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━━ HEARTS, HEADS...
PEOPLE OFTEN SAY THE WORLD is quiet at night.
They complain about the silence, about the world gone still as dusk reaches over their heads. These people usually sleep well, finding solace in their dreams and fantasies. They can rest easily.
But everyone who's ever had a nightmare knows that night is the loudest part of the day.
Shaw has never been this angry before.
I sit on the edge of the uncomfortable couch, my hands placed courteously in my lap. There are bandages encircling my stomach, and my back throbs. There are bruises running up my leg from where Shaw's kinetic energy has become too much. Tear-stains line my cheek, making permanent rivulets along my cheeks.
They have left me. Azazel, Emma, Riptide, all thrown out by Shaw. I can still see their faces, stricken and slightly cautious. When the door closes, and the world becomes utterly silent, I hold in a whimper. Shaw turns back around, and I could have sworn for a moment, his eyes flashed red.
Shaw stalks over to the couch, and I look away. There is a window on the other side of the room, a wide one with white curtains that drape to the floor like a satin waterfall. Light streams in from the slit in the center, and I can see the other large buildings towering above us. This apartment building is new, completely refurbished and empty thanks to Shaw.
The last apartment was not, the one where I tried to escape.
A mistake I will never make again.
"Leena." I swallow thickly, my throat clenching at his voice. The sickeningly sweet, honey-tinted voice. It sounds as if he's speaking with a toddler, a little baby, cooing and whining and entirely his. He sounds like he's talking to a dog, to something he owns. That something is me.
I want the glass to break. I want the curtains to fly away, for the air to stream in and carry me out of this place. I would let it guide me, not fighting where mother nature wanted to take me. Just anywhere but here, please just anywhere but here, with him.
I wish I had wings. Then I could go wherever I wanted, to whomever I wanted.
There was a kind lady a couple weeks ago that called the police as Shaw and I walked down the street, seeing the bruises on my neck. She had a smile that made me feel safe. We left before they arrived. Maybe I could go to her, maybe she would take me in.
