*TW: MENTIONS OF SH, S**CIDE IDEATION, AB*SE*
I was woken up the next morning to a pained wail and I immediately flew into action to search for whatever hellish scene was occurring. My heart was pounding and I felt sick to my stomach from the fear that filled me first thing in the morning.
I searched the halls frantically and, thankfully, the scene wasn't too far away from the Crematorium. When I arrived, I arrived in time to watch Ally's mother land a hard kick to Ally's gut. Ally was sobbing on the floor and trying to crawl away to safety. Her father held his wife back by her arms and was yelling for her to stop but nothing worked and the woman continued to stomp Ally until the poor girl was struggling to even keep her head up.
"Lucy! Stop it!" her father yelled desperately and his wife, fed up with her husband's refusal to support her, turned and wrenched an arm out of his grasp to elbow him in the face. He cried out in pain and clutched his nose and, in his momentary daze, the woman freed herself from his other arm and picked Ally off the floor by her hair. The girl screamed in pain and grabbed for her mother's hand to pry her fingers off, but the woman's grip was strong.
I was stuck watching in absolute horror as the beating took place. I had no idea why it was happening but it was far more vicious than anything I'd seen in this family and it scared me to think there were people like this. I wanted to intervene to help Ally but my legs were as heavy as lead and I couldn't move them.
Ally's father grabbed for his wife again when he recovered from the blow to his nose and he grabbed her wrists in hopes that she would let go of Ally. The woman held strong though, and wriggled out of her husband's grasp, pulling Ally every which way as she did so and causing the poor girl to wail in pain and fight for her hair to be free.
"LUCY!! STOP!!" Ally's father yelled as firmly and as loudly as he could.
"THE DAMN BITCH DESERVES THIS, DANIEL!! GET OUT OF MY WAY!!" The woman screamed angrily and pulled Ally into a chokehold. The girl scratched and grabbed at her mother's arm but it was a pointless feat and she continued to remain trapped. The woman's husband grabbed her arm as well and pulled with all his might to force the woman to let go and I guess watching the man fight for his daughter's safety was what finally knocked some sense into me.
The man wasn't just standing by and letting the abuse happen, he was trying to stop it and I realised that if I jumped in, we would both be able to get Ally to safety much quicker. So, after taking a few deep breaths to calm my nerves, I turned human and sprinted toward the group. I practically body-slammed into Ally's mother and the force knocked her to the floor. She let go of Ally but the girl still stumbled and fell as well.
Her parents exclaimed in surprise when they both landed eyes on me but I didn't stop to let them take in my existence. I simply grabbed Ally by her hand and pulled her back up to her feet to run to safety. Behind me, I could hear her mother screaming for us to stop but once again, her husband was pulling her away to let us go.
I ran all the way back to the Crematorium and once we were safe, I stopped and collapsed to the floor for air. Ally fell to the floor as well but more out of weakness than breathlessness. Her skin was red as the beginnings of countless bruises began to develop and her eyes were red and puffy from crying hysterically. She was shaking and I felt my stomach drop from the sudden wave of sadness that I felt for her.
Without saying anything, I hugged her gently and held her until I could feel her shaking slowly disappear. She hugged back after a while and cried quietly into my shoulder. For once, I didn't mind her holding or touching me in general. I felt comfortable and I knew she needed me at that moment. For once in a long while, I found myself welcoming the idea of having a friend.
...
Ally decided to take a nap in order to recover from the pain that had been inflicted on her body and I remained in case she needed me for anything. I stayed perched on the top of the shelves in the corners of the room. I watched over her while she slept; bored out of my mind but wanting to be a good person about the situation.
She slept for a good few hours and I barely noticed her wake up because I, myself, was also falling asleep. However, I heard her give a weak sigh and, curious, I looked over to check on her. She was sitting on her pathetic newspaper bed, staring off into space with an empty look in her eyes. I don't think she realised I was still in the room with her.
I watched her for a while and I was just about to fly down and ask if she was alright, when she suddenly reached into her pocket and pulled out a small razor blade. Confused, I stopped to watch what she was doing and the moment the girl sliced it into the skin on her arm, my breath caught in my throat and I felt my stomach twist painfully. I watched in horror as she mutilated herself right in front of me but I was too shocked to move and stop her.
She continued on, giving herself thin red lines across her wrist while a numb expression haunted her features. I found my strength after a while when the lines became too much to see and I flew down to her, turning human as I did so and rushing up to her. The girl gasped in surprise and quickly tried to make an effort to hide her self-harm but I had already seen it. I grabbed the hand that she held the razor blade with and, with a quivering voice, I yelled at her, "Ally! Stop! What are you doing!?"
I was frantic and the poor girl was so surprised and ashamed that I had seen her doing this to herself, that she only burst into frightened sobs and tried to pull her hand away from me. I held on though, trying desperately to pry her fingers off the razor blade so she would drop it.
"You're hurting me!" Ally cried and finally I let go of her wrist and she dropped the razor blade.
"Why are you doing that??" I asked, with tears threatening to slip from my eyes. I couldn't stop staring at the bleeding wounds on her arm. They haunted me and I had no idea why she would want to do that to herself. Why put yourself through more unnecessary pain??
"I don't want to live anymore," Ally sobbed and scooted away from me, holding her afflicted arm close to her body from the stinging pain. I sat down in front of her with that twisting in my stomach only growing worse. My heart panged painfully in my chest as her words bounced around my skull on repeat.
"But you wanted me to take you away from here... I can't do that if you're dead..." I answered back through my quivering voice and uncontrollable tears. Ally's sobs grew silent with intensity and she finally came closer and buried her face into my chest. I hugged her tightly as if she would let go of me to hurt herself more. I was scared that she would do something like that. I didn't know how to help her, I'd never been around anyone with these sorts of issues. I had no experience in being the comfort. I was scared I would only make things worse...
Ally stayed in my arms for a while before she finally moved away from me and wiped her eyes, sniffling. Her arm was still bleeding and the blood had been speckled and smudged across her tank top from where her arm had been pressed against her body. Without a word spoken, I searched around for the first aid kit and brought it over to help her clean up.
Ally was quiet while I cleaned the blood from her arm. Even when I poured disinfectant onto a rag and dabbed it gently on her arm, she never said a word and only seethed in pain and clenched her fist tightly. The silence was deafening; I would've preferred if she continued talking about her mental turmoil but the silence she gave me was more painful. She had no words to say about it. All her thoughts were internal and I was deeply afraid she was quiet only to keep me from talking to her about it.
Finally, after I had bandaged her wrists and gently pressed on the medical tape to make sure it stayed, I found the strength to speak again.
"Have you always been doing this...?" I asked softly with her hand still in mine. She nodded slowly and stared blankly at our hands.
"Why was your mum angry at you...?" I asked after a moment of silence.
"She told me I wasn't using the right chemical to clean the walls... and I started crying..." Ally answered quietly and I gave her a bewildered expression.
"She nearly killed you... over cleaning supplies??" I said in outrage. Ally only shrugged and answered casually, "She's been more unpredictable lately... she used to be a little more lenient."
"That's stupid... I'll make sure to keep you away from her more often..." I assured her and Ally finally managed a soft smile. I felt pretty good about myself when she smiled because it let me know that I was helping make her feel better.
"Actually, if you want, we can leave tonight to go trick or treating and then run away," I told her, although I said it more out of wanting her to be in a better mood. I had no set plan whatsoever if Ally ran away with me. I knew it would be much harder to deal with but at the moment, those words seemed fitting to make her feel better.
Ally's smile grew brighter and she finally met my gaze. Although her eyes were red and puffy from crying, her bright green eyes seemed genuinely at peace. I smiled back, proud of myself that I was doing a good job.
However, Ally took me completely by surprise when she suddenly leaned in and kissed me. One moment, we were gazing at each other, and the next, my mind was going crazy with confused yet excited thoughts. Her lips were soft and I actually sort of enjoyed it; however, her lip ring was hard to deal with and it tasted like spoons.
Still, in my surprise, I didn't move away or tell her to stop. I simply sat there like an idiot. She stopped when she realised I hadn't kissed back and her cheeks were red with embarrassment.
"I'm sorry-" she looked down shamefully and I finally snapped out of my trance.
"No, wait- sorry- I just wasn't ready-" I responded, completely flustered.
"Oh- well... Can we try again...?" she asked sheepishly and I nodded quickly. My heart was pounding in my chest from the excitement. I had finally been kissed by a girl and it was nicer than I thought it was.
Ally leaned in again and in return, I met her in the middle and we kissed slowly and sweetly. Both of us were inexperienced and had no idea what we were doing but we didn't care. Especially not me, who went to bed that night thinking about it over and over again.