Silent Prayers

Chapter 13

As much as she had wanted to stay calm, she could not let that comment pass. "I never asked for this house!" she yelled at him suddenly. Even in his drunken state, he looked surprised that she had raised her voice like that. "You! You wanted this house" she accused. Elena thought the mortgage on it was a ridiculous amount. If Stefan ever lost his job, they would be screwed. Elena ran the back of her hand over her eyes, trying to dry her tears. "I don't deserve to be treated this way" she told him, standing up for herself.

Stefan stood again, ignoring what she had said. He looked down at his alcohol all over the floor that he had put there, seeping into the floorboards. Stefan raised a shaky hand to run over his face. He felt hot and agitated. He needed another drink. "I don't even know why the hell I married you" he said venomously, taking carefully measured steps out of his office so that he didn't tip over.

Elena was crying so hard she was shaking too. She closed her eyes when he walked past her and she could smell the alcohol coming off of him. He reeked of it.

A few minutes later, Stefan was yelling again, and Elena could hear things breaking. She turned quickly and went to the kitchen, passing by the living room and witnessing him struggling to use the remote. Elena grabbed her car keys and purse, and also grabbed his car keys out of the bowl they put them in. She wanted to make sure he didn't try to drive anywhere. Then Elena hurried upstairs, grabbed her book bag with all of her books, and threw in a pair of clean clothes, her toiletries and her cell phone charger.

When she came back down the stairs, Stefan was still yelling at the remote, throwing in some curse words to illustrate just how mad he was. Elena let her hand rest on the door handle as she tried to talk herself out of leaving. Could she really leave him alone like this?

But then she remembered how he had spoken to her and the door handle was turning before she could stop herself. She turned the deadbolt from the outside, knowing in his drunken state that he would not be able to get it undone to go outside anytime soon.

XXXX

Elena had driven around for hours, trying to decide where she was going. Just when she thought she had composed herself enough to walk into a hotel and check in to a room, she would burst into tears in the parking lot and have to abort the plan. She couldn't go home though. Stefan was either still drunk and angry, or he was passed out. Elena did not like either of those options.

She ended up at Damon's front door, not knowing what else to do. "Elena?" Damon asked as he opened the door.

"I'm ... I'm sorry. I didn't know where else to go" Elena said, crying.

Damon wanted to ask what happened, but he slowed himself down. "Hey, come here" he said, opening up his arms as she went to him. He hugged her tight. "You're always welcome here" Damon told her. "Always."

When they made it inside, Damon took her backpack from her and set it next to the couch. Then he helped Elena sit down and ran to get her a drink of water for fear of her passing out on him. She was crying so much now and her face was red because of it.

"Here" Damon said, holding the glass of water up to her lips as he sat on the coffee table across from her. Elena grabbed the glass from him and drank it down in no less than five gulps. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was. "What happened?" he asked, taking the empty glass from her and setting it aside.

Elena took a giant, shaky breath. "I don't think I can do this anymore" she told him. New tears started and she didn't bother to wipe them away.

Damon's hand rested gently on her left knee while his knowing eyes looked at her. "Has he put his hands on you?" Damon asked, nearly choking on his question. He hated to even have to ask such a thing. But he knew lately how angry his brother got when he was drinking.