserved such a chance. A chance that ought to be given to a good person, and she didn’t believe that was her.

“What if you’re wrong?”, she asked. Immediately fearing that the question was too blunt, but Nadia didn’t look at all offended by it.

“About what?”

“About… that thing… ‘causation, not correlation’. What if… I don’t mean to offend, but what if you’re wrong about that? What if it is my fault? What if… I do deserve to feel like this?” Maybe a lot of what Nadia said made sense, but she couldn’t trust herself to accept it, because the old her would have wanted to accept it.

Nadia frowned. They already discussed whether or not Evie did anything to cause the explosion, and how trying to connect past events to try and explain things that are out of their control is not logical. But Nadia could tell Evie meant something else. “Because you couldn’t save Oscar.”

Evie felt everything in her crumbling as she nodded, as if, despite what she said before, those words would shatter her entire being. Because that was the most important thing. Maybe she grabbed onto that belief of it being her fault because she still felt responsible for letting Oscar down, as if to try and make sense out of it. She let him die and there was nothing she could do, that hasn’t changed. And that was what mattered the most.    

“I know… I know how the world works, sometimes bad things can happen to good people… it doesn’t change how unfair it all is though… He… he was so better than me, in all the ways that mattered. And Hannah… she was getting her life back on track, and… and she did so much for me and Oscar and… I took it all for granted… “

“If there was a chance you could have saved them, would you?” Nadia didn’t bother to ask even if it meant her own life, because she already knew the answer. Even if Evie didn’t know what that truly meant.

“Yes,” Evie said. It had nothing to do with bravery, nothing to do with being noble or anything like that, she knew she’d do anything to save them. “But there’s nothing that can change, nothing I can do for them… and that makes everything else so pointless,” she said suddenly, not realising that she was apparently ready to talk more. “It’s… it’s not fair to anyone else, but waking up and knowing the nightmares… largely were true, and they were no longer here… it’s like nothing else that is going on matters. Life doesn’t even matter that much.”

“There is something you can do, Evie. They would want you to live your life. I know that would not seem like much, but their legacy is now in your hands. You owe it up to yourself to try and do right for them. Once you accept that… then you can begin to forgive yourself.”

“I don’t think I know how,” Evie admitted, feeling more hopeless, as reminders of how much she could have handled this right- maybe not the way Nadia was saying but still a different way of doing it- and yet she destroyed any attempt of doing it right. “At least not without messing things up. I messed things up before, and I didn’t handle any of it right, and I… I pushed everyone away, and I thought it was the right thing to do, because… they didn’t deserve to deal with me… I hurt them...”

“So maybe you did mess up. But now you have a chance to not make the same mistakes as before. They were honest mistakes, the type made with the best intentions. It wasn’t the best thing to do, but now you can do better. Remember what I said… no one was trying to hurt each other. No one has a perfect past, and no one will have a perfect future. But you are given a chance to be the good person you can be, and that Zac and Leah know you to be.”

“I don’t deserve their help.”

“That’s their decision to make, though, and they really want to help you, because they feel you do deserve it. Maybe you’ve done bad stuff in the past, less honest mistakes, but you have the chance to do better than you did before. There’s a wide gulf between keeping your worst impulses in check and believing you don’t deserve any chance. And I know you won’t like this, now Evie, but I’ll say this as well- if I was talking to Andrew Barrett or Hunter King and they were feeling the guilt and depths you were feeling, I’d be trying to set them on the right path too. Mental recovery should not be restricted to anyone.”

“How is that even right?”, Evie asked bitterly, looking down on her bed. How could Nadia even--- why do people like that deserve a better chance? “So, no matter what they do… what they’ve done, it can’t be forgotten, it can’t be forgiven…”

“Those two things aren’t exclusive, Evie.” Nadia countered. “Yes, people like Hunter or Barrett need to be held to account. They need to stand up and admit what they’ve done and accept the consequences. I believe it more than for the sake of the law or society- more for the people they end up hurting. However, once justice has been served, if there is a chance for redemption for someone like that, it ought to be taken. No one says anything about immediately forgetting or forgiving, but even if you end up forgiving them, no matter how difficult it is right now, you won’t be forgetting anything they’ve done.

But holding onto that hate, refusing to forgive- it can take over a person’s entire life and turn it into something ugly. No matter how bright a person might be, it could happen to anyone. You, me, anyone.” As she said that, a line occurred to her and she said, “To a dark place this line of thought will carry us. Great care we must take.”

Silence followed that, feeling more tense than it did before. Then Evie looked up, her gaze suddenly sharp as she said in a wonderous voice- “That’s from Yoda in Star Wars.”

Nadia shrugged her shoulders, a small smile bringing a bit of levity to the situation. “Doesn’t me he’s wrong though.” 

Evie had a look that she suddenly wanted to smile, but instead her look remained forlorn, as if it was taking strength to keep her face that way. “I… I… I just can’t get myself to believe you… what you’re telling me, it just seems so hard… but also, too easy to believe that I would deserve a second chance. Because… I mean… if I had caused it… I was still around everyone, thinking I held some responsibility… but they didn’t blame me when I knew they should…isn’t that cowardly of me? That I felt I was and I didn’t tell anyone… they lost people they cared about, and I was still there, acting as though I was innocent… doesn’t that say something about me?”

“I think it does,” Nadia said cautiously. “I think it says that deep down, your rational subconscious knows that you didn’t do anything to cause the explosion, though the guilt for surviving remained, clouding everything up. As for you being around everyone else, I think there’s another reason for that, another reason that you don’t see.”

“And what would that be?” Evie said, trying to sound sceptical, but couldn’t muster the right tone for it.

“That you love them too much to properly let them go. Even if you were telling yourself it would be safer for you to leave them go, you were still going to work, still hanging out with them. You were trying to walk both paths. If you want, I can help you walk the right one. I know you did it because you felt like you owe them something, but can I ask you… did you also did it because you loved them and enjoyed it, or at least some of it?”

Evie didn’t know if she had a proper answer to that. Because it was mixed up. The work wasn’t what she had initially hoped it would be… but waking up seeing Zac and Leah and VJ and Mr Stewart, hanging out with Matt and Mason, talking to Maddy on the phone…even agreeing to go to the party with Matt, because she loved them all. She felt it was the right thing to do at the time, but a large part of that was because she really did like being a part of her family and friends’ lives. It was a responsibility she was glad to have. For the days she didn’t want to be left alone, she wanted to be around them. And being alone… it was miserable, even when she needed time to herself. That was why she pushed everyone away, because she deserved the misery, and didn’t deserve their presence. Even their mistakes didn't matter to her.  

“There were times when it felt it was all overwhelming, y’know,” she admitted in a dazed murmur. It still amazed her how easy it was for it all to come out. “And I felt I needed to be alone… I can’t tell if it was because I needed that alone time or if I was forcing it on myself, I can’t tell… but hanging out with everyone… I don’t know how I felt… it was good to see them… it really was, but I tried to not think about that, because even that felt selfish…and that soured everything because even when there weren’t any arguing or anything like that… it felt like so much pressure, and I wanted to handle it, but I didn’t know if I was doing it for me or them…they didn’t understand why and I couldn’t handle that… after everything I did or didn’t do, they wouldn’t want me…”

Of course they won’t. You’re just affecting everyone with your problems, just so you can feel better. And you do feel better, just by talking about it. It’s pathetic, it’s stupid, you’re going to get everyone killed, you-

“Stop it, stop it, stop it!” Evie groaned, bringing her hands up to her head. That damned voice was louder than it was before, and she hated it. She always hated it, yet she held onto it, because she didn’t know if it was right or not. She feared it was, but didn’t believed it was wrong to ignore it. She had always listened to herself, but where did it leave her…

“Evie?” Nadia’s voice, while suddenly distant, sounded really concerned. Evie gave a raspy breath, removed some of her fingers away from her face, and looked to see Nadia was now kneeling down in front of the bed, looking up at her to see what was wrong.

Evie cringed. She didn’t knew how to explain this, but wondered if it mattered. Probably didn’t. Maybe this what was needed, for her to seen like this, so pitiful that they, even Nadia, would just abandon her, realise that she deserved to be alone.

“It’s okay, we don’t have to talk about it now, we can do it at your own time-”

“It’s just… it gets louder… like someone’s shouting at me, and it’s… it’s so bitter…” It took a while for Evie to realise she was the one who was talking, feeling more nervous by the minute.

“What is, Evie?”

“It’s just… a voice that is telling me no matter what I do… there’s nothing I can do to make anything… better. I hear it, and I try to do things right, but it just fills me with anger, all the time, thinking everyone hates me, or should and… I know I’m probably insane, but I can’t stop it because it’s in my head. It’s me. I just… I just thought I could get it to be quiet,” she gasped out, her breaths quickening and her eyes glazing over with unshed tears. “I just wanted it to be quiet, I know everything it’s saying”

When Nadia spoke again, her voice was gentle and insistent. “It’s okay, Evie, it’s more than okay. You’re not insane, I promise, I know that voice, and how manipulating it can be, how much it can suck to hate it, and need it at the same time. But you did really good today. Now that you’ve told me about it, it’s the first step to get it to be quiet.

You’ve been bearing this responsibility all to yourself, but you’ve been holding it back so long, the fuse has already been lit. I know your sense of right and wrong tries and stop you from getting help, but I can help you defuse it and show you that getting help is the right thing to do, if that is what you want. Not what you think you deserve, what you want. The ball’s in your court, kid- it won’t hurt to pass it along to someone else from time to time.”

Evie didn’t felt she should answer, it was selfish, stupid, pathetic, unimportant… she may never get rid of these negative thoughts, the self-hatred. She thinks back to what her critic has said before, and she can’t help but agree. She should have died a long time ago, done it with no fuss and no worrying anyone else. But where would that leave them? What if Nadia said was true? She is so tired and emotionally wrecked that though a large part of her wanted to remain quiet, she thought of Zac and Leah and only said this:

“I still think… I don’t deserve help or love or any of it,” she admitted, looking down at Nadia, briefly focusing on the top of her head before daring herself to look at the older woman’s eyes “… but I don’t want to be feeling this all the time.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I don’t want to be alone, or... I know that might be selfish of me but…”

“You don’t have to,” Nadia repeated, her face gazing up at Evie with pure honesty. “I know we haven’t talked about your suicidal thoughts or feelings yet, because I know you’re not comfortable yet, but I can tell carrying all this weight makes it more easier to give into that. I understand, and so will everyone else. Let me help you find a better way.”

“But I haven’t… I haven’t told you everything. Even when I was …when I was talking about work, there was… more than what I was saying, and I kept it all…”

“Evie, I never expected you to spill everything on the first session, or the second one, especially giving the emotional gravity of what we were talking about . This is not a process you can or should rush. We need to take every thing that is bothering you, and deal with it one step at a time to make real progress. And that you don’t want to tell me about how you feel about suicide is completely understandable.”

“Is it?” Evie said, even though she knew sometimes she couldn’t make sense out of it either, how even when she felt like committing suicide, it was always a conflict of whether or not to do it, if it was easy to do so or so hard to. It felt like both at the same time. She hasn’t even ruled it out yet, because as long as that dark cloud hung over her head, reminding herself of how worthless she was, how much she didn’t deserve life, that would always be an option for her.

“Was these last few months the first time, you’ve felt these emotions?”

“Yes.”

“Then you have never experienced this before, I won’t ask you to explain it when you’re not entirely sure about them yourself. You’ve never talked about them, so while you probably are aware of its presence and what it means, it’s a lot more difficult to make sense out of them. But you get it’s important that we do talk about them, sooner than later. These emotions have been festering deep down for too long; anymore, and they’ll burst beyond the point of repair.”

“I know that,” Evie said, though she couldn’t tell if it was still the right thing to do. Either way, she won’t be looking forward to it. She knew that somehow, her self-harm will make its way into the conversation and she didn’t know how she could explain the complex emotions going on there.

“And in the sessions before, you’ve given enough without knowing or trying so, that I was able to fit some of the pieces together. This is the first time you’ve talked about how you feel, and that is a major improvement.”

“So even when I was trying to keep it to myself, I couldn’t even do that right?”

Nadia couldn’t help herself but give an exasperation chuckle. “You certainly don’t want to make things easier for you, do you?”

“I don’t want things to be easier for myself, not if it… if it causes problems for other people.”

“I can show you that it won’t. You can still have good days again, and if you accept help now, until you are ready to talk about… the darker side of your thoughts, we can think of ways in the meanwhile to keep them at bay. We can think of coping methods, ways of identifying these thoughts and addressing them.”

“And what happens once we stop kidding ourselves and realise there is no better way?” Evie asked wearily. “I mean… I’m not naïve, I know even if I do talk about it… it doesn’t solve anything immediately. You can be saying all the logical things and I may not believe it. I’ll still be thinking this stuff, and… I don’t know if I can…do it, and it will all be worth nothing if it ends in…” She didn’t know if she could admit that she meant I don’t know if I can live with myself any longer. Because after talking about it with Nadia, the idea of making amends and making Oscar and Hannah proud- even that felt soured by the fact that they’d never see it in this live- didn’t leave her, and she wondered if that was the right answer. But she still remembered the hatred for herself and how it remains as large as ever, remembered the scars on her arms and how that urge to cut again continues to scratch at her conscious. "What if it ends in more people getting hurt, Zac and Leah getting hurt, or Matt or anyone?"

“It doesn’t matter how it ends. No one can know how this ends. And you’re right: I’m not that good, I won’t be able to cure you just like that, even if you tell me everything and I tell you an alternative,” Nadia admitted, knowing it is important to keep the expectations realistic. "This is a process that could take who knows how long. It’s going to take all your time, all the effort you and your loved ones will be able to give it to simultaneously and successfully deal with it, and manage every other aspect of your lives in the meanwhile. You and your recovery is definitely worth a try. Even if I help you with this, and you decide to start on the right path again, you’re not going to get all of it right. There are going to be bad days even when there are good days, I know it’s difficult to trust in anything again,and you won’t be able to do things good for everyone all the time, no more than they can for you. But they want to try, to take the risk not for you- but with you. They can't do that unless you're willing to pitch in as well."

Nadia paused and then added. “What’s more important is that, if you do decide to get help, you do it for yourself. You can’t do this just because you think it would please other people, or me. You need to choose this path because you believe it to be right. Yes, for your loved ones, but most importantly, for yourself, so you can find the answers you need. From what I've seen, you're a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for. You take responsibility when others would have try to deflected it, you still care for other people's needs when it would have been a lot easier just to give up entirely, and even though you couldn't muster your best, you still tried. I can say you would be able to endure this as well.”

She let Evie absorb that and added. “There’s a line from a show I watched a long time ago, called The West Wing. I don't know if you're religious or not, neither am I, but this line has always stuck with me, because it applies for more than just religion and hopefully it can answer your fear about messing up when it comes to fixing things with the people you still have left: ‘I won’t always know what the right thing is to do, my Lord, but I think the fact that I want to please you… pleases you’.”

Evie took this in, and wished she could know where Nadia’s confidence came from. “How are you so sure? That I can try?”

“Well, the answer’s simple. You’re still here, aren’t you?”

The advice Chris and Olivia gives Matt in this chapter I took from the following websites regarding what to do when helping someone who is self-harming and I will give credit to while writing this chapter: Pieta, Spunout, Mind, Self.com and the Samaritans. If you fear someone you know is self-harming, I would advise you research those sites for extremely essential advice. It's not all perfect, and I know what I've written isn't perfect, but it remains the best a person can do. 

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