Finally the Truth | It Was Never Just the Car - Eps/Chapter 16

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]For a second, neither of us moved. Rig stood on my doorstep, soak through, rain dripping from her hair and jacket onto the floor between us. I kept one hand on the door like that was somehow enough to keep all of this under control. It wasn't. Nothing about Rigs looked controlled. Her shoulders were rounded inwards. Her hands hung at her sides.

[00:00:22]Her face was pale under the hallway light, wet from the rain, and something else I didn't want to name too quickly.

[00:00:28]I had spent weeks trying not to imagine her coming back. Now she was here, and I didn't know what to do with her. "What do you mean you didn't know where else to go?" I asked. My voice came out harder than I meant it to, or maybe exactly as hard as it needed to. Rigs's eyes lifted to mine, then dropped again almost straight away. "I'm sorry."

[00:00:51]>> The words were barely there. I tightened my grip on the door. You said that already. I know.

[00:00:58]>> Then say something else. Her jaw moved like she was trying to hold the words in. Like if she said them out loud, they would become too real to survive. Then her breath caught. Not a sob. Not properly. Just a broken little sound that made something inside me go still.

[00:01:16]>> My mom died tonight.

[00:01:20]>> Everything stopped. The rain, the hallway, the anger sitting hot in my chest. All of it just stopped. I stared at her for a moment. I didn't understand the sentence. I heard every word, but my mind refused to place them together.

[00:01:36]Rigs looked down at the floor between us. Rain dripped from her sleeve.

[00:01:41]>> I didn't know where else to go.

[00:01:43]>> This time the words sounded different.

[00:01:45]Not like an excuse, like the only truth she had left. My hand loosened on the door. Rigs. Her name came out softer than I wanted it to. She shook her head once, quick and small, like she didn't want comfort, like she didn't trust herself with it.

[00:02:03]>> "I shouldn't have come here. I know I shouldn't have. I know what you said. I know I shouldn't be here."

[00:02:11]>> I swallowed. The anger was still there, but it had nowhere to stand anymore. Not properly. Not with her looking like that. Not with those words hanging in the air between us.

[00:02:23]How long? I asked. Rigs blinked.

[00:02:27]>> What?

[00:02:28]>> How long was she? I couldn't finish.

[00:02:31]Rigs understood anyway. Her face tightened.

[00:02:35]>> A while.

[00:02:37]>> I stared at her. A while. Two words. And suddenly the last two months shifted.

[00:02:43]Not fixed. Not forgiven. Shifted.

[00:02:46]The calls. I said. Rigs closed her eyes.

[00:02:50]For one second. She looked like she might fall apart right there in the hallway. Then she nodded.

[00:02:56]>> The hospital or my brother?

[00:03:00]>> My chest pulled tight. Every coffee shop, every restaurant, every time she had stepped away. Every time I had watched her face change and wondered who was on the other side of the phone.

[00:03:11]It was them. She nodded again.

[00:03:15]>> My mom kept getting worse. Some days she'd be stable and then suddenly she wasn't. They'd call because her breathing changed or because they wanted family there or because my brother was panicking and didn't know what to do.

[00:03:31]She looked at me then and the exhaustion in her face made my throat ache >> that morning. I knew which morning before she explained the morning after the arcade, the empty bed, the message I had sent trying not to sound hurt. Rigs swallowed.

[00:03:48]>> The hospital called they said I needed to come in. They said it might be.

[00:03:54]>> Her voice broke and she looked away.

[00:03:57]>> They said it might be her last night.

[00:04:00]>> I felt the words sink slowly through me.

[00:04:03]I remembered waking up alone, the pale morning light, the empty pillow beside me, the stupid sinking feeling that I had been left, that I had been used, that whatever had happened between us had meant more to me than it did to her.

[00:04:17]I had spent weeks carrying that, and all that time Rigs had been at a hospital, maybe standing beside her mother's bed, maybe listening to machines, maybe being told to prepare herself. I pressed a hand to my stomach, suddenly nauseous with guilt.

[00:04:34]I didn't know, I whispered.

[00:04:37]>> I know.

[00:04:39]>> Her answer came too quickly, too gently, and somehow that made it worse.

[00:04:46]>> I know you didn't know. That's my fault.

[00:04:50]>> The hallway felt too small. The rain kept falling loud and steady, and she was still standing there soaked through like she didn't even feel the cold.

[00:05:01]Maybe she didn't. Maybe grief had made her body forget the smaller things.

[00:05:07]"Come in," I said. Rigs looked up.

[00:05:11]>> "Era, >> come in, Rigs. You're soaked."

[00:05:14]>> "I can go."

[00:05:16]>> "Where?"

[00:05:18]She didn't answer. Exactly. I stepped back from the door. For a second, she didn't move. She looked at the space I had made like she wasn't sure she was allowed to cross it. Then she stepped inside. Water dripped from her jacket onto the floor. I closed the door behind her, shutting out the rain, and the sound of it softened instantly. The quiet left behind was worse. Rigs stood in my hallway, looking wrong there. Not because she didn't belong, because part of me still thought she did. And I hated how fast that thought came. I pointed toward the bathroom before it could get worse. You need to shower. Her eyes moved to mine.

[00:06:04]>> I'm fine.

[00:06:05]>> You're not fine.

[00:06:07]>> I don't want to make a mess.

[00:06:09]>> I looked at the puddle forming around her boots. Bit late. For the first time, something almost like a broken smile touched her mouth. It vanished quickly.

[00:06:20]Too quickly.

[00:06:22]>> I don't have clothes.

[00:06:24]>> I'll find you something.

[00:06:26]>> Ara, I don't want to, >> Rigs. She stopped. I took a breath.

[00:06:32]You're freezing. You're soaked. Get in the shower before you get sick. She looked at me for a long moment, then nodded once.

[00:06:42]>> Okay. I went to my room and found an oversized t-shirt and joggers I barely wore. When I came back, Rigs was still standing where I had left her, like she was waiting for permission to exist. I held the clothes out. Here. Her fingers brushed mine when she took them. Cold.

[00:07:02]Too cold. Thank you.

[00:07:05]>> I looked away. Bathrooms through there.

[00:07:09]She nodded again and walked past me slowly, like every step took more energy than she had. When the bathroom door closed, I stood in the hallway for a few seconds, staring at the wet footprints she had left behind. Then the shower turned on, and I finally breathed. Not properly, just enough to realize I had been holding it. My hands were shaking.

[00:07:35]I went into the kitchen, pulled out my phone, and opened Stacy's chat. For a second, I just stared at the screen.

[00:07:44]Then I typed me. Rigs just turned up.

[00:07:49]Stacy replied almost instantly.

[00:07:52]Stacy, what?

[00:07:54]I looked toward the bathroom door. The shower was still running. I typed again.

[00:08:00]Me? She just told me everything.

[00:08:04]Three dots appeared, disappeared, appeared again. Stacy, I hope it's a good excuse for what she did to you. I stared at that. A good excuse?

[00:08:17]Was there such a thing? Could grief be an excuse? Could a dying mother explain two months of silence?

[00:08:26]Could it undo the way I had felt sitting at those tables waiting for answers?

[00:08:32]No. But it changed the shape of it. It changed everything and nothing at the same time. My thumbs hovered over the keyboard. Then I typed the only thing that felt true.

[00:08:46]Me.

[00:08:47]Yeah. Now I feel guilty for walking away.

[00:08:52]Stacy started typing. Before her message came through, the shower turned off. A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened. Rigs stepped out wearing my clothes. The t-shirt hung loose on her.

[00:09:06]Her damp hair was pushed back from her face, the bandana gone, leaving her looking softer than I had ever seen her.

[00:09:14]Younger somehow, smaller.

[00:09:17]Her tattoos still made her look like rigs, but everything else looked stripped down. No jacket, no armor, no sharp edges. Just her standing in my hallway with red eyes and borrowed clothes.

[00:09:33]>> I can put my wet things somewhere.

[00:09:36]>> What?

[00:09:37]>> My clothes. I don't want them dripping everywhere.

[00:09:41]>> I almost laughed. Not because it was funny. Because of course that was what she was worried about. Her mother had died that night and she was worrying about my floor. There's a bag in the bathroom, I said. Just leave them there for now. She nodded. The silence came back different this time, heavier. I didn't know whether to offer tea, a towel, a hug, or nothing. Rigs looked at me like she could see every question I was trying not to ask.

[00:10:16]>> I think I think you probably want to ask me questions.

[00:10:22]>> I didn't answer.

[00:10:24]You should. You deserve answers.

[00:10:27]>> The words sat between us. You deserve answers.

[00:10:32]For weeks, that was all I had wanted.

[00:10:34]Now they were finally there, and I was scared of them. I folded my arms, not because I was angry anymore, but because I needed something to do with my hands.

[00:10:45]Why didn't you tell me? The question came out first. It was the one that mattered most. Rigs looked down.

[00:10:53]I don't know.

[00:10:55]>> My chest tightened. Rigs.

[00:10:59]>> I know that's not fair.

[00:11:02]>> She rubbed both hands over her face, then dropped them.

[00:11:05]>> I don't know how to explain it without sounding >> without sounding what?

[00:11:11]>> Stupid.

[00:11:12]>> I waited. She looked at me.

[00:11:15]>> When I was with you, I didn't want it to be there.

[00:11:20]>> What? All of it. The hospital, the calls, my brother crying down the phone, doctors saying things carefully because they didn't want to say dying too directly. My mom looking smaller every time I saw her.

[00:11:36]When I was with you, I wanted one place where that wasn't the whole room.

[00:11:42]>> I didn't move. Rigs looked away.

[00:11:46]>> I know that's selfish.

[00:11:48]>> It was. She nodded like she had expected that.

[00:11:52]>> Yeah.

[00:11:54]>> The honesty caught me off guard. She didn't defend herself. Didn't dress it up. Didn't turn it around on me. Just agreed.

[00:12:03]>> I wanted happiness with you. Not because I didn't trust you. Not because I didn't think you could handle it. Because I couldn't handle it. I was losing her everywhere else. And when I was with you for a few hours, I could breathe.

[00:12:20]>> Her eyes met mine.

[00:12:23]>> You were the only place the pain went quiet.

[00:12:26]>> My throat tightened so fast it hurt. I looked down because looking at her while she said that felt too much like being touched.

[00:12:36]>> But I made you feel like you were being hidden.

[00:12:39]>> I looked back up, her face twisted.

[00:12:42]>> And I hate that. I hate that I did that to you. I hate that I let you sit there wondering if there was someone else or if you were some secret when really I was just I was drowning and I didn't know how to let you see it.

[00:13:00]I hated that tears sprang to my eyes.

[00:13:03]Not because I didn't want to feel sorry for her because I still remembered how much it had hurt. Both things existed at once. her grief, my hurt. Neither canceled the other out.

[00:13:16]That morning after the arcade, I said.

[00:13:19]Rigs nodded, already knowing where my mind had gone.

[00:13:23]>> I got the call around 5.

[00:13:26]>> I felt my stomach turn.

[00:13:28]>> I tried to wake you. I did. I sat on the edge of the bed for maybe a minute, maybe longer. I don't know. You were asleep and you looked you looked peaceful.

[00:13:43]>> I couldn't speak.

[00:13:45]>> I hadn't seen anything peaceful in weeks and I couldn't bring myself to pull you into it. So, I left. I thought I'd text properly when I got there. Then everything was happening and my brother was shouting at a nurse and my mom was asking where I was and I just >> pressed her hand to her mouth for a second.

[00:14:08]>> I'm not making excuses.

[00:14:11]>> No.

[00:14:12]>> No.

[00:14:14]>> She shook her head.

[00:14:16]>> I should have told you something.

[00:14:17]Anything. I know that. I know what it looked like.

[00:14:23]>> I wrapped my arms tighter around myself.

[00:14:26]It looked like you regretted it. Rigs's eyes snapped to mine.

[00:14:31]>> I didn't.

[00:14:33]>> I believed her. That was the problem.

[00:14:35]This time I believed her. Not because I wanted to be soft. Because there was no hesitation, no performance, just pain.

[00:14:45]>> I never regretted that night. Not once.

[00:14:50]>> The wall inside me shifted. Not gone, not down, but cracked.

[00:14:56]What about the coffee shop? I asked.

[00:14:59]>> Hospital.

[00:15:00]>> The restaurant.

[00:15:02]>> My brother. Mom had a bad turn.

[00:15:06]>> The drive.

[00:15:08]>> Hospital again. They thought she might have an infection.

[00:15:13]>> Film night. Rigs closed her eyes.

[00:15:17]>> They called to say her oxygen had dropped.

[00:15:21]>> I stopped asking for a second. Each answer landed exactly where my imagination had once put another woman, another life, another secret. And somehow the truth was worse. Not worse for me, worse because I had been angry at a ghost while Rigs had been standing beside a hospital bed. I sat down on the edge of the sofa because my legs suddenly felt unreliable.

[00:15:45]Rig stayed standing. "You can sit," I said. She hesitated, then sat on the chair opposite me, not close, not assuming she was allowed nearer. That helped more than I wanted it to. Were you with her? I asked. Rig stared at her hands. When she died, she nodded. My chest hurt. Yeah.

[00:16:12]>> Her voice was barely there.

[00:16:15]>> I was holding her hand. My brother was on the other side. She hadn't been properly awake for a while, but the nurse said she might still hear us.

[00:16:25]So, I kept talking. I didn't know what else to do.

[00:16:30]>> Her breath shuddered.

[00:16:32]>> I told her I was there. I told her she wasn't alone.

[00:16:37]I told her I told her she could rest if she needed to.

[00:16:43]>> I pressed my hand to my mouth. Rigs's eyes filled again, but the tears fell silently. No big sobb, no drama, just grief leaking out because there was nowhere left for it to hide.

[00:16:57]>> And then she just Rigs looked at the floor.

[00:17:02]>> She went quiet.

[00:17:04]>> The room felt too still.

[00:17:06]>> I thought I'd be ready because everyone kept saying it was coming. Like that helps. like knowing someone is dying makes it less impossible when they actually do.

[00:17:18]>> I stood before I had decided to. Rigs looked up. I crossed the space between us and sat beside her, leaving a little room, but not too much. She stared at me like she didn't know what to do. Neither did I. So, I did the only thing that made sense. I reached for her hand. Her fingers were warmer now, but they still trembled when they curled around mine.

[00:17:43]I'm sorry, I said. Her face broke this time. She didn't hide it.

[00:17:51]>> I'm sorry, too.

[00:17:53]>> I shook my head. Not now, >> Elara.

[00:17:58]>> Not now. I repeated. We can talk about us. We will. But not right this second.

[00:18:05]Her eyes searched mine. The phone lit up on the coffee table. Both of us looked.

[00:18:11]A call. The name on the screen made Rigs's face change. I felt my body tense before I could stop it. Old habits, old hurt.

[00:18:22]But this time, Rigs didn't stand. She didn't walk away. She didn't take the phone into another room. She looked at me first.

[00:18:32]>> Can I answer?

[00:18:34]>> The question nearly undid me. She was asking, not disappearing, not deciding for both of us. Asking.

[00:18:43]I nodded. Rigs picked up the phone and answered right there beside me. Hey.

[00:18:50]>> The voice on the other end was loud enough that I could hear it, panicked and rough.

[00:18:55]>> Where the hell are you? You just left. I came back and you were gone.

[00:19:01]>> Rigs closed her eyes. I'm sorry.

[00:19:05]Rigs, where are you?

[00:19:07]>> I'm safe.

[00:19:09]>> Where?

[00:19:10]>> She looked at me, not for permission this time, for steadiness.

[00:19:16]Then she said, >> "I'm at."

[00:19:19]>> Silence on the other end. Then her brother breathed out.

[00:19:24]>> "Are you okay?"

[00:19:26]>> Rigs looked down at our joined hands.

[00:19:29]For a moment, she didn't answer. Then she said, >> "No."

[00:19:34]>> My grip tightened around hers.

[00:19:37]>> "But I'm safe."

[00:19:39]>> Her brother said something quieter then, something I couldn't catch. Rigs nodded even though he couldn't see her.

[00:19:46]>> "I know. I'm sorry I left like that. I just I couldn't stay there.

[00:19:54]I'll call you in a bit. I promise."

[00:19:58]Yeah. I love you, too.

[00:20:01]She ended the call. The room went quiet again, but it wasn't the same silence as before. This one had truth in it.

[00:20:10]Painful truth. Messy truth. Truth that didn't fix everything, but finally gave the hurt somewhere to land. Rigs kept looking at the phone in her hand.

[00:20:22]>> I should have answered like that before.

[00:20:25]>> I looked at her. Yeah. She nodded.

[00:20:30]I know.

[00:20:32]>> I didn't say it was okay because it wasn't. Not yet. Maybe not for a while, but I didn't let go of her hand either.

[00:20:42]Outside, the rain kept falling against the windows. Inside, Rig sat beside me in borrowed clothes, grief sitting heavy between us, her hands shaking in mine.

[00:20:54]And for the first time in months, she hadn't walked away. She had stayed and I finally knew why she kept