That night, I tried desperately to stay awake, knowing that the nightmares would be worse than ever because of earlier. Alex had slept all day, and I had watched him sleep. He looked so peaceful, probably completely different to what I looked like. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a dreamless night. Actually I couldn't remember the last time I'd slept through the night. The nightmares always woke me up. I sighed, putting my head in my hands. I couldn't stay awake forever. I had school tomorrow anyway,
"Scarlett?" I looked up to see Alex watching me. "You look tired" he commented, moving over on the sofa. I chuckled quietly, but stayed sat where I was. "You need to sleep at some point" I shook my head like an insolent child, and to be honest I kind of felt like one. "Don't you have school tomorrow" I frowned, and slowly nodded. It was 1:00am, which meant school started in about 7 hours. I closed my eyes and leaned back on the sofa. I felt myself drifting into sleep almost immediately, and I heard Alex humming Happy Ending by MIKA. A small smile made its way onto my face as I fell into unconciousness.
(Flashback)
"Scarwett?" I slowly opened my eyes, and smiled gently at Maddy.
"What's wrong hon?" I asked her, siting up and wincing as my ankle jarred against the floor.
"I'm hungwy" she nestled into me and closed her eyes.
"I know. I am too." I stroked her hair and her breathing became even. She was finally asleep. I sat there for a few minutes in the dark and cold, holding Maddy close to me. A door slammed open from the other side of the warehouse, making me jump.
"Hello little brats. Do you want to play a game?" he walked briskly over to me and grabbed my shoulder, yanking me up and throwing Maddy onto the floor. She began to cry, and he kicked her, sending her sprawling across the floor.
"Maddy!" I screeched, tryinng to escape from his grasp. My ankle burned with pain as I struggled, but I ignored it, trying desperately to get to Maddy.
"Stop squirming you brat!" he punched me in the side of my face, and I stood there, watching the room spin. "That's better" I shook my head slightly, and tried to turn around to see Maddy. "I have to say I'm impressed. That's probably the first time you've stayed standing after I punched you that hard." he sneered at me.
"Please don't hurt her." I stuttered, trying not to cry out. My voice sounded distant, like I wasn't the one talking.
"Well I'll have to give you her punishment then" he grinned, and I nodded.
"Alright" I whispered. He looked shocked at first, but then shrugged.
"Suit yourself" I closed my eyes to wait, and soon enough my legs were knocked out from under me. My legs felt like they had been snapped in half and I cried out, in pure agony. This fueled his anger, and he kicked me in the stomach, and then in the chest. I was winded, and I lay there gasping for breath. He left me lay like that and walked into the other room, chuckling as he went.
"Scarwett" a quiet voice whispered into my ear. I was still dizzy, and I tried to turn around, but failed. "Are you okay Scarwett? Why does he hurt you? He always does it." she began to sob, and a small groan escaped my lips. I was breathing heavily now that I could breathe again. I was too weak to move. I felt myself falling unconcious, and I knew i the back of my mind that I had to stay awake. I struggled desperately, knowing I had to do it for Maddy. She was wailing, desperately shaking me.
"Shut it brat." an angry voice roared and Maddy was flung across the room.
"Maddy..." I whispered, before slipping away into blackness.
(Present)
"Scarlett! Scarlett wake up! Calm down it was just a dream." I woke up sobbing. It had seemed so real. I tryed to contain myself but I ended up crying into Alex's shoulder. He held me, rubbing my back and muttering soothing things into my ear. I eventually calmed down, and I jumped when I realised how close I was to him. He looked hurt for a minute and just watched me move away.
"I'm sorry for that." I said quietly. "And I know you were helping me. Please don't take it personally, it's just..."
"I get it. Don't worry."
"Thankyou for that. It was reaaly nice. I'm sorry you had to see me like that. And..."
"Don't worry" he said again. "Anyway, it's 6:00am. You wanna get ready for school?" I nodded and he smiled. "Well I'm going to go too."
"Are you sure?" he nodded and grinned.
"Go have a shower" he gestured upstairs and walked up the stairs. The warm water was soothing, and I enjoyed the feeling of it running over my skin. I stayed in for about half and hour, and when I got out I changed into a pair of black jeans and a grey top with little black cats on it. I pulled a plain black hoodie over it. After I applied my make up, I walked slowly downstairs. My hair was just scraped back into a ponytail, and tied up with a dark purple scrunchie. My shoes were my usual black vans, and I looked as plain and boring as normal. When I entered the kitchen, Alex was sat at the table eating toast.
"Help yourself to any food. If you want, you can go home after school." he said, standing up and putting his plate in the sink.
"I'm not hungry. And if it's ok with you I'd rather stay here for a few more days." I looked up at him through my hair, and he was frowning at me.
"You have to eat something. When was the last time you ate?" he asked. I shrugged, thinking. The last time I had eaten was before I came here, so about 3 days ago. No one was there to force me to eat, and I never got hungry anymore. "Have you eaten since you got here?" he said quietly, willing the answer to be yes. I shook my head, and he frowned. "Why not?" he demanded. I shrugged, hoping he wouldn't shout. "You have to eat, you're a human being. You will die" he yelled. I felt tears fill my eyes, so I walked straight past him and out the door, grabbing my bag and coat as I walked. It was 7:00. Great an hour before school. I heard Alex shouting after me, but I just kept walking. I knew there were tears streaming down my face, and I ignored them as I began to run. When I reached the park, I sat down on a swing and sobbed. I couldn't help it. I wanted to be normal I really did, but it couldn't happen. I had been through too much in those 5 years to be normal. I was a freak. When it got to 7:45, my tears had slowed and I began to make my way to school.
As I walked through the gates, I saw Alex and Peeta in a corner. I went the other way, unsure how Alex would react. I was still expecting the whole 'You need to eat rant'. I went straight to my locker, and got out the books I would need for the day, as well as my homework for first period. Me and Alex had done a little bit of work, and I had to hand it in. I froze. I sat next to Alex in English. The bell went and my heart sank. The lesson would be so awkward. Walking slowly, I made my way to english. I was scared. I had no idea how he would react: if he was sorry for yelling at me, angry at me for running off, worried about me because I left in such a hurry. My head span with my thoughts, and I felt dizzy. I walked into the classroom and sat down at my seat, glad that Alex wasn't here yet. I closed my eyes, my hair covering my face, and managed to calm myself down. I heard the chair next to me being scraped back, but I didn't look up. I knew it was Alex, I just didn't have the courage to talk to him. The teacher announced that we were watching a film today and I knew this meant I could sit in my own thoughts. It also meant I didn't have to talk.
All through the film, I could feel his eyes on me, and I shuddered. The feeling of always being watched still freaked me out. When the bell went at the end of the lesson, I leapt out of my seat, almost tearing down the corridor. As I walked into the next lesson I realised I sat next to Alex again and groaned. Why didn't our teachers use seating plans. That would make life so much easier. A teacher I didn't recognise walked in ahead of our normal teacher, who then announced that we would be having a citizenship lesson on rape. He began to play all these videos, and I tried desperately to stop the tears from flowing.
"Excuse me sir. Can I please leave the room?" A voice from next to me said abruptly. I looked up at him, and the teacher came over.
"Yes. Do you want to take someone with you?" she asked gently.
"Scarlett." he pulled me up and we quickly walked out of the classroom. He shut the door and stood there watching me. My face was emotionless, but in my mind I was screaming and crying. All the memories whizzed around my head. I felt my knees buckle, and I began to fall, but Alex caught me. I didn't let the tears tumble down my cheeks, we just stood there, him holding me and me trying not to remember. "I'm sorry" he whispered into my ear. I nodded and stepped back as I heard the door open.
"Alex are you ok? Do you want to talk about it?" the teacher said cautiously, and I swallowed my laugh. He did that just for me.
"I'd rather not give details, but my sister... she was umm..." he trailed off and looked down. I bit my lip to stop from laughing.
"I understand. Do you want to stay in the library for the rest of the lesson?" the teacher said calmly.
"Can Scarlett come?" he asked, still not looking up.
"Yes dear" she said, smiling walmly, before returning to the classroom. We walked to the library in silence beforecracking up.
"I can't.. believe she bought that." he gasped after we finally calmed down.
"I know. I had to bite my lip to stop from laughing" I said, grinning.
"If I'd looked up, she would've known immediately. Thank god she believed that i was just upset"
"Do you even have a sister?" I asked.
"Yes." he looked at me seriously for a second. "but she's 4." He cracked up again, and I sat there, thinking of Maddy.
"What's her name?" I asked, trying to stop my voice from wavering.
"Laura." he smiled. "She's the most amazing girl ever. Besides you of course." I blushed. "She has black hair which is always in plaits. My mum does them for her. She's a good mum to one of her children. And then theres my stepdad." He shook his head.
"I'm guessing you don't like your step-dad." I said quietly, picking up a book and flicking through the colourful pages.
"It's not that I don't like him, I just get bad... vibes from him. It might just be me though. I mean I kind of resent him for replacing my dad." he went quiet as he spoke about his dad, and I frowned.
"Are your parents divorced?" he looked at me.
"Well yes, but I never see my dad. He's not there for me. He would be but..."
"He's dead isn't he?" Alex nodded, and looked down.
"I'm sorry" I whispered, putting a hand on his back hesitantly.
"You should hear the story, and don't apologise. He wasn't a good father anyway." I frowned, that's depressing. "Well, my mum cheated on my dad, with another man, my stepfather. Well he stormed out after she admitted, and he was found a few days later in a ditch." My eyes widened. "He was murdered. Beaten to death." I let out a shaky breath.
"Can we not talk about this?" I whispered. He frowned.
"Why? It's not like you've seen anyone..." He stopped. "Oh god."
"Stop." I shook my head, clearing my mind of all thoughts to do with the subject. "If you want me to tell you about it, ask me later, in a private place." I walked over to a book shelf and pulled out a random book, sighing heavily. I didn't need this.
"By the way" I jumped, and turned around. It was Alex. "Sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. You just mean a lot to me. But you need to eat. I've always noticed you were thin, but I thought it was natural." I snorted. It obviously wasn't. "Shut up, I was trying to assume the best of you. Anyway, I'm going to make sure you eat though." I tried to supress my groan. I could barely eat one meal a day, but with Alex forcing me to eat three... I sighed. This would be a long week.
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So... How was it? Good? Bad? Awful?
Song of the day: 99 Red Ballons by Nena. I was just singing it on singstar :)
And if anyone reads my story When you fell from heaven, you'll know I'm probably going to delete it. If you like and don't want me to, tell me why.
Also I'll probably be mentioning Maddy in the next chapter, or one of the next chapters anyway.
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