Chapter 125
HANNAH
"Same thing as you," I said and let out a dry chuckle. "I came here to escape from the world but... it didn't really help. The kind of problems I have aren't the type I can run away from."
Mia's brows furrowed. She watched me walk over to the other mirror to stare at my reflection. My eyes were a little red, but thankfully not puffy or swollen.
"Hannah, are you okay?" she asked.
Yes lingered on the tip of my tongue but I found I didn't have the energy to tell even a simple lie.
I shook my head.
"I'm not okay," I confessed. "It feels like my life is spinning out of control these days. I don't know what's going to happen to me next and that scares me more than anything."
"I understand," she murmured. "I used to feel the same way."
Surprising, almost shocking.
I never would have thought a girl like Mia would be scared of anything. She was always so sure of herself. She looked like the typical rich girl who had everything going on for her.
But the sudden sadness I saw swirling in the depths of her eyes was only too real.
"What do you mean?" I asked, half expecting her to wave off the question.
"It's a pretty long story," she began.
I rested my hip against the sink. "I've got time... unless you would rather not talk about it."
"No. I'll tell you." Mia paused to collect her thoughts. "I transferred here because I literally ran away from my old pack. One night, my whole family was murdered." She shuddered. "It was a bloody massacre. I was the only one that survived. The Alpha of my pack blamed me for my parent's deaths even though I knew he was responsible for it." She read the look on my face. Her lips curved into a bitter smile. "How did I know? The Alpha was a power-hungry devil that everybody hated and feared. Nobody ever challenged him because those that did end up mysteriously disappearing. My father was fearless and brave. He called the Alpha out on his bad leadership. In less than forty-eight hours, he and my whole family were murdered." She shrugged. "It wasn't hard to do the math. So I took as much stuff as I could and left Blackwood."
Mia's eyes grew suspiciously wet. She blinked and turned to the mirror to arrange her already perfect hair. My heart went out to her. I understood her pain as no one else could.
How could I not when my own father had been banished and labelled a traitor for no just cause by a vicious Alpha who now wanted me dead?
I touched her arm. Slowly she turned. I took her hand.
"I know exactly how you feel," I told her. "Almost the same thing happened to me months ago. I'm here if you ever need to talk about it. You don't have to feel alone anymore."
Her answer was clasping my hand very tightly. Maybe she was afraid to talk because then she wouldn't be able to hold back the tears.
I knew how that felt too.
"Oh, and about what you asked earlier. Yes, you can be my friend," I finished.
Mia beamed. I thrust out my hand. She ignored it and pulled me into a hug instead.
********
"So let me get this straight. She told you a sob story, and you just accepted it?" Willa rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Hannah! I thought we had agreed you weren't to trust anybody."
"It's not a sob story," I countered. "You should have seen her. Her pain was real. You would have felt sorry for her, too, if you had been there."
"I honestly doubt that."
"Oh, come on, Willa. You're not as hardhearted as you're trying to be. The poor girl must be so alone and terrified, wondering if the people who killed her family would come after her to finish her off." I told her. "You don't know what that feels like."
Willa, unfortunately, still didn't look convinced.
"How are you even sure Mia's telling the truth?"
"Well I'm not a hundred percent sure," I admitted. "But chances are that she is." I placed both hands on Willa's stiff shoulders. She relaxed. But not much. "For a moment, imagine Mia is me. Would you have turned your back on me?"
Willa hesitated and shook her head. "That is different. I knew you were telling the truth."
"Not really," I said. "Please, Willa. It's going to make things a lot easier for Mia if you also accept her as a friend. Will you do it?"
Willa answered with a shrug. "I'll try, but I don't promise to trust her. People running from their past usually carry the same sort of poison with them."
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