𝐙𝐚𝐫𝐚|𝟏| [𝟏𝟖+] ✔

Chapter 18- Theo

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck.

How many times can I say fuck to myself before I snap?

I feel the sting in my shoulder, a lovely little bullet hole from my dad. I guess jumping in front of Cole and taking the first bullet didn't stop him from shooting a second time.

After the bullet hit me, I curled my body over Cole, trying to cover him, cradling him against me.

My blood was spilling over him, his painful screams made my ears ring before I heard the second shot, completely silencing him.

The young nurse lodged a needle around my skin, making me jump and yell at her to fucking watch it. She was only trying to numb it while she worked on the wound, stitching it up and wrapping a bandage around it, slipping my arm into a sling before telling me to rest plenty.

I made my way to my assigned room at the other side of the hangar, up the metal steps to the rows of doors. My room looks like a prison cell, a small bed, a table with drawers full of clothes.

It looks cold but isn't. The stone grey walls match the floor, no windows, perfect for the likes of me.

The last time I was here I was healing from shock therapy, three days of sick buckets, and downing water bottle after water bottle.

Before I left her behind, my dad grabbed me by the throat and told me if I didn't go with them, he would kill Zara, pointing the gun to her head while she screamed at her brother's demise.

Always with the violence to get his own way. It worked... I left her there.

I'm used to that by now though, all my life I've tried to live up to my arsehole of a father's expectations, and a mother who disappeared for days on end to escape the abuse. I don't blame her for finally growing some balls and leaving the monster.

She left me with him since the age of nine. I suffered, painfully, with multiple fractures, bruises, and lacerations from his belt. The scars litter my body, so to hide them, I covered every inch with black ink.

Social services got involved once because I finally had enough and asked for help, which only made things worse for me. That was the last time I ever begged for help, no one believed me.

Not that any of this excuses my behaviour the past two years, but I do love Zara, and I want her to be happy, safe, and being far away from me is probably the safest she could ever be.

I ready myself to walk into my dickhead of a father's office and beg for Zara's life. The girl I fell for instead of putting a bullet through her skull, all for his ridiculous programme.

I've always been one to go against his orders and suffer for it, but falling for some girl wasn't one I planned on.

I've never had something or someone I felt so strongly for, to be able to turn on him and his shitty behaviour. She pulled me out of his toxic grip on my life and showed me I didn't need him.