Pain.
That's all that Isabella has experienced for the past 16 years. The pain of the abuse she faces from her boyfriend and step father. The pain of her loneliness at home. The pain of 'not being good enough'.
But she's learnt to tune it out. She's...
"The monsters were never under my bed, for the monsters were inside my head"
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Dinner was awkward.
It was completely silent, the only sound was the earsplitting noise of knives scraping against plates.
The knowledge that I was telling them about my past after dinner was enough to shut me up the entire time. I think my brothers caught on to this because they didn't say a word either the entire time.
After I had been alone for a few hours with my thoughts, I finally got a grasp of what I need to say. Elijah came up to take me downstairs, where a pile of dinner sat for me, this time a lot smaller than last time as they finally understand that I cannot eat as much food as they serve for me.
It was impossible to finish dinner, I was trying my hardest but there was still too much on the plate. I ate about a third before I had to stop.
We're all still sitting at the table in silence. Not a word has been spoken for half an hour. I look around the table, making eye contact with each of them from my slumped position in my chair. Being slouched a bit helps the pain in ribs and I'm quite tired, so I cross my arms over my chest and commit to it.
"Alright, this is stupid. Everyone's going to get up right now and sit down in the living room or your punishment from earlier will be even worse." Vince demands from the head of the table, making everyone immediately stand up from his deadly power over everyone.
I stand up a little too quickly, gripping the back of the chair for support as I wait a moment to get my balance and stop my head from spinning.
Immediately Bruno has one arm around the back of my shoulders and the other holding my arm.
"Easy." He encourages while I come back to earth, squeezing my eyelids shut.
"You good now?" Lorenzo asks from my other side, putting a hand on my back while I rely on the chair. The action of supporting me is nice, but the overwhelming feeling of being trapped is the only thought in my head.
"Yep. Can you please let me go?" I request, slowly shifting all my weight back to my feet and letting go of the chair. They release me, the feeling of claustrophobia no longer there.
"Thanks." I mumble as they take a few steps back, watching to make sure I was actually ok.
"No problem, let's go now before we get beaten to a pulp." Lorenzo jokes, making me internally grimace while I let out a small, nervous laugh.
What if I really do get beaten to a pulp?
We quickly move out of the room, following Vince who has already covered a lot of ground and is the entrance that connects the dining room to the large living area.
He takes a seat in an arm chair, followed by Elijah, Alessandro and Ricardo taking one couch. The triplets and Lorenzo take another couch, leaving a free arm chair for me to take.
