Chapter 27:

*LUNA'S POV:

"Is anyone else here?" Eddie asked, looking around my bedroom.

"Dad's working and my mom went to the store for a while." I shrugged, spinning around in my desk chair. "MeMe is at yoga."

"For a while, huh?"

"Yeah, she had a coupon binge last night. That woman is gonna come home with a bunch of sales." I laughed, continuing to spin.

"Wanna have some fun then?" he asked, walking over to me with dreamy eyes.

"Ah, so you suggest we watch a movie then?" I joked, smiling up at the boy standing over me. Leaning down to press his lips to mine, he wiggled his hands underneath my legs and hoisted me up to his waist. Waltzing to the bed, he tossed me down and I bounced a few times, giggling. Eddie's demeanor was off─he wasn't as loose and gentle as usual. Following the downfall I took to the bed, his weight shifted on top of me as we continued to kiss. The feeling was foreign. I squirmed in discomfort.

"Let's slow down with the fun, huh?" I awkwardly laughed, pulling away from his lips.

He got off and grabbed behind my knees, pulling me to the edge of the bed where he stood. Fingers reached for the button of my shorts.

"Whoa, Eddie-"

"C'mon, Audy,"

"I'm not really feeling like it today-"

"It's been a while."

"Yeah, because there's been a lot going on."

"Aren't you bored? Don't you want to add a little excitement? More passion, lust, romance?"

"I'm perfectly fine where it stands now." I said firmly, crossing my arms. "I'm not going to do anything I don't want to do."

His eyes narrowed at me. "Since when did we get defensive?"

"I've always been defensive, I've just never had to be that way around you." I scoffed, standing up from the bed and walking to the other side of the room. "Why are you getting so irritated? What happened to a respectful boyfriend?"

"He's not exactly here right now, can't you tell?"

That's when it clicked. The sudden mood change, the different personality. . .

Relapse.

"When's the last time you took your meds." I bluntly asked.

"This morning,"

"I don't believe you."

"Oh, believe me, darling, I did." he cockily smiled.

"You're relapsing."

"You can't relapse from something you never had."

"I'm calling Dr. Collins." I sighed, walking over to my phone.

"Over my dead body," he laughed, snatching my phone from the bed.

"Eddie, this is serious! You were doing so well, but it's nothing to be ashamed of. It happens all the time. It's just a problem in need of fixing again."

"Look, just because I'm upset my little bitch of a girlfriend doesn't want to fuck doesn't mean I have a fucking problem."

"That's exactly the problem right there, asshole! Eddie would have never spoken those words." I yelled, slightly hurt from his harsh selection of vocabulary.

"Exactly, my dear. What part aren't you understanding?" he asked, his eyes becoming darker by the minute.

"What?" I asked.

"Wow, a straight-A student for nearly thirteen years and you still can't figure this out? How stupid are you?" he snickered. Unable to control my anger, my hand raised to strike him. I knew it wasn't the appropriate solution, but I was just so appalled with his comments. Eddie quickly grabbed my wrist and backed me up against a wall. "You wanna fucking try that again, sweetheart?"

"Back off, Eddie,"

"Still not getting it?"

"What am I not understanding?"

"Everything, Luna,"

"It's all in your head." I answered.

"It's really not. There was never a disorder, never a need for hospitalization or doctors or medication. My dear, it's all merely a masterpiece that happened to fall into a category for explanation."

Don't believe a single word of this bullshit, I reminded myself. Delusions and manipulation were characteristics of this alter-ego. Go along with it to appease his narcissism.

"I come from way back, you know, looking for delicious young ladies like yourself. The ones with the purest of souls, the smartest of brains, and the hearts of gold." What is this? Some kind of fairytale? "There was a slight accident that destroyed me, but recently I was set free and low and behold! Here I am, the next award in the palm of my hands."

"I-"

"Now Eddie would never hurt a delicate being like yourself, which is why I have to do most of the work. Some guys could easily be manipulated, but this little boyfriend of yours. . .not so much. I had to pull my weight which was all the more better."

"Don't lay another finger on me." I scoffed, pushing him away with all my strength.

"Don't what?" he asked sarcastically, grabbing a handful of hair and yanking me back against his stiff body. He nuzzled his head into my neck and softly hissed, "I have every capability of breaking you physically, mentally, and emotionally. I've been doing this for centuries. Don't hesitate in thinking I won't end this game early."

I whimpered, trying to free my hair from his fist, but his grip tightened as he pulled harder, now snaking his hand up my neck and around my throat, "You're hurting me!"

"Fear is radiating off you. I feed off of fear."

"Stop-"

"Pain,"

"Ow-"

"Anguish,"

"Let go of me!"

"Wanna know why?" he spat, pushing me to the floor, "Because I'm your worse fucking nightmare."

"Get away from me, you bastard. Leave me alone!" I screamed, scrambling away to the door.

"I'm not leaving you until I have every fucking ounce of your soul."

"What the hell are you talking about, Eddie? Snap out of it, please!" I wailed.

"For the last goddamn time, he isn't here." he boomed, grabbing my arm and pulling me up against my desk. "I mean he is, but he isn't quite in control at the moment. Don't worry, I can hear him screaming and pleading for me to stop. It only makes this better.

"God help me," I whispered.

"God isn't with you."

"Fuck you!" I screamed, pushing him away and throwing the nearest thing at him. He ducked, making the glass of the apparent picture frame shatter as it hit the closet door.

"You bitch," he seethed, lunging toward me and holding me off the ground by my arms.

"What in the world is going on in here?" someone yelled, bursting through the bedroom door and freezing. MeMe. When we turned to look at her, she had this horrified, yet enraged facial expression toward Eddie.

"Long time no see, my dear Annabelle." Eddie spoke, placing me on my feet.

"Get out of this house. You're not welcome here." MeMe growled.

"Oh, but I believe I am. I'm pretty popular in the family now, don't you think?"

"Eddie is loved by the family. Not you. Now get out before history has to repeat itself."

"Whatever you say, Annabelle." he grinned devilishly, bumping into her purposely as he walked out of the room and left the house.

MeMe stood there in shock, mumbling something under her breath as her hands balled into fists. Too many emotions were flooding over me and I slid to the floor and sobbed. What did MeMe know about this? "What the hell is going on?"

MeMe snapped out of her trance and came rushing to my side. She lightly touched my arm and gently asked if I was injured in any way─physically at least. Then she asked when my mother would be home, which I answered with a shrug. Come downstairs with me, she nudged, we might need to talk about something.

Soon after, Mom came home from the store and dropped all the groceries she was carrying when she saw the state of my distress in the kitchen. She instantly asked what happened as I was ran to.

"He attacked her," MeMe said quickly, before I could even clear my throat to answer.

"Who? You don't mean-"

"Yes," MeMe answered yet again, pacing anxiously around the kitchen.

"I'll kill that son of a b─"

"Get in the car, both of you." MeMe said, grabbing her keys. "We're going to my house."

"Mom, this really isn't a good─"

"Now,"

Mom and I quickly gathered our things and met MeMe outside. We piled into her car and she sped off in the direction towards her house. The car ride was silent the entire way, which was relaxing, yet discomforting. When we got to the cabin, she jumped out of her car and jogged inside. We chased after her.

"Mom! What are you doing?" my mom yelled, looking around for her. We went up a few steps and saw that she was fumbling around with the upstairs closet door. She pried it open and rummaged around for something. She froze for a second, screaming in frustration and throwing an item down the hallway.

"MeMe, what's going on? Please, tell me." I begged, my voice cracking.

"Luna, you need to tell me everything that boy has done and every word that he has said from the moment he began acting strange."

I didn't want to question anything. I told her everything. How it started with the sleepless nights that eventually led to night terrors. I told her about the harsh mood swings and sicknesses. The violent episodes where he wouldn't even remember what he had done. I even had to mention all the ugly things he did to me. If it was going to help, I couldn't hold back. Mom was extremely upset, threatening Eddie from left to right. I told her about the incident that happened about a half hour ago, too. Everything he said and everything he did.

"What does all this mean? What's happening to him?" I asked.

MeMe sighed, running her wrinkly hands through her grey hair. "I never thought I would have to tell this story."

"What story?" Mom asked.

"There's something you need to know, the both of you." she said, pulling out her oversized locket necklace. She took it off and placed it on the table we were around, unlocking the clip and opening it. Out fell a picture of grandpa and a small bullet. "Luna, your grandfather, and Amanda, your father, never had schizophrenia."

"What? No, that's. . .that's impossible. He had it all his life." Mom defended.

"That's what we made you think."

"Wha. . . then explain the suicide! The letter, the grief, the reports!" she continued to shriek.

"That's the thing. He wasn't the one who pulled the trigger the night he lost his life." MeMe said, causing my mother to freeze. She looked at the both of us and took a deep breath.

"I was."...................................................A/N: oh SHIT GRAMMA

The story is finally falling into the plot! It only took forty long chapters of complete bullshit.

I know a lot of you have been asking about MeMe, and some of your thoughts are probably running wild with her last confession. But no worries! Everything will be explained in the next chapter, which will be up SOON! If this update seemed very jumbled and confusing, good. That's how it was supposed to be.

Thank you to any new readers and my readers that have been reading since the beginning! Love you all!

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