I woke up with a startle, confused by my surroundings but immediately comforted by the scent of Hunter’ pillow next to my head, reminding me exactly of who I’d slept next to the night before. I could hear muffled voices coming from downstairs and as the exchanges got louder I got the impression the conversation wasn’t too friendly. I got out of the bed in a hurry, putting my hair into a ponytail and opened the master bedroom’s door to listen in before barging into the kitchen.
‘How is she any better here?’ I heard a female voice shout, ‘At least up there she was isolated from the world, but now your entire street probably knows she’s here!’ she continued angrily, defending her point. ‘I did my best to protect you! You may have no regard for your safety and grandpa’s, but I do.’ Hunter screamed back and I realised he was arguing with Nora. She was probably not happy with how he’d gone about doing things yesterday and had come to tell him to his face. ‘I’m not gonna let your kindness kill you. Don’t you get it grams? I don’t want to lose any of you. Not you, not grandpa and especially Mia.’ he said, exasperated this time from the underlying pain of having to deal with such an impossible situation that was affecting everyone he cared for.
‘You can’t possibly think she’ll agree to only stay indoors so she’s not seen. At the farm she had her own place, enough land for her to get lost in. She’ll go crazy in here.’ Nora tried to make her point and part of me agreed with her. It was hard imagining myself locked up in here for days or even months but as Hunter put it, ‘It’s better to be crazy than dead.’ I would much rather be confined in his house than die just for the sake of dying, like James had. Nora shrugged as if she was giving up, ‘You’re just as stubborn as your dad’ she said, something I found funny until Hunter replied, ‘Don’t! I’m nothing like him’ and I realised there was more to Hunter than met the eye and there was a reason he never mentioned family beyond his grandparents. I decided to walk down the stairs in that moment, making the stairs screech intentionally so they knew I was coming and their conversation would stop, since I had a feeling they were both about to say things they might soon regret.
Nora was the only one to greet me, hugging me closely and whispering in my ear just like a mother would, ‘Morning darling, how did you sleep?’. I brushed off the thought of my mother — – who’d never asked me if I’d actually slept well and answered Nora,’ I’m alright, thank you! How are you? I’m sorry I left in such a rush yesterday’ I continued, intentionally putting the blame on me to let Hunter catch a break.
She patted me on the shoulder dismissing my words, clearly not buying any of it and said, ‘It’s okay. Don’t you worry about that, dear. I know it’s not your fault.’ aiming her gaze at Hunter, who looked a bit shaken perhaps from her earlier comment about his dad. I wondered why the subject of his dad was so sensitive but then I realised we’d been so busy with my life we never got around discussing his. ‘It’s not his fault either, Nora…’ I whispered in his defense. She was too focused on me being here that she couldn’t see how hard it had been for him to make that decision. ‘I know, darling.’ She sighed and signaled for Hunter to come and give her a hug. ‘I just worry about the two of you here. I wish you could all just stay with us at the farm, we both enjoy having you there so much.’
Hunter returned her embraced and did so for a few seconds more than necessary, making me feel like he was trying to ease his own pain at what he was about to say, ‘It’s not that simple, grams. That’s why…that’s why you can’t come back here for awhile.’ Breaking their embrace, he took a look at her and sadly smiled still holding onto her shoulders. She asked ‘Why?’ confused by his request, but did not protest, ‘Because it’s not safe for any of us. Those people have put a target on her back and right now the less attention she gets here the safer it is for everyone involved.’
She looked at both of us trying to piece everything together and eventually asked, ‘Is there something I don’t know about? Why is it not so safe now when it was yesterday?’. I sighed and began explaining yesterday’s events that had made Hunter act like he did, ‘They’re claiming I could be the one behind his death and the police will most likely name me a prime suspect in a few days.’ It was easier for them if the entire country looked for me and they intercepted the different hits coming from the public on my whereabouts. ‘Oh darling, I’m so sorry…’ she hugged me and I returned her embrace, looking at Hunter apologetic for the emotional turmoil I was causing them all. ‘I’m the one who’s sorry. I don’t know how you’re still on my side after everything I’ve told you about me.’. Nora almost shed a tear at my words and simply looked at me endearingly, ‘It’s a small town here, people take care of each other, especially those we love and we…’ she paused, looking at Hunter and the back at me, ‘We love you, dear and we want you to be safe.’
Note: Thank you for reading this post! This is the 15th part of the MB series which you can find on my blog. If you enjoyed it please hit the like button and subscribe to my blog for more!
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