Chiara Rose

dodici

"I learnt Spanish through primary school, and my friend's Mum also taught me. So by the time I was done in primary school, I was fluent. Then I just picked French up when I started high school." I explain slowly.

Renee, Chase's mum, is fluent in Spanish. Her mother was Spanish and taught her how to speak it, so she passed it down to Chase, Arabella and I. It was nice when at school, we could talk shit about people in Spanish and no one could understand what we were saying.

"I kind of speak Spanish, but Tino and Gi are both fluent in it. And they're both fluent in French and other languages, aren't you Gi." Carlo says, now fully turning his attention to Gi. I do the same, and just find him frowning to himself whilst gently pressing at my ribs.

"Sí, lo soy. Now I know Carlo said no questions, but looking at your ribs I'm going to have to ask a few. Now if you don't feel comfortable answering verbally, you can just nod or shake your head. You don't even have to respond if you don't want to, it's completely up to you." Gi asks softly.

(Yes I am)

"Yeah, okay." I say softly, and Gi slowly nods his head.

"First off, these ribs aren't looking too good. I'm going to have to x-ray them tomorrow to have a better look, but it looks like there could be a few broken ones. Have you been on any pain relief at all? I know these hurt like a bitch." Gi says with a frown.

"Um yeah, they're in my top drawer." I respond, tilting my head towards my bedside table. Carlo goes to grab them, before Gi cuts him off.

"That's okay, we'll have a look at them tomorrow. I'm going to have to ask a few questions now, okay?" Gi says softly, and I slowly nod in response. Carlo rolls back so he's beside me but I focus on the ceiling, once again.

"These marks, did Rosalia and John give them to you?" Gi asks softly, a slight crack in his voice. I still don't have the balls to look at his face, so I have no idea how he reacts when I slowly nod my head. Someone captures my hand with a deadly grip, but I already know it's Carlo.

"Is there anything else you'd like me to look at? The bruise looks like it continues onto your back, is it okay if I have a look at that?" Gi asks, and I suck in a sharp breath. There are no bruises on my back, at least I don't think there are. I haven't looked recently because of the scars. Scars of words John and sometimes his friends wrote. Not very nice words.

"If you want." I mumble, and very uncoordinatedly shuffle over onto my stomach. Then I hear two very sharp breaths behind me, causing the lump in my throat to make another appearance. This is why I didn't want to show them because I don't want their pity. I don't want them to feel bad for me. There's nothing they can do about it now, John and Mum are dead.

"Oh, bambina." Gi croaks, causing my eyes to start stinging. I was doing so well, but now I'm on the verge of breaking.

"It's not that bad." I mumble, digging my face further into the mattress. I say it mainly for myself, to convince myself what I went through wasn't that bad. There are people around the world that are starving, some who don't have access to clean water. I was lucky enough to have access to all of that and more, my mother and step-father just didn't like me that much.

"Do you want some cream to help get rid of the scars? I can get some for you if you'd like it." Gi suggests, and I take a second to think it over.

"Yes please." I say, bringing my face out of the mattress. Whilst I don't know if I'll ever reach a point where I feel comfortable wearing a bikini or anything showy, but having my scars gone will definitely help with it.

"Easy, and these ones on your wrists, how old are they?" Gi asks, gently running his hands along them. They're not pretty, with each of them varying in size, some of them more raised than others. I doubt he's missed the long one that goes from my left wrist up halfway to my elbow. That one was done with one intention, which didn't end up happening.