Her Safe Haven

Chapter 25 - Climax Part III: Silence In The Rain

This.

This was what Winter saw when she accidentally saw him changing the other day. What she had been thinking about, and what she had been trying to confirm.

Rohan's back, from the tips of his shoulder blades to the linings of his spine, was all filled with scars. Cut marks. Burnt marks. Bruises so old they were now almost black.

Seth immediately froze.

Rohan snapped and pulled away from her almost violently. He immediately covered his back with the shirt that he hauled forcefully from her grasp, not even bothering to button it as he stood. Winter was trying to grab at him before he—

'No, Seth, stop him!'

But it was too late. By the time she could climb down from the other side of the bed, Rohan already ran out, crashing onto Seth's shoulder in his haste. While Seth was taken aback by the force of their collision, Rohan was already sprinting out of the Infirmary, flinging the door shut behind him.

Winter quickly darted and tried to chase him, stumbling out on her way as she slammed the door open and ran out. But when she got to the hallway, she tripped on her own feet. As she fell to her knees she watched him disappeared into a turn. 'No, Rohan, stop!' she tried to reach out and stop him, but it was too late.

As her knees made contact with the ground, the thunder boomed from the outside, shaking her to the core. Everything made sense now. With the flash of lightning that came, everything was suddenly clear.

Those scars on his back.

Rohan lying about an uncle.

The way he looked at his father.

Dissociative Identity Disorder was a form of protection. A separate personality, especially a dangerous, violent one like his, wouldn't just come out of nowhere without needing to protect him from anything.

And she knew what he was trying to protect himself from.

Seth followed her cautiously, closing the door to the Infirmary quietly behind him. He could only see her back, and Winter was kneeling on the ground. He couldn't see it at first, but as he got closer, he could see that her back was trembling. She was trembling.

Winter was crying.

Slowly and very, very carefully, he crouched beside her, gently wrapping his coat around her. "I... didn't know it was that bad. I'm sorry..." he murmured softly.
Seth was smart. He was a genius, after all. Of course he could put two and two together before everyone else.

Just looking at Rohan's behaviour and the Garrisons' father, Seth knew.

'I've seen it before,' Winter signed, still sobbing violently. Her breath hitching with her sobs. 'When he was changing— I saw them. Bandages in places hidden by his clothes. His back. His ankles. I know he has those but I never knew why, but I— I... now I—'

And she was crying again, her shivers stronger than before as her hands covered her face and she sobbed. From next to her, Seth slowly put one arm around her, hushing her. She was shaking greatly he almost didn't know what to do.

"Yeah..." he said softly, patting her back in an attempt to get her to calm down. She felt cold, very cold to the touch. "Ssh, it's okay. It's okay. Come on."

He was the first one to know. Yet his relationship with Rohan was strictly professional that he found he was almost unaffected by the knowledge. Winter, on the other hand, cared about Rohan. Maybe even more than just as a friend. He didn't know how she felt, but at that moment Seth could see the extent of stress it put on her emotional balance.