safe in my arms | solangelo au | under editing

Chapter TwentyThree

NPOV:

I wake up on a cold sweat, the taste of blood in my mouth and my entire body hurting. Where am I? Then it all comes flooding back.

I cover my face and sob. Why do bad things always happen to me? I understand that I've done a lot of bad things, and deserve some punishment, but karma has gone overboard. Do I really deserve this?

~~~

After Will left, I was furious. But not at him; at myself. I knew I shouldn't have defended Percy.

The whole time I had been with him, he had drilled it into me that it was okay for him to do those things to me. He gave me multiple reasons. As I got older, I realised he was lying. But when I was young and naïve, I believed him. A few of the lies he told me when I was thirteen, I still half-believe.

After a while, Will came back. At least, I thought it was Will. They stayed silent, and I thought that he must be mad. I thought he was going to kick me out.

I wanted to apologise, but not right then. Later, when my emotions weren't as raw. When I wasn't as stressed.

I knew that if I spoke to him then, my emotions would run wild. I would end up either screaming at him or kissing him, and I didn't want to do either. Well, I kind of wanted to kiss him, but I knew he would definitely kick me out then.

He knocked at the bedroom door, hard. I tended, reluctant to speak.
"Nico?" His voice was barely a whisper.
"G-go away. Please."
"No. I'm coming in. Open the door." His voice was lower than usual, with a hard edge.
"No. Please just leave me alone."
"Open. The. Door." He growled. "Now!"

With a chill, I realised it wasn't Will's voice. It was Percy's.

I panicked. If I told him to go away again, he's probably just take me by force. If I opened the door, he'd take me away. I did the only thing I could: I hoped for a miracle. I squeezed my eyes closed and hoped with everything I had that Will would return, or Percy would leave or, even better, drop dead.

Apparently, karma wasn't done with me yet, because no miracle came.
"Let me in!" Percy roared. I walked to the window, careful not to make any noise. I shouldn't have replied. He would have thought I was gone, and he would have left.

I heard a loud crash, and I opened the window. I was on the top floor of the house. I would probably survive the fall, if I had good balance. Unfortunately, I don't. I was shaking uncontrollably, silent crying. The crashing continued. Percy was screaming, swearing.

Just before I jumped out of the window, the door was kicked down. Percy marched in, a murderous look in his eyes. I stepped closer to the window and he leaped at me, grabbing me in a suffocating tight choke hold.

I struggled, but he grabbed Will's guitar and hit me on the head with it. I fell to the ground, and hit my head on the floor. The last thing I remember seeing was Percy looming over me, then everything went black.