When Winter Came (CrankGamepays Fanfic)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Ethan's POV

I paced the room for what seemed like hours with no word from Mark or Tyler. Winter had left we phone when she left so I knew that she wouldn't be texting me. I rake my fingers through my hair nervously. What could be taking so long? Why aren't they responding!? I felt like if I kept pacing like I was, I would wear a groove in the floor, but I didn't stop. I couldn't. I'm too worried. I was going crazy. But that's when the door opened. I immediately rush to the front door to see Winter curled up on Mark's back, crying softly and bleeding with Tyler following behind.

"What the hell happened!?" I exclaim as I pull the girl off of Mark's and into my arms. I hold her shaking body close, not caring if I got blood on my clothes or not. I just know that I have to hold her. I have to keep her in my embrace. I have to keep her safe.

"I'll let her explain... I don't think she's told you about Kyle yet and I wouldn't want to intrude where she doesn't want me to." Mark states, his sad brown eye accompanied by a sympathetic smile. Before I can respond, both Tyler and Mark were gone. I let out a deep sigh as I hold Winter a bit tighter before pulling away a little.

"Let's go upstairs. I'll get you cleaned up and then we can talk about it." I smile softly. She nods, her eyes still so full of tears as showing terror. I gently lead Winter upstairs and into our room then through to the bathroom. Though she had stopped crying, se continued to sniffle and whimper. I couldn't blame her. Whatever happened must have been terrifying.

I've never seen her like this. I motion for Winter to sit on the edge of the tub and she does so, pushing her long brown hair from her eyes. I pull out a bandaid, hydrogen peroxide, a couple of tissues and Neosporin then proceed to get some of the peroxide on the tissues.

Gently cupping her left cheek with my hand, I dab at the wound on her cheek. She flinches, but soon calms down. After I finish cleaning her face and cut, I put some Neosporin on the bandaid and carefully put it over her cheek where the scratch is. I sigh as I throw the tissues and bandaid wrapper away then turn back to Winter with a sympathetic smile.

"Lets go sit on the bed and you can tell me all about what happened." I suggest, though it was more of a definite statement. She nods and stands along with me as the two of us head back into the bedroom, her sitting on one side of the bed and me sitting on the other. We both sit criss cross and face each other, silence flooding the room and filling it from the ceiling to the floor. For a while, there was no interruption. I couldn't even hear my own breathing. It was just quiet. I was patient, knowing that whatever happened next would be extremely important.

Finally, she breaks the silence.

"Kyle Morgan," She begins. "We dated for a year and a half. I thought I was in love with him, but I see now that I was just using love as an excuse for the fear of leaving and what he might do to me..." Winter never lifts her eyes to meet mine. They stay firmly focused on the grey sheets of the bed, as if staring at the fabric before her would bestow upon her the wisdom of the universe and the answer to every problem. "For the first five months of our relationship, it was perfect. Yeah a few arguments, but that's all normal. Kyle was sweet, a romantic, and I was in love with him.

Half way through our sixth month together, he started getting to the point where he wouldn't let me wear tank-tops or shorts or anything form fitting. He was afraid that guys would try to hurt me if I did, try to take me away from him. I understood at first, I could see where he was coming from.

A few months after that, I moved in with him. And then he told my boss that I quit and then wouldn't even let me leave the house. I never wanted to quit. He did that by himself. And on the rare occasion that I am allowed out of the house, he has to know where I am at all times. He'd even come into the bathroom with me sometimes." Winter cringes and shivers at the thought.

'Why would anyone do such a thing!?' I think to myself.

"I should have seen it then and I guess I suspected or saw where this was going, but I thought he was just being protective. He didn't want me to get hurt..." She wipes he eyes again. "Another couple of months pass and it isn't like that anymore... It's worse. He would grab my arms so hard that it would leave bruises, he would threaten me and hit me all the time, he would pinch my back and twist so that I was covered in red spots. I was terrified, but I couldn't say anything to anyone else." She shifted some as if she began to get uncomfortable.

'Whats she thinking about?' I ask myself.

"It progressively got worse until one night, I thought he was going to kill me. He-" Winter chokes on her words. I knew it hurt her, but just hearing such awful things made my heart shatter into pieces. "He threatened and almost did rape me. That's when I finally snapped out of it and called the cops the next day when he was at work."

'Good! He got what was coming!'

"They arrested him, but since he was buddy-buddy with the judge and due to the 'lack of evidence', meaning no videos or pictures of it happening, he only went to jail for 18 months. He got out a little while ago and I was afraid that he might come after me. I just didn't think he would try to do that again...." She wipes her eyes few more times, her head hung low at the memory.

"Winter, I..." Honestly, I didn't know what to say. I wanted to reach out and hold her and just tell her it would all be okay, but I knew she wouldn't want that. So I said whatever came to mind instead. "I'm so so sorry that happened to you. No one should ever have to go through that, especially not someone as amazing as you. I promise you that I will do whatever it takes to make you feel loved. I know you can never forget what he did, but I want to try to make new, better memories that will overpower that one. I want to make you happy. That's all I want for the rest of my life. I don't care if I die doing it, I'll know that I died making you happy and that makes me happy."

All of a sudden, Winter throws her arms around me and hides her face in my neck.

"Thank you, Ethan..."

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A/N

Hello everyone, Taryn here. So as you can tell it was a pretty serious chapter, but I need your opinion! Here's the deal;

I want to do a sexy scene in the next chapter.

Should I hold off some or go for it now? Let me know in the comments on this paragraph!

See ya, punks!

-Taryn :p