Believe in Me

Chapter 24

"Sorry," she said holding back tears. She was apologizing for being in pain. I really just wanted to wrap her up in my arms and hold her tight and show her that she can be comfortable around me and that she's safe here.

"You don't need to apologize. You couldn't help it. I'd be screaming out profanities if I were you," I said trying to make her feel better. I handed her the pills and she took them. "I'm gonna go make breakfast while those kick in. Yell if you need anything," I said and then went to make breakfast. I made scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. I'm not the best cook, but I managed to make them without burning the entire building down. I put the food onto two plates and then went to get Anna. I helped her stand up and then showed her to the kitchen. I handed her her plate after she sat down. She started taking tiny bites of the eggs. "Is it really that bad?" I asked.

"No, it tastes great, I just don't feel very good," she said. She was so skinny. She needed to eat something so she could gain her strength back.

"Can you try and eat the toast? It shouldn't make you feel sick," I said and she picked up the toast and ate it slowly, struggling to swallow each bite. After she finished her toast I took her plate and put it in the dish washer. 

"Demi, can I take a shower?" she asked.

"You can't get your back wet yet and I don't think taking a shower while you're on that pain medicine would be the best idea," I said.

"But I feel gross. I haven't showered in like 2 days now and I smell like hospital," she groaned. 

"I know baby, I'm sorry," I said. "Let's just have a lazy day today so you can get feeling better," I said helping her get out of her chair. I took her into my bedroom and laid down on the bed with her. I turned on the TV. "What do you wanna watch?" I asked her.

"I don't care," she said so I turned it to the ID channel. I scooted closer to Anna.

"You weren't lying when you said you smelt like hospital," I said.

"I told you! It's gross," she said. I got an idea.

"Wait here," I said as I got up and went to her room. I looked through the bag of stuff the police had brought to the hospital after her foster parents go arrested. I found a bikini and brought it back to her. "Here, put this on. I'm going to go get a rag and some water and soap," I said.

"Demi no," she said.

"Come on, it'll be fun," I said enthusiastically trying to get her to agree.

"Since when are sponge baths fun?" she asked making me laugh a little. I guess it was pretty much a sponge bath.

"Okay you're right, but you'll feel better afterwards," I bargained.

"Fine," she said rolling her eyes and taking the bikini out of my hands. I walked out of my room and shut the door behind me so she could change. I went and got a bucket of water and put some soap in it and got a rag. I came back to my room and knocked on the door.

"You ready?" I asked.

"Yeah," she replied. I opened the door. She was wrapped up in the covers on my bed. 

"You've gotta take the covers off," I said as I started pulling away the covers.

"But it's cold!" she wined. I yanked them off of her. That's when I realized that she wasn't actually cold. She was scared of what I would do when I saw her body. She had bruises and healing gashes everywhere. She was skinnier than I thought. Her bones were jutting out everywhere. One bruise in particular caught my eye. It was on the insides of her thighs trailing all the way up to where her bottoms started. A thought that sickened me crossed through my mind. I wanted to ask her about it, but she was in a really venerable position right now so I didn't. I tried to act as normal as possible when I saw the bruising so she wouldn't get self conscious. She was really tense and she had her arms wrapped around her stomach. I started wiping her off and she tensed up even more when I touched her. I started acting really weird and hyper to try and get her to loosen up. 

"Working at the car wash

Working at the car wash, yeah 

Come on and sing it with me, car wash 

Sing it with the feeling now, car wash yeah" I sang and acted like I was washing a car. She laughed and loosened up, but her arms were still wrapped around her stomach. "You gotta move your arms or else I'm gonna have to tickle you," I said. She slowly pulled her arms away from her stomach and her smile faded. I didn't get why she didn't want me to see her stomach. It was no worse than the rest of her body. I started singing again and finished wiping her down. I pulled the covers over her and went and got her clean clothes. I let her change and then came and laid with her. I pulled her close to me. She wouldn't talk to me. She obviously knew that I had seen all of the damage her foster parents had done to her. Thinking about how she got some of those bruises made me want to cry. "Don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt you ever again," I said softly. She turned into me and buried face into my chest. I kissed her head and we both fell asleep.

Anna's POV

Thankfully the bikini covered up the scars I made myself, but I still didn't want Demi to see my fat or any of the hideous bruises my foster dad made. She pretended not to notice, but I knew she did. She brought me a sweatshirt and leggings and let me change. Then she came back in and laid down with me. I didn't want to look at her. I didn't want to see what her reaction was to me. She pulled me over to her. "Don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt you ever again," she said to me. So many emotions rushed through me. I buried my head into her chest and I felt her hold me tighter and kiss the top of my head. The heat from her body felt so good. I was finally safe.

A/N

So I decided to update early anyway... I might try to write some more today or tomorrow. After that I'll be gone all weekend so I wont be able to update. It be pretty cool if I came back and there were a bunch of views and comments though!;) It would really help if you guys like shared this or whatever. I'm not going to stop writing just because I'm not get many views, but it really makes me happy when I see people like it. Oh and if you want to follow me on Twitter my handle is @BeStrong1998