Stray Scars (Book 2)

Chapter 26

Pov: Isabelle Snow

After a while, I slowly picked myself up to walk to the house like a pale ghost. I powerlessly knocked until Alexis opened the door, his smile immediately dropping. "B- Blood."

"Hm?" I breathed, looking down at my dirty clothes and the gashes that had started bleeding again. Now wasn't the time for my body to be acting up. I couldn't care less. "It's nothing. Are you safe, Alexis?"

"What.. What happened to you?" he asked with a trembling voice, looking out the door to find an agent and ask for help.

"I'm alright. I can tend to my wounds inside," I spoke lifelessly, then gently pushed him to the side so I could enter. As soon as I made it to my room, I took out some pijamas and walked into the bathroom with heavy steps, stripping out of my messed up bloody clothes, tossing them into the trash can, and proceeding to throw myself into the bathtub.

For a whole minute, I sat on the ground, trying to make sense of my surroundings. This was indeed the place I used to take showers in all the time, but I could barely recognize it when I first entered. I fought with the faucet, trying to set the temperature to be hot enough to soothe me without burning my skin. Yet, no matter what I did, I couldn't replace Hyunjin's shaking irises with warmth in my memories. The forlorn look he'd shown me a few hours ago would forever be plastered in my head.

That's it.

They all believe in what they saw today.

I lifted my hands to my head, ruffling my hair violently and picking at its ends. My fist punched the wall, but I could feel absolutely nothing.

They think I'm the reason behind their failures. They think I snitched on everything. They think I stole documents. Hyunjin thinks I'm a cheater. Minji thinks we were never friends.

What more could I have possibly done for them?! I'd taken the safest and hardest choices every time, so why was I being ridiculed like this? I'd been so selfless! I did all that, so what more did they want from me?! How could I draw on white wings when I was only given black paint?!

They hate me.

Yeah.. They hate me now.

I'm that good of an actress, huh.. I really impress myself. It's unbelievable. How can I be so talented? That... doesn't make me happy at all.

I don't want this cursed talent! I don't want to act anymore. I don't want to fight anymore. What am I even doing? Why do I have to do any of this?

I quit.

I quit.

I quit.

I just can't.

I can't do any of this anymore!

Why can't my brother just be free, so I can-

"Isabelle!" The constant knocks on the bathroom door were followed by Alexis' worried voice. "Isabelle, please! Why aren't you answering? Calvin is asking if you got a checkup for your wounds."

Can someone please check up on my inner wounds? There's some severe bleeding going on, but no one seems to be concerned.

"Leave me," I demanded, but he kept pestering me until I lost patience, "Leave me! Go away, Alexis! I don't want to hear your or anybody else's voice right now!"

"But-"

"SHUT! UP!"

At that, I finally met silence again. Water hitting the tiles created the only sound I could tolerate and I hugged my legs to my chest, sensing the warmth run down my hair. The pain I felt was so prominent, so devastating, it was almost physical- like I could clench my chest and when my hand retreated, I'd find a tangible mass of pure black agony sticking to my fingers like goo.