bruises - james potter

eighty-five

( chapter eighty-five )
tw : abuse

VOICES FILLED CASSIE'S EARS, THEY WERE muffled but they echoed around her empty mind, each word ricocheting off one of the walls that kept any thoughts contained in her ever racing mind.

The voices sounded familiar, yet they also sounded new to her ears.

Cassie kept her eyes shut, despite the urge to open them that was building up inside of her. She didn't know what she was going to see if she opened her eyes, she had a feeling, but she was hoping she was wrong.

She was praying she was wrong.

Cassie's back was pressed against a wall, her legs tucked into her body as tightly as they could be and her arms were wrapped around her knees, each hand grabbing the opposite thigh so hard she could feel her nails cutting through the layers of soft flesh.

Her hands were shaking, the grip on her legs not helping to keep them steady.

She had a feeling in the pits of her stomach, it was an unpleasant feeling, not the butterflies she was so used to feeling seeing as she spent most of her time around James.

The voices continued to grow louder and louder, yet they were still muffled in her mind, each word still echoing around.

They only grew louder by each passing second, but nothing they were saying was clear.

Cassie felt like her head was underwater and the only thing telling her that she wasn't was the way that water wasn't filling her lungs with each breath she took.

The voices came to a sudden stop, the new silence sending shivers down Cassie's back that ended right at the bottom of her spine, those shivers caused her whole body to shiver, but it wasn't due to the cold.

The sound of a door opening close by caused Cassie to open her eyes, it was only slightly, but she could still see the door clearly.

The dark wood opened with a slight creek, a noise that Cassie knew very well. A yellow light illuminated the doorway, it danced slightly in the weak breeze that was always there in Grimmauld Place.

Her parents silhouettes were visible standing in the door frame, they looked in on the room.

Cassie's eyes widened as she looked at them, she tried to push herself further against the wall behind her, but she hardly moved and her legs were only pushing aimlessly against the dusty carpet.

"Cassie, dear? Are you okay?"

Cassie stopped moving, she stayed frozen on the spot like a deer in headlights.

That was her mothers voice, but at the same time, it wasn't.

This voice was soft and caring, each word sounding heartfelt and like it held meaning behind it. There didn't seem to be any snarky undertones to her voice as she spoke, and her words didn't linger in the room due to the amount of venom she spat out when she spoke.

Cassie scrunched her eyes up slightly, her eyebrows furrowing and her head tilting to the side as her parents stepped further into the room: so the girl could now see their faces and not just an outline of their bodies.

Seeing their faces only confused Cassie more.

They weren't staring at her as if she had just threatened to kill their youngest son; their eyes weren't filled with anger and hatred, their mouths were twisted into snide smirks and twisted smiled, their noses weren't upturned as they looked down upon their only daughter.