Silent Scars

CHAPTER 43

ARIANA HASTINGS

The night was long......Too long.

Ariana lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, her chest rising and falling in steady rhythm, but inside, she was restless.

Sleep had evaded her, as it always did. The nightmares kept coming, shadowed figures, cold voices, the heavy weight of fear pressing against her ribs.

But when she sat up and checked herself, she realized something.

She was…..fine.

Her skin, once marred with fresh wounds, had been healing. Her arms, once bruised, were now only covered in faint scars. The deep, angry marks on her back were fading, leaving behind only silent reminders of the past. Even her ribs, though they ached occasionally, no longer screamed with pain.

She had survived.

For the longest stretch of time in her life, she had survived without injury.

The thought should have brought her relief, but instead, it left her feeling hollow.

A shiver ran down her spine, ice cold and suffocating.

Her stepfather.

His voice still haunted her mind, the way he spoke, the way he moved, the way his presence sucked the air from a room. No matter how much she tried to bury it, he always found a way back into her thoughts.

She traced the scars on her wrist, fingers skimming over the rough patches. They would never truly disappear. Neither would the memories.

Today was her first day at a new school.

A fresh start or at least, that’s what it was supposed to be.

But Ariana knew better. She had been to school before. She knew what it felt like to be an outcast, to be whispered about, to be treated like something that didn’t belong. The fear of it happening again clawed at her chest.

All she wanted was to go unnoticed. To slip through the day like a shadow, invisible and forgotten. She had been to school before. She knew what it felt like to be the outcast, the girl everyone whispered about, the one they stared at as if she were some kind of anomaly.

And now, in a new school, the fear crept in again.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘮𝘶𝘵𝘦?

The thought made her stomach twist. The last thing she wanted was pity or worse, cruelty. She couldn’t bear to go through that cycle again. But she reminded herself of one comforting thought:

𝘒𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.  𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦.

A knock at her door made her freeze, but it wasn’t harsh or demanding. It was measured, familiar. Two knocks, then a pause.

𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘢.

She opened the door.

His arms were crossed, an easy smirk on his face.

“Already ready?”

She nodded.

"First days are always nerve-wracking, but you'll do fine. And you've got Kendric there. He'll probably be the one making trouble, not you."