Heart To Heart - Sage/Scout
Sage felt like she hadn’t seen Scout and Hunter in ages. Hunter always locked himself away in his room, and Scout was often nowhere to be found. They were quite alike in personality but spent their free time much differently. Sage couldn’t complain. Scout was making friends, and Hunter was throwing himself into his art. There had been no calls from the school about fights or suspensions. Things seemed to be calm. While Sage didn’t want to risk interrupting that kind of balance, she missed her kids.
While bringing the laundry upstairs one day, she decided that perhaps it could be an excuse to just sit down for a bit and catch up with both of them. It didn’t come as a surprise when she opened the door to Scout’s room, only to find it empty. What did catch her eye, though, were the Girl Squad cookies that cluttered her floor and bed. Boxes lined the base of her walls, and others had been opened and half eaten. At this point, Sage had learned not to question her daughter’s actions. Though the amount of cookies was alarming, it wasn’t as concerning as some of the other things Scout did. She decided it would be best just to leave it be.
She set the basket of clothes on top of her dresser and turned to leave, but something else made her stay. Sitting next to the laundry was a watch, and a nice one at that. Sage picked it up and flipped it over in her hands, trying to figure out where she had gotten it. It was made for a man and didn’t seem new enough for it to be something Scout had bought on a whim. She was ready to put the watch back in its place and ask later until she saw the initials that were engraved into it.
Her heart dropped into her stomach. This had to have been a mistake. The door downstairs slammed, and Sage knew if she didn’t figure this all out now, she might not get another chance.
"Scout!" she called out, "Can you come up here? I need to ask you something."
Scout had spent most of her day thinking about the conversation she had with Embry. Rather than paying attention in class, she tried to figure out why anyone would ever see her as anything other than villainous and cruel. She didn’t feel sorry for herself because it was an image she perpetuated constantly. In her mind, keeping others at a distance was safe. Being burned once was enough for her to learn not to reach towards fire.
As soon as she got home, her mother was calling her name. She was fairly certain there was nothing worth calling home about today. It had been a few weeks since she had said anything or hit anybody. Her heart sank when she remembered the cookies. Soon enough, she had bolted up the stairs and was in her room.
"Iboughtallthecookiesbecauseifonemademehappythenmorecouldmakemereallyhappy," she rambled, her brain racing around per usual. "I gave some away but I just really wanted them. I couldn’t help myself from buying them. What are you doing in my room anyways?"
In her mind, both of her parents harbored animosity towards her. While Eli was more obvious with his general distaste, Scout couldn’t shake the feeling of not being good enough for her mother. Hunter had a bond with his mother that Scout couldn’t compare to. She felt like the conversations they had were more like talking to a doctor than a parent, but that was of no one’s fault but her own.
Her eyes locked on to the watch in her mother’s hands. Her superiority complex from the mania made her smirk with pride.
"You can have it."
As soon as Scout set foot in the room, she started talking a mile a minute. Sage desperately tried to follow what she was saying, furrowing her eyebrows when she realized that Scout was talking about the cookies. Was that really her only concern? If this watch really belonged to the person Sage believed it to be, then they had much, much bigger issues at hand.
"I brought some laundry up, and I found thi-" she started, falling silent when Scout spoke. She could have it? That's all she had to say? Sage wasn't an idiot. She knew there was something wrong with her daughter. All the evidence was there. Hell, just having she and Eli for parents was reason enough to suspect there might be something off. Scout displayed every symptom of bipolar disorder. She made bad decisions not because she wanted to, but because her brain gave her no other options, and her mood swings were so intense that they were not only scary for those around her but to herself, too.
Sage wanted to help her, but Scout refused to hear it. She had hoped she would have been able to delay this conversation a little longer, but if her daughter's next answer matched what Sage was thinking and dreading, then continuing to wait was out of the question.
"Where did you get this, Scout? And be honest with me."