Free Escaping Heartbreak by Regina Bartley, Laura Hampton

sobs were coming from the bathroom. Quickly, I walked in, and that was where I found her. She was sitting there on the edge of the tub crying her eyes out. I reached down and touched her gently, only to hear her scream at my touch. I wasn’t trying to scare the shit out of her. It just happened.
    “Travis what are you doing here?”
    I bent down in front of her so that I could look her in the eyes. “I just came to check on you.”
    “Oh Travis,” she said then she threw herself into my arms. There were no words. She cried so hard, she had me worried. Her face was buried deep into my neck and she stayed there for a long time just crying. I was surprised by her reaction. She wasn’t mad at me for breaking in, like I thought she’d be. I’d never seen her like this. I rubbed her head lightly trying to soothe her, but said nothing. Having her this close, made me realize how much I still cared for her. I was so concerned about her, that I hadn’t thought of all the scenarios that could have happened, and then it hit me. “Did Vince have something to do with this?” I blurted out. I knew how he was. He’s an asshole.
    “No,” she pulled away from my chest. There were long black streaks running down her face under her eyes. She stood up and walked past me into her bedroom.
    “What’s going on Sawyer?”
    “I don’t want to talk about it.” She lay down on her bed face down.
    “You’re a mess right now.”
    “Thank you,” she lifted her head and glared at me.
    “You didn’t let me finish. What I was trying to say is that, yes you are a mess, but I’m not talking about the way you look right now. If you don’t talk about it, it’ll only get worse.”
    She buried her head back inside her crossed arms. I sat down on the bed next to her and waited for her to speak. I couldn’t imagine what could possibly be wrong. I knew that Dane had mentioned something about her parents. I wondered if this had anything to do with that.
    We sat there in silence for a little while before she finally spoke. “It’s all my fault.”
    “What is?” I asked. I brushed her hair back, but she still hadn’t looked up at me.
    “I killed my parents.”
    “What! What do you mean? You did not.” I touched her cheek so that she’d face me, but she never looked me in the eyes.
    “Yes I did,” She turned away, and started crying again.
    “Look at me.” She did. “They had a car accident. That was not your fault. Is that what’s bothering you?”
    “You don’t understand Travis.”
    “Then explain it to me. Help me understand.” She sniffled. I walked into the bathroom and grabbed the toilet paper roll off the holder, and brought it back to her.
    “I’ve never talked about this with anyone, not even Dane.” Her voice was serious, and she’d finally made eye contact with me.
    “Do you trust me?” I asked. I wanted her to be able to tell me anything. I wouldn’t judge her. I cared too much about her. I would’ve thought my ‘crush’ or whatever this was I felt for her would have disappeared after all these years, but it hadn’t. Sawyer was special.
    “There is still a part of me that doesn’t want to trust you, especially after the things you did.” Her brown eyes glared at me from the corners.
    “We’ll save that fight for another day.” I smiled, earning myself the slightest little grin from her.
    “Even though I don’t want too,” she rolled her eyes. “For some reason I trust you more than anyone. I don’t know why.” She stared down at her folded hands. Her confession made me swell up a bit. She trusted me more than anybody else. That is a whole helluva lot. Especially after the way I treated her back when we were kids. I didn’t deserve her trust, but I would take it. I planned on setting things right about the kiss incident from long ago, just not tonight.
    I grabbed her hand from her lap, and she didn’t resist. “Tell me,” I insisted.
    She had taken a long, hard breath before she spoke.