A flash of light lit up her room with roars of thunder soon followed. Her body trembled as sheets of rain crashed against the window. No matter how much she tried, her heart refused to calm down. She tried breathing exercises, counting, closing her eyes and shutting her ears; but nothing worked.
She hated the rain, the thunder, and lightning coming from the dark clouds. It disturbed all her senses, drowning her in an endless pit of fear and terrifying memories. She tried so hard to forget them, to not let them control her, but it never worked.
Blair just wanted this to be over. She even wished that Ameo was here with her, she has been avoiding him for a week now. Despite his extreme advances, she always managed to push him away; or rather, he let her push him away.
She just wanted all this to be over, hoping that the long night would end.
Meanwhile, Ameo was in his room, looking outside the window and deep in thought.
Days had passed and Blair had been actively avoiding him, much to his frustration. Even after his confession, she was still difficult. He glanced at his empty wine glass in his hand; he had the urge to smoke but used the drink to quench it instead.
Ameo looked over to the table and the bottle was empty. He really needed more drinks.
He headed downstairs where the massive living room and his study were... as well as Blair's room down the hallway.
Ameo stared at the corridor, his eyes narrowed to her door. She had been there for a while, never leaving the place whenever he was around. After pondering over the thought of confronting Blair, he shook his head and went to take a bottle of wine; it was late at night anyway, she should be asleep by now.
That wasn't the case as Blair slowly opened the door to her room, letting her bare feet get used to the cold floor as she stepped into the hallway. She felt her pride wither; she was the one avoiding him, now she had the audacity to look for him. Really? But she desperately wanted to see Ameo, she didn't want to be alone, especially not in a time like this.
Tiny footsteps came towards his direction. He turned around to see Blair wrapped in a fluffy blanket that was way too big for her small figure.
"Ameo..."
His name came out as a whisper as she stood behind a pillar, looking at him like a lost puppy seeking guidance.
Ameo let his eyes linger on her for a moment before he finally spoke. "What is it, doll?"
Her expression softened by the sound of his soothing voice. She thought he would be mad at her for ignoring for the past week.
A thunderbolt struck and Blair let out a shriek, immediately tightening the surrounding blanket. She restrained her sobbing, but tears betrayed her and fell down her cheeks.
Watching tears run down her face caught Ameo by surprise. Why would she be crying in the middle of the night?
The sound of thunder rolled through the clouds just made her situation much worse. Her pulse rapidly increased, she could hardly breathe. Her breathing was now forced.
Her body trembled in fear, and that was when he knew she was afraid of stormy weather. Ameo took a few steps forward but stopped, he looked at her and noticed she wasn't moving away. This encouraged him to move toward her until he was right in front of her. She wasn't avoiding him, not this time.
"Go back to your room." She stared up at him in shock, her lips parted to something, but he interjected. "I'll be with you, don't worry," he said like he could read her mind before he grabbed her hand from under the blanket.
Blair immediately relaxed and let him lead the way to her room, enjoying his big hand wrapped around hers.
Once inside, Ameo took her to the bed and sat down, pulling her to his side. He gently stroked her back, waiting patiently for her to calm down.
"You are afraid of storms?"
Blair nodded, the blanket covered her head. He scouted closer to her, removing the blanket from her face.
"Tell me since when," he said, brushing her now pink cheeks.
Blair looked up at him, his eyes gaze down at her with such gentleness that she couldn't say no and she spilled everything out. "Since the age of three or m-maybe earlier," she started, her voice almost a whisper, "M-my parents would always mistreat me, whether by not giving me food for days, or not going to school for a couple weeks because I wasn't able to speak."
His brows drew closer to each other. "You couldn't speak?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I was abnormally late. Started walking at two, could barely say a word by seven. The doctor said that it can happen and that they should give me some time and encouragement."
"So you didn't function properly like the other kids?"
"Yes, and no. I was just verbally and physically late, but that was it, I was mentally fine. I wasn't stupid, I just couldn't speak." Another thunder was heard and Blair closed her eyes, trying to calm down. She could feel his soft, even caresses against her cheek.
"Keep talking."
"Um..." Her voice came out shaky. "My... my parents neglected me, believing that there was something wrong with me. T-they planned to send me to a school for children with special needs. But the doctors found nothing wrong with me; I could understand what people were saying, I could write, I-I could even read in my head and comprehend. So the child psychologist concluded I may be mute."
"Your parents didn't take that news well, didn't they?"
"No, they didn't. Because one day, when I was four, I had accidentally tipped over my mother's favourite tea cup as I-I was looking for a cup to drink from. In my panicked state, I started gathering the broken pieces, ignoring the cuts I was getting from it. My parents came home and were livid. My sister, who witnessed it all, turned the other way when I-I tried to ask her to help me tell mom and dad that it was an accident."
Blair began weeping again, she was reliving those moments all over again. Ameo's hands did not stop comforting as she regained her composure.
"Th-they knew I feared water and that day it was pouring and the wind was strong, it-it was almost impossible to see through. "
"So they decided to..."
"So they used that against me. Maybe they thought that if they made me stand outside on that stormy night with barely no clothes for hours at a time would 'fix' me. M-maybe they thought of me as a disgrace who couldn't speak, who deserved to stand there until I collapsed."
Ameo's jaw clenched, holding his anger; they should consider themselves lucky when he had given them an easy out. "And how long did they continue with that?"
"Th-they continued until I started speaking, which was about four years. They would leave me outside on those rainy nights, no matter how much I screamed and cried; I stayed outside until I fainted from hypothermia."
"I'm sorry." He brushed back hair strands from her face and paused. "Is that the reason for your occasional stuttering?"
She remained silent for a short moment before speaking again. "Is it that obvious?"
"Sometimes."
"Oh." She buried herself deeper into the blanket, embarrassed.
Ameo reached out and pulled her into a comforting hug, trying to calm her down as she continued to tremble in his embrace. He pressed his lips on her cheeks, kissing each tear away as her sobs turned into sniffs.
His spicy scent, the heat of his body, overwhelmed her. It's not long before she slowly relaxed and melted in his arms. Blair opened her eyes, he was gazing down at her. The moonlight cast to the side of his face made him look like an angel, she already knew that he's far from that; but she felt safer here with him than anyone else.
Her eyes cast down, lingering to his lips.
She leaned in and gave him a timid kiss on his lips, trying to erase everything that was happening around her. The desperate girl was seeking and needed comfort. And Ameo could offer her just that.
If anyone could replace her horrible memories of something more worthy of remembering, and he was the one to do that.