Abused {ACM}

Chapter 35

"Abby, baby, I need you to breathe for me, love," Austin said. "I need you to breathe. Breathe for me, Abby. You're having a panic attack, you need to calm down."

I tried, I really tried.

I really tried to breathe for him.

But this time, the ocean that was drowning my thoughts also drowned my eyes and drowned my heart, and I was on the verge of unconsciousness, and to be honest, I welcomed it. I didn't care.

"Find my aunt and uncle," I gasped out. "Austin, please. Find them now."

He looked at me with scared, watery eyes, and whispered something, but I couldn't hear him anymore. I couldn't hear anything anymore, except for my beating heart, a disastrous reminder that I was still alive.

Abby's POV

Hello world, hope you're listening...
forgive me if I'm young,
or speaking out of turn.
There's someone I've been missing -
I think that they could be
the better half of me.
They're in the wrong place
trying to make it right,
and I'm tired of justifying.
So I'll say to you:
come home, come home.
Cause I've been waiting for you
for so long, so long.
Right now there's a war between the vanities,
but all I see
is you and me,
the fight for you
is all I've ever known...
so come home.
I get lost in the beauty
of everything I see,
the world ain't half as bad
as they paint it to be.
If all the sons -
all the daughters
stopped to take it in,
well hopefully the hate subsides
and the love can begin.
It might start now, yea,
or maybe I'm just dreaming out loud.
Everything I can't be
is everything you should be.
And that's why I need you here...
Everything I can't be
is everything you should be.
And that's why I need you here.
So hear this now:
come home,
come home.
Cause I've been waiting for you
for so long,
for so long.
Right now there's a war between the vanities,
but all I see
is you and me.
The fight for you is all I've ever known...
so come home,
come home.

The piano trailed off, and I opened my eyes. Groggy and disorientated, I wished for the piano and singing to start up again, but it never did. I moaned in distaste, and coughed.

"Austin?"

The sound of his piano bench squeaked and I heard footsteps, messing up the rhythmic pounding deep in my skull.

"Abby, you're awake." Austin kneeled over the sofa and kissed my neck chastely. I felt the rough pads of his thumbs rubbing soothing circles into the skin in-between my shirt and jeans.

I smiled. "Was that you singing?"

"It was." Austin grinned back, and I raised a trembling hand to his cheek, tracing his jawline with my pointer finger.

"Did you write that song?" I whispered.

"For you." Austin closed his eyes and leaned his head into my hand.

"It's beautiful."

"It's yours."

The heat of his hands traveled up and down my arms, shocking me with his immense body heat.

"I wrote it while you were gone. It's ironically easy to write beautiful things when you're feeling so tragic on the inside."

I blinked the sleep some more out of my eyes and nodded.