Third Person's POV
Everett watched as all the colour drained from Ares' face as his own eyes slightly widened.
So it was her.
There was no way he couldn't believe it after seeing Ares— his former best friend.
He didn't even know what to feel after seeing them again.
They watched as Anthony carried her out of the rooftop, and soon, the three of them disappeared into the staircase, leaving the group of boys to stare at the door.
"Not gonna lie, she was smokin' hot." Nolan stated as he brought his eyes to look at the three.
Everett turned to look at his best friend and sent him a glare, before taking his pack of cigarettes out and getting a stick as he lighted the butt, taking a puff.
For a while, Everett thought she looked exactly like her. He thought Alexandra was her.
She had the same exact eyes as the girl that Everett once cared about so deeply.
But he refused to believe it.
Until he saw her father and brother.
He knew it was her. The look Ares had sent him when he realised that Everett was there was enough to prove that it was her.
They hadn't talked in years. Despite going to the same school, that school was big enough to keep the two apart from each other, quite literally.
Everett hadn't seen Alexandra's family ever since Alexandra's case was closed years and years ago.
He couldn't bare being in the house without his best friend being there, he hated how he lost her. It changed him and everyone around him saw how much everything had affected him.
"Oh! Looks like someone likes Alexandra." Nolan suddenly sang, with a cheeky grin on his face.
Everett's thought drifted off to the beautiful 16 year old girl with the most mesmerizing eyes ever, his jaw clenching at the thought of the mark on her neck and her tear stained cheeks.
"Fuck off." he took a drag of his cigarette before blowing out the smoke into Nolan's direction.
Sebastian's eyes lit up like a light as he thought of his new friend, "She's so sweet! I hope we get to see her more at school. God knows how tired I am of you idiot's complaining about me." He pouted.
Nolan smacked him in the head, "She probably finds you annoying but is just too nice to say it to your face." He muttered, under his breath.
"She does not!"
"Can we stop talking about the fucking girl." Everett rolled his eyes, annoyed at his best friends taking interest in some girl that they met just an hour ago who they knew nothing about.
But little did he know, she was going to become his lifeline like she once was.
"Don't talk about her like that." Sebastian crossed his arms like a kid, with his eyes narrowing at Everett.
"I talk about the girl however the fuck I want to," He pushed himself off the edge of the rooftop and walked towards the door, "come on, let's go you idiots."
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Stepping foot into the house, Alexandra made a beeline to the kitchen and to the sink where she washed her hands before walking to the cupboards and taking out her favorite box of chocolate muffin that Evan had gotten her the day she returned from the hospital.
It was something that cheered Alexandra up so she always found herself eating her favourite chocolate muffins whenever she was feeling down.
"Here, you can have a bite, but not too big." she told Ares while bringing the muffin to his mouth, where he took the biggest bite out of his sisters muffin.
"Ares! I said not a big bite!" she exclaimed, looking back and forth between the muffin and her brother.
"Oops?" Ares said, earning a soft slap on the shoulder from his sister.
"Dad, Ares made me sad." She turned to her Dad who was watching the scene with crossed arms and soft eyes as his body leaned on the doorframe. She gave him sad eyes and held her muffin out forward, showing him the big bite their brother took.
Anthony looked at his little girl with raised eyebrows, who looked back at him with a teasing look in her eyes, Anthony understood what she meant and moved his eyes to look at his son.
"Ares, you're grounded." He said seriously.
Alexandra held in a laughter at the look on Ares' face, failing miserably as soft and cute giggles escaped her lips.
"What?! I did nothing wrong!" Ares said in disbelief.
"You made your sister sad." Anthony replied with a smirk
Ares turned to look at his sister, who looked back at him with a cheeky smile, "Come here you little monkey." He said before chasing his sister around the kitchen as they both ran around the kitchen counter, with Alexandra laughing uncontrollably and Ares playing around with her just to see that bright smile on his sisters face.
Despite what happened, Alexandra felt happy at the moment, she had a carefree smile on her face, forgetting about everything that happened. She was preparing herself to explain to everyone about what had happened earlier, she was preparing herself by letting her brain forget about it for now and to enjoy the happiness that consumed her right now. And when the time comes, she was going to tell them what had happened back at the restaurant.
Until, a voice stopped them, "Alexandra?"
She stopped what she was doing and turned to face the rest of her family, who stood at the kitchen entrance, all freshly showered and dressed in comfortable clothes.
"Oh thank god you're okay!" Amelia exclaimed as she embraced her daughter in a light hug.
"Hey Mom." She hugged her back tightly, with her cheek rested on her Mom's shoulder.
"You scared us Alexandra!" Evan breathed out a sigh of relief, moving to hug his little sister after Amelia had released her.
A light smile was on Alexandra's face as she hugged her brother, who squeezed her body as tight as he could, but not tight enough to hurt her.
"What is that on your neck?!" Elio moved his fingers to softly grip her chin and lift it, as he examined her neck, touching it to see if it's real or not.
Alexandra whimpered, making him quickly retreat his hand and take a good look at her face.
And as soon as he did, he saw the nail marks on her face and the redness in her eyes. His eyes darkened, and jaw ticked in anger.
"Alexandra, what happened?" Amelia questioned, coming up from behind Elio as she looked at the mark.
"C-Can we talk about this tomorrow?" She asked, nervously as she scratched her wrist out of anxiousness, which Ares quickly noticed and separated her hands by holding it.
Alexandra looked at their joined hands and the redness in her wrist, before looking up at Ares and sending him a grateful smile.
Amelia sighed, "Alright."
Ares brought his twin close to his chest and began stroking her hair, not knowing that he was unknowingly lulling Alexandra to sleep.
So when he looked at his sister minutes later, he noticed that her chest was rising and falling slowly — indicating that she had fallen asleep.
A soft smile grew on his face before he lifted her body into his arms, "I'm going to take her to bed." He told everyone, walking out the kitchen and to her room.
As he placed her on her bed, he brought her favorite blanket and covered her shivering body while making sure her pillows were comfortable for her.
Right when he was about to leave, his sister grabbed onto his wrist and sleepily whispered, "Can you stay, I'm scared of the nightmares."
His heart softened at his sister's words and at how vulnerable she sounded— he was so used to the joyful sister that it shattered his heart into pieces when she sounded so scared.
He walked towards her bed and took off his shoes, before laying right beside her and hugging her close to his chest, "I promise I won't let anyone hurt you, ever again."
And in minutes, the both were sound asleep, with Alexandra's soft snores filling her room as she slept, snuggled close to her brothers chest.
❦ ❦ ❦
Ares' body jolted awake to the sound of crying, the sound of his sister crying.
Confused, he looked around the room with his groggy eyes, until they landed on his sister's shaking figure and cheeks tinged red from heat with tears streaming.
He shuffled towards her curled up figure and began to softly shake her, "Alexandra,"
He heard a hum, followed by a sniffle as Alexandra quickly wiped her tears and turned to face her twin brother.
He examined her face, eyes going over her red, puffy eyes and red nose.
He sighed, "Come here,"
Her eyes stung with fresh set of tears as she moved to her brothers arms and silently cried as Ares didn't say a word and just hugged his sister close to his chest.
Knowing, questions were the last thing she wanted.
"I'm here angel," He whispered in her ear, when he noticed her breathing quickening and her little gasps for air.
His hands went to her hair and he started to comb out all the knots from her hair— trying to giving her something to focus on instead of what had just happened.
"You're okay, just focus on yourself,"
Within minutes, she was back to normal and the both of them were quietly laying in bed, Ares was staring at her wall and thinking, while Alexandra's hands were on her neck and she was tracing the new bruise.
Her thoughts drifted off to dinner, if only she hadn't left to go to the washroom. If only she agreed when her Mom offered to go with her.
"It was a girl." She mumbled.
Ares' eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but before he could say anything, his sister spoke again, clearing his confusion, "My neck. A girl did it."
His body tensed, "What the fuck." He whispered under his breath.
"Saying it out loud with everyone there is too overwhelming, so I'll tell you and you can tell them." She said, her voice barely above a whisper, but he heard her.
And then, she told him. She told him everything.
She told him the conversation between her and Rubi. She told him how the bruise was from Rubi strangling her.
She didn't leave out a single detail. She told him about the boys at the rooftop, how one of them helped her with her panic attack, how they all stayed with her when she was scared of being alone, how they all helped her get away from Rubi. How they talked to her, to calm her down.
She was thankful that they were there at the rooftop, she didn't know if she could handle it if she was alone and Rubi found her, she didn't know what would've happened.
She told him everything all while holding back her tears, she was so scared at that time, she was terrified of Rubi and Rubi knew it, that's why she used it as an advantage.
"Angel, how do you know her?" Ares asked. His arms still hugging his sister as she held onto him tightly.
Alexandra gulped, before moving her head away from him and looking up at him, "She used to be my best friend, before she made me an outcast of the school."
~Flashback~
"Come on Alexandra, live a little! What high schooler doesn't know the feeling of eating at the cafeteria?!" Rubi exclaimed with a bright laugh, but Alexandra failed to notice the evil glint behind her best friends eyes.
"Rubi, you know I hate being surrounded by so many people." Alexandra said with a short nervous laugh as her eyes scanned the cafeteria with wary eyes.
Rubi pulled her to a table in the cafeteria and made her sit down with her food as she did the same, "Well... just try it this once? For me?" Rubi looked at her with a fake expression as she pleaded, making Alexandra roll her eyes and give in to her tricks, "Fine."
"Yes! You're the best!" She squealed, excited for what's about to happen.
"I know." Alexandra joked, taking a bite of her sandwich that she had bought with the money she earned from work.
They both started eating their food, making small talks as they both lightly laughed at each other.
Just seconds later, everyone's phone dinged with a message, startling Alexandra.
She looked around, confused, until she caught sight of Rubi looking at her with a wide smile that scared Alexandra.
"Ew, the freak is suicidal!" A student yelled, pointing at Alexandra, making her snap her head to the guy and open her eyes wide.
"What?" She whispered, eyes looking around the cafeteria to see everyone staring at her.
She was confused, so she took out her cracked phone and went to the newly received message.
Each line she read, more and more tears started forming in her eyes as her heartbeat quickened with each second she stayed in the cafeteria filled with people throwing hurtful words at her.
She slowly looked at Rubi, as her eyes stung with tears, "How..."
Rubi only smiled at her pain, "You think I really wanted to be friends with you?" her face contorted into one of disgust towards the fragile girl.
"It was a bet between me and my friends. We knew you were hiding something, so we made a bet to become friends with you and find out your little secret. Who knew the freak was hiding such a big secret." She laughed at the look on Alexandra's face, feeling not even an ounce of guilt towards her.
"Rubi... I trusted you." She whispered, voice filled with pain and disbelief.
"What an idiot, I needed your trust so you could tell me that little secret, I just didn't know it was that big." Rubi stood up and patted her skirt as her friends came up behind her.
Alexandra followed her and stood up, "Why did you do this Rubi? I thought you were—"
"We don't care what you think. You really think someone as popular as Rubi would want to be friends with someone like you?" One of the guy said, swinging his arms around Rubi as he looked at Alexandra, his face scrunched up in disgust.
"No. Rubi I trusted you. I trusted you with my secret! I trusted you enough to tell you everything! You could've cut off our friendship or whatever the hell you wanted but you shouldn't have told the whole school everything I told you!" Alexandra yelled, breathing heavily while clutching her chest in pain.
"No one told you to fucking trust me! This shit is on you!" Rubi said, her voice so loud that the whole cafeteria could hear her and it made Alexandra flinch from how scary Rubi sounded.
"But you were the first person I trusted! You acted like you cared, you acted like you were interested in me, was everything just a game to you? A lie?" Alexandra's voice cracked as she looked at her best friend who only rolled her eyes in annoyance.
That's exactly what she wanted, she wanted someone she could trust, someone who would care for her, but what she didn't know was the amount of pain it would cause her once they hurt her.
"I trusted you with everything Rubi! You have no idea what you just did."
Rubi chuckled and crossed her arms over her chest, "Oh I do, and I know what's going to happen, that's why I did it."
"You have no idea what I did for you! You have no idea how much pain you caused me, but I still did it because you were the first person that I thought had cared for me." Alexandra replied, referring to the amount of time he had beaten her black and blue because Rubi had insisted that they have a day out.
"I literally don't fucking care! You're just a suicidal freak who gets abused by her dad! I don't fucking give a shit that you tried to kill yourself! Next time you try again, make sure it actually works." She walked towards Alexandra and said through gritted teeth.
Alexandra's vision blurred with the amount of tears that were threatening to fall at her words, but she refused to show her how much her words had affected her.
"Oh and I know what he's going to do to you, so you better hide before he finds you." She gripped Alexandra's upper arm and squeezed it tightly, making her whimper in pain.
"I'm going to make your life a living hell, Alexandra. So you better watch your back." She added, before roughly letting go of her arm and pushing her away.
Alexandra was at a loss for words, she felt like her heart was pulled out of her chest. The girl she cared about, the girl who was her best friend, the girl she risked her life for, betrayed her. Used her. She was just a game to Rubi.
And today was the day she saw her true colors, today was the day she lost her best friend who she loved with everything. But not anymore.
"You're a monster. Rot in hell." Alexandra said, before moving to walk away.
But two strong grip on her upper arms, stopped her from moving.
"W-What are y-you doing?" fear took over her body as she watched Rubi's friends drag her out of the cafeteria and to the girls washroom.
No one helped, everyone watched, some with pity, some with disgust, and some with remorse.
"Let me go!" she screamed, in hopes of getting the attention of some teachers, but a hand came to her mouth, making her shut up.
She struggled against their grip, her bruised body jerking in every direction possible as she desperately tried to free herself from the tight grips.
"Stop fucking struggling!" One of the guy that was gripping her, yelled, scaring Alexandra and making her do as he says.
Then, she was violently thrown to the wall, making her scream in pain when her body came in contact with the hard wall.
"Oh, I didn't tell anyone about you being abused yet, I don't quite want him to stop hurting you." Rubi pulled her hair and made Alexandra face her.
Her eyes were red and tears were uncontrollably spilling out of them.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure it doesn't hurt that much. You know, since you're my best friend." She pulled her head harder, a burning sensation forming on Alexandra's scalp.
Before Alexandra could scream, or even open her mouth to speak, multiple punches and kicks were thrown at her.
Her stomach, her arms, her shoulder, her legs. Everything was bruised.
She felt weak and didn't have any energy in her to move, so she laid limply on the cold floor as she let them hurt her.
She knew nothing could be changed if she had moved or done anything, it was seven against a weak girl who was already in so much pain.
"Please stop." she choked out, before dizziness consumed her, and she blacked out.
~Flashback over~
"I was in the washroom for hours and when I went home, I received the worst beating of my life, my body was already sore and broken that I didn't wake up for a while.
But after that day, my school life was a living hell, she would take her anger out on me whenever she saw me, which was why I would usually eat lunch at the stall in the washroom, so that she couldn't find me.
And there was a day where she was hurting me in the hallway when no one was around, it was after school so everyone had already left, but the principal caught her hitting my unconscious body, so he expelled her and she moved away, I just didn't know she moved here."
She finished, the end coming out a whisper as her hands were on her face, covering the amount of tears that were violently streaming down her face.
But Ares took her hands away from her face and wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumb.
"You've been through so much Alexandra, but don't let what happened to you, make you feel less worthy." He started as he sat up straight on the bed and pulled Alexandra with him so she was sitting next to him, with his body facing her.
"And I know it hurts, I know it isn't fair for that psychotic girl to do this to you, and one day you'll see that everyone's ignorance and fear has made you stronger, more capable and amazing, like the girl you are.
You might feel helpless, and that no one cares. But you're wrong, don't ever think that we don't care. We care about you more than you think, you're the smallest in this family, which means you're above us all, hell even me. You matter to us more than we matter to ourselves. We're here to help you and you can't push us away, because we aren't going anywhere." he finished, watching his sister who silently listened to his words with a thoughtful expression.
"You're wrong," she whispered, looking down at her fiddling fingers.
Before Ares could ask her what she meant, she spoke up again, "I'm not strong Ares, if I was, I wouldn't have tried to kill myself. I wouldn't have let them all control my life, I wouldn't have lost to the voices inside my head and I certainly wouldn't be terrified of them all." she whispered softly as she unknowingly squeezed at her wrist in anxiousness.
"Yes you are Alexandra, you just have to believe it." Ares said.
She pursed her lips in pain at her heart or maybe at her wrist. Or the pain she was feeling everywhere from the world for giving her a life like this, where she experiences never ending amount of pain and fear.
She didn't believe his words, yet she still slowly nodded.
Ares sighed and pulled his sister towards his body, "Come on, let's go back to sleep."
She quietly moved to lay down as she wrapped her frail arms around her brother's waist, and then, they were sound asleep for the second time that night.
With only one thought in Alexandra's mind,
I hope this is it, because I don't know how much more pain I can take before I lose.
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Sorry for the late chapter, I was so sick that I was literally bed ridden for four days :(
Do comment if you see any mistakes :)
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