Invisible || h.s.

30: Ultimate Betrayal

Hey guys. I'm so sorry for such a delay, but I was terribly sick, and by terribly I mean a 39 C fever all week long, along with a throat infection (thankfully not covid). So, I could hardly keep my eyes open let alone write or even read anything on Wattpad. I'm feeling much better now though, and since I'm still on sick leave I'll have much more time to write.

Without further ado, please enjoy this chapter and do not kill me after reading (oops).

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Approximately 2 years earlier

It felt weird, watching all my peers celebrate the upcoming holiday before our last year of high school. Mainly because for most of them graduation meant moving out of this god-forsaken town for college, but unlike them, I had no plans to pursue higher education.

It's not that I didn't want to do it, or that I was too dumb to get accepted anywhere. My grades were mediocre at best, but the reason for that wasn't slacking like most people would assume. No, my reason was the man who called himself my stepfather, or rather, the way he poisoned my mind and made it impossible to focus on anything else than simply surviving. Let's just say that given everything else I had to deal with on daily basis, becoming an A-grade student fell down to the bottom of my priority list.

"Why the long face?" Heidi's eyes were warm and inquisitive, although she already knew what prompted my less than ecstatic mood. "You know you still have an entire year worth of time to get your grades up, right? The teachers adore you; no one will give you a hard time."

I gave her a small smile and a nod, although deep inside I knew that no amount of time could fix what was going on inside my brain. My grades would never improve, college opportunities would continue to slip right through my fingers and I would forever stay right where I was, in this town, most probably working in Robb's bar. That's what he had said already, and what he says is final.

"I may not be the smartest cookie out there," Heidi added jokingly, "but whenever you need my help with anything, you know I'm right here, right?"

"I know," I answered, and I meant it wholeheartedly. Ever since my world got turned upside down on my sixteenth birthday, Heidi has become my rock; the one I'd run to when things got really rough back at home. Although we'd been friends since my very first day at school, nothing helped us bond more than my breakdown the night after I'd returned from my trip with Robb.

Obviously, Heidi had no clue what happened to me—I wasn't about to tell her either, not wanting to involve her in this whole mess—but being the compassionate person she was, she understood that what I truly needed at that moment was her arms wrapped around me, nothing else. Talking would come later, if ever.

Ever since that day we've become inseparable; something I thought to be impossible judging by the fact that we'd already been basically glued at the hip like Siamese twins. If it hadn't been for Heidi and her support, I wouldn't have survived the first few months of Robb's abuse; that I was sure of.

"You know, it's so strange to look at you now," Heidi giggled, twirling a strand of my blonde hair around her finger. "I know it's your natural colour, but I was so used to the pink hair."

"Robb says it's too in-your-face," I retorted with a grim smile, "or obscene, whatever."

"You know what I think about that stupid son of a—" she cut off, shrugging her shoulders with an innocent expression. "I think he can shove his opinion up his skinny ass."