The Things That Hurt The Most

Chapter 17; Thunder

There were times where both my parents were nice, and there were also times were they weren't so nice and this usually happened when they were drunk. It probably only happened twice a month but those days were the scarier ones for me. Those days were full of pain and darkness.

It happened on a rainy day. It wasn't as bad as today though. Obviously my dad was drunk in the living room and I was only 9 at the time. I was just helping my mom clean up by washing the dishes and that's when my dad walked in the kitchen.

They weren't abusive parents but everyone had their bad days, right? I had always been scared of rain and thunder along with lightning just like most kids were. For me, lightning and thunder were like a trigger warning. It was always a flashback of a day when I was abused and today it was the day where I had woken up in the hospital. That night I was badly beaten. I don't remember every detail but I had ended up with a broken wrist, ankle, and a concussion along with many bruises and a few stitches on my head. The doctors had asked me what had happened and my parents forced me to tell them that a group of guys had beaten me.

It was wonderful how such a great liar I was at that age, how I was able to convince people that I was doing fine, the fake smile and laugh and nobody noticed a thing. The scars and cuts I was able to hide for years. I don't need to anymore, I don't have anyone to hide it from anyone but still do.

There's many times which I had been abused but I never think about it which made me forget about those times but rain, thunder, and lightning were a bad combination for me. It was only that night that I remember parts of but I don't talk about it because I want to forget it completely.

~~~

"Are you ok?" Elliot asked me as he hurried over to me.

I snapped out of it and turned towards him. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. I just got scared. That's all..." I whispered and brushed away my hair from my face.

"You don't seem fine, why don't you sit down? I'll clean this up." He told me and took me over to the chair.

I sat down and tried to catch my breath, it felt as if I had been running but I had made no movement at all. I closed my eyes and finally catched my breath.

"No." I told him.

"What?" Elliot looked confused.

"I- I'll clean it up, I'm fine." I told him and stood up.

"You don't seem fine to me."

"It was just a... Trigger warning thing..." I told him.

"See, you're not fine if it was a 'trigger warning thing'"

"I promise I'm fine."

"Fine, I'll let you help." He told me.

I bend down and helped him pick up all the big and small pieces of the plates I had dropped. I was still shaking from the flashback but I brushed it off and kept picking up the pieces. I picked up the small last pieces and then went to wash my hands, as I did I noticed that I had gotten a few small cuts on my fingers.

"What happened?"

"I told you, just a flashback. Nothing you need to worry about."

"Ok so do you want to keep unpacking things or do you want to stop for now?"

I thought about it but there was a small possibility it would happen again and I didn't want him here to see it. "I'll stop for now and keep unpacking tomorrow."

"Ok, I guess I'll come by tomorrow."

"No, you don't have to." I wanted to do things alone and I felt awkward around him. I've always done things alone and I liked it that way, gave me more time to think and organize things my way.

He was about to open his mouth to say something when his phone rang. He picked it from from the table and frowned before answering.

"Yeah, hi. No, I'm fine. At Crystal's house, duh. When? Why? I don't see why. Ok, I'm going! See you in a bit." he hung up and put his phone in his pocket.

"You have to go somewhere?"

"Yeah, my mom wants me back home.. You'll be fine on your own?"

"Yeah, I will." I smiled at him.

"Call me if anything happens." He hugged me and rushed out of the house before I could say a word.

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A/N: I am very sorry for this very late update. I know I promised to update every week and I broke that promise :( I can't promise that again but I will promise to update as often as I can!!! I've just been busy with school and some others things and well I'm writing this at 4:20 am so I should probably get some sleep.... well umm vote? comment? thanks ^-^