Never Let Me Go » Liam Dunbar

the one with the burns

The dancing flames in the fireplace of the Martin household were licking the edges of the bricks, flickering and flashing across the sisters' faces as they stood before it. Sophie finally sat down on the elegant rug, her legs folded beneath her and her arms crossed over her lap. Lydia and her sister were both in their oldest and rattiest yoga pants and hoodies, their hair pulled away from their clean faces. Across the tops of Sophie's thighs sat a romper, still slightly damp in some places, that was stained beyond repair.

Lydia bent her legs and grabbed the edge of the couch, lowering herself to the ground until she was next to Sophie, their knees barely touching. Her hand reached out and wrapped around Sophie's fingers gently, not hard but yet still reassuring.

The stains on the dress were so much more than just physical blood and material. It was like the blood was everything that was happening, all of the newest revelations and murders and mishaps in Beacon Hills. And just like the thin material in front of her, it was seeping into Sophie's life. There was no way to wash it out, no way to erase it. But until she knew how to handle it, all she could do was get rid of all of the traces she was leaving behind.

In the blink of an eye, Sophie urgently leaned forward and tossed the bundled material into the flames, sitting back on her heels and watching the fire thriving on the last physical evidence that her night had been anything but a dream. Her head lolled over and rested gently on Lydia's shoulder, her eyes closing slowly as she breathed deeply, breathing out all of the fear and worry. She had to be strong- for Lydia. She'd lost her best friend, and now there was no way she was going to lose her sister.

"I need to learn how to take care of myself." Sophie said quietly, opening her eyes and looking at the romper as it fizzled and burned and hissed in the fireplace. "I can't keep being this weak all of the time. There's got to be a way for me to help."

"You're helping by staying as far away as you can from all of it." said Lydia gravely. "I just need to be sure that you're not going to get hurt. By getting involved- if something happens to you, Sophie, you'll hurt more people than you help. It's best if you stay away."

Her eyes closed tightly for a moment, holding back the tears. What hurt Lydia most of all was that she could never promise that she would be able to protect her sister the same way she couldn't protect Allison. "But there's always a chance, isn't there? And I need to be able to- to do something."

The room fell into silence for a moment, the emptiness infiltrating both of them. Sophie'd been avoiding silence all night, it gave her too much time to think. Lydia had been looking for silence for days. It gave her time to think.

"Well something you can do right now is let me do something about those nails of yours." Lydia brushed it off, popping her lips and pushing herself into a standing position. It was almost comical how easily her sister seemed to be able to move on, something Sophie always envied. But fixing her nails didn't seem quite appropriate, at least not until she looked at them. And then she wanted nothing more.

The white laquer was stained and chipped, dry blood still caking her nail beds and under her nails. It was repulsive, and instantly a wave of nausea hit her with the force of a semi truck. Even her cast had blood embedded in it. There was no doubt in Sophie's mind that when the cast was removed, there'd still be stains of blood underneath.

She nodded, letting Lydia pull to her up the stairs to her room, where after much vigorous scrubbing, filing, and scraping, Sophie's nail beds were clean and very, very raw. "Can we use the black this time?" asked Sophie, grabbing the bottle of polish and shaking it in front of Lydia. She nodded compliantly, uncapping it and resting Sophie's fingers across her arm as she carefully painted the clean nails.

"Did you thank Scott for driving you home?" Lydia asked, breaking the relaxing silence that had overcome them.

"Yeah, but I can't say I loved that motorcycle." She admitted, earning a tut from her sister.

"And did you thank Liam?" The strawberry blonde asked, her eyebrows arching when Sophie's hand twitched. Her younger sister sat in tense silence and avoided eye contact, instead inspecting the hand that had already been painted.

"Thank him for what?"

Lydia snorted. "You honestly didn't think Scott told me? About your little freak out in the hall?"

"I don't think little is exactly the word I would use." Sophie admitted, looking over her other hand once Lydia was done painting. "I didn't. Thank him- I mean."

The silence returned as Lydia closed the bottle and put everything away neatly before standing and wiping her hands on the legs of her pants. "Find me in the morning so I can cover up those bruises, okay? Mom probably won't like knowing somebody tried to strangle her other daughter."

Sophie nodded and accepted the long kiss on the top of the head before she finally forced herself to go to bed. It wasn't yet ten at night, but it still felt like it'd been an entire lifetime since she got a good nights' sleep. The switch clicked quietly as Sophie shut out the bathroom lights and entered her dimly lit bedroom.

Her phone was on the bedside table and her clothes were balled up and tossed in the laundry basket in the corner. It was comforting to know that tomorrow, laundry day, everything would be washed from those clothes. It reminded Sophie how badly she needed to do some yoga or thai chi or something, to try and was the stress from her life as well. She bent down and began stretching awkwardly, though it really was a bit soothing.

An aggressive buzzing shocked Sophie out of her moment and she startled, grabbing her phone off the table and unlocking the screen to see a message from Mason, asking how she was. Sophie ignored it, knowing she'd much rather see him and talk in the morning. There was another from Liam, received a few minutes earlier.

Are you feeling alright?

Her fingers hovered over the keys for a second before she typed up a quick response, sending it and setting the phone down.

I've been better. Glad to be home.

She left it unlocked and upright on the desk, her hands hovering and messing about with the rings on her fingers. Not even a minute ticked by on the clock before the phone buzzed again and instantly she clicked on the message, reading it over.

I'm sorry about everything. Is there anything I can do to help?

She read the message again and again, this time typing her response before thinking it over completely and hitting send before she could stop herself.

Teach me how to protect myself.

Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds. Buzz.

Mason and I are running before school. Meet by the front entrance at 7?

She quickly confirmed and locked her phone, reaching over and clicking the light out before pulling the blankets over her stomach and up to her chin. It wasn't going to be easy to sleep tonight. Probably not tomorrow, either. Maybe good sleep could never be expected to happen again, she decided, writhing around before finally she was comfortable and could let her eyes flutter shut.

And then there it was, a vibration coming from the phone next to her.  Then another. And a third. Sophie knew it was from Liam, but whether or not it was worth checking was the question. But instead of ignoring the text and going to bed, she groaned and grabbed the phone, unlocking the screen and opening her last conversation.

I can't wait to see you.

Bring a water bottle.

Sophie groaned again, clicking the right arrow to the last text and staring blankly at the screen as she waited for the message to load. But when the text finally popped up on the screen, she found a smile on her face before she turned it off and set it down, closing her eyes and letting her mind wander into oblivion.

Sweet dreams, Soph.