PLEASE DON'T BE A SILENT READER!
AZALEA'S POV:
TW: SMALL MENTION(S) OF NEEDLES
THE ONE thing I had tried so desperately to prevent. The one thing I'd promised I would protect with my life. The one thing I didn't have to feel insecure of, because no one knew.
My scars.
A piece of me I hung onto. A secret piece of me; one that no one but two dead people knew about. It's not secret anymore. I feel naked, exposed. I feel defenceless.
My secret was exposed while I was unconscious.
Now I'm conscious and wishing I was dead.
I try to gulp in preparation to face them, a nervous habit of mine. But I fail, considering there's still a massive tube shoved down my throat. I close my eyes.
I'm fine, this is fine. It was going to happen one way or another..
Tears threaten to slip out.
"..Azalea?" A drained voice calls out.
My eyelids part. Everyone's here now.
Everyone except.. Giovanni?
"Yes?" I smile.
"Are you.. okay?" Aidan asks, concerned.
Elliott looks like he's seen a ghost. He's scared of me.
"Yes, just peachy! But can I get this tube out of me? It's.. annoying." I beam.
Nicholas nods and dashes out of the room.
Silence settles in the room.
I take deep breaths.
It's no longer an option, it has to be okay.
For now, at least.
The tension is easily noticeable, all of us just there, staring at one another.
"Why'd you faint, Azzy?" Aidan breaks the silence, a small smile on his face.
I inhale a sharp breath. I open my mouth to speak; nothing comes out.
I know why I fainted. I fainted because of the occurring, overwhelming thoughts that can never seem to leave me alone. I fainted because I haven't had a full meal for as long as I can remember. I fainted because I haven't eaten in 4 whole days, and I can't eat without guilt and fear drowning out the needs to eat.
As much as I long to say that, to finally express myself, let it all out, I don't. I keep my mouth shut. I let them believe whatever they want to. I'll allow them to think I'm perfectly fine, because I am. Stefano's gone, Mary is dead, and I'm fine. I'll just let them and myself believe that, too.
"Because.." My voice is just above a whisper. "Oh yeah― the teacher you beat up scared me."
It really didn't. It should have bothered me more, but I just accepted it. I was once a girl that'd been constantly beaten up and trampled over, and so it didn't really surprise me seeing someone beaten up. I'm almost used to it. But it did make me wonder how Aidan learnt to fight like that. Out of everyone in the house, he didn't seem like the type person to beat someone up. It just makes me more wary about trusting them; it makes me rethink what I'd gotten myself into.
"About that.. I'm not― we're not dangerous people, I'm the only one who knows how to fight here, none of them do. Don't worry, I'll never hurt you!" He quickly blurts out.
I raise an eyebrow. Well, that's a lie. I've seen Nicholas and Giovanni fight in the gym a few times. Why's he so nervous, and what the hell is he lying for?
I nod. "That didn't even cross my mind." I lie without a second thought.
He grins and nods, satisfied.
I smile back weakly.
As if on cue, Nicholas comes back in with 2 people. A female and a male. In hospital uniform.
I glance over to Elijah and Elliot.
Elijah gives me that same knowing look, but this time, it's different. I don't get mad or aggravated because I know I won't directly tell him anything. He'll have to figure it out for himself.
Elliott doesn't even look at me. He has his back turned towards me, his face turned away. It shatters my heart all over again. My own brother can't even look at me.
I frown, tears on the brink of spilling. I push them back. After all, it's my fault anyway. And it's understandable.
It just hurts, though. It sends a sharp pang through my chest. If anyone, he was the one I felt protected with, I could tell him everything.
He can't even fucking look at you anymore, Azalea.
Tears blur my vision. I watch as they scurry away, almost as if they never wanted to be here in the first place.
People come close, towards me. I look up at a male doctor. He holds a needle in his hand. It's inserted into me. I suddenly feel a wave of dizziness, and the familiar unwelcoming feeling of unconsciousness greets me once again. Everything turns black, my body goes limp onto the hospital bed.
ELLIOTT'S POV:
It hurts.
Seeing my sister on a hospital bed, a tube down her throat. Fluids running through it. Scars, carvings all over her body.
It brought back too many memories.
My mother once looked like this. 8 years ago when we found her on the streets of greece, scars and carvings all over her. Then, we went to the hospital. She had multiple tubes attached to her, she'd been starved and bruised.
We have no idea why she was beaten up.
Then, she disappeared.
So 8 years later, I find my missing sister, and she just so happens to also be in quite literally the same position.
But we know why this time.
But still yet I couldn't bring myself to look at her. It felt like a stab to my heart only 100x worse. Unimaginable pain, quite precisely one I didn't think was possible to experience. I might've just broken down then and there if I had urged myself to look at her underlying pained self.
It's so unfair, I'd rather it be me then my sister. She's my everything. Even when I hadn't seen her for 12 years.
I don't like running. I would rather fight back; when it comes to Azalea, it feels like all I can do is run. I don't want her to see me weak.
The hurt in her eyes when she'd realized a part of her had been exposed. She blinked away her meaningful tears so many times. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who saw it. I couldn't look at her. It physically hurt to do so.
My heart shattered into tiny little bits all over again, and like always, I was left to fend for myself and pick up the bits.
I just want revenge.
I want to make sure her father gets every single torture method that siezes to exist be tested on him
But I know I can't get any of those two because we don't do illegal business. Unfortunately, right now.
So, I'll resort to the legal things:
I want to protect her forever.
And I know I can't, but when I can't, I'll be the first to find her.
AZALEA'S POV:
My eyes feel tired, heavy. I feel sluggish, woozy. I can't really see properly; my eyes aren't functioning well.
I manage a glance at the doctors as they slowly back away, watching me.
I feel like I'm in mental hospital, like I'm crazy and they're analyzing tests on my brain to see what's wrong with me.
They're dressed head to toe in pure, blinding white and it hurts my blurry vision. I can barely see the white masks that cover their mouth and the glistening, silver tweezers they're holding up. I can only seem to squint though.
I feel so exhausted.
Of everything.
My head swings to the left and I attempt to gain more energy. I feel so drained.
My throat feels empty. I find it hard to swallow. I should feel fine.
"What's.. wrong with me?" I whisper.
"Miss Taylor!"
"Miss Laurier," I correct. They've grown on me.
She scoffs quietly and I almost miss the movement her eyes made. Why's she upset about my legal surname?
"Right.. anyway, you'll feel woozy because of the anesthetics we gave you. You should start to feel better in around 10 minutes," she briefly explains.
I make an action to nod, but I don't think my head moved at all.
"And my― brothers?" I manage to choke out.
"They're outside sweetheart."
I cringe slightly at the nickname. Sometimes Mary would call me that.
I take a deep breath.
I'll only need to pretend for 20 more minutes.
༄ ✯ ༄
They're spread out in the small room, effectively making the most out of it.
Heavy rain and thunder strikes out the window. The wind whirls around the green, wet trees. Grass flies into different directions. The harsh wind sweeps up lone leaves, blasting them into nothingness.
I listen into all of their little conversations. But I make sure to make it seem like I'm lost in my own thoughts. Eavesdropping seems extremely privacy-invading and disrespectful.
Yet here I am.
"Oh yeah, and then they started a little cat fight―" Elliott smiles, excited, ranting on about something he saw in the market to Aidan. I don't bother to listen on, it sounds boring.
I glance over at Nicholas' and Elijah's expressions. They seem to be having a heated conversation. Seems interesting.
Nicholas warily glances around, specifically at me and Elliott before proceeding to go on.
"Giovanni does bad stuff when he's mad, I mean, last time he ki―," once again, he looks around. Only this tine, he catches my intrigued expression but continues on.
Last time he what, killed off some people?
I mentally chuckle at my joke.
"―icked a.. a few people out of the ma- mandatory.. headquarters..?" it comes out as more a question. Elijah raises an amused eyebrow and follows his line of vision.
I quickly look away.
I hear his chuckle before they return to a conversation, only this time, less heated and more friendly.
Abruptly, the same female doctor who Nicholas had come in with comes in and harshly grabs my arm, right on a healing bruise. I shriek quietly and jerk back. A frown appears on my face, perplexed mens' faces now crowd my small hospital bed.
"What are you.." I trail off as my eyebrows furrow.
"Azalea, why do you have so many scars and bruises?" Her concerned face is now disorted as tears blur my vision. My emerald green eyes fog, thoughts cloud my previously untroubled mind.
My heart thumps out my chest for what feels like the 100th time to day. I gulp back painful tears.
The world stops around me, time is frozen. Everything stills. It feels like I'm being sufforcated. I can't seem to get any words out.
The thunder becomes heavier and it feels like one of lightning strikes had struck me right in my heart.
I feel disgust and disgusting.
I feel betrayed.
I feel dead.
It feels like it's been years that'd I had been paralyzed, stuck in my place. In reality it'd only been a few seconds.
I feel the drowned voices coming back. Shouting, screaming, sobs ring in my ear. I feel a high-pitch scream echo in my head. I know it's my suppressed screams. I have to keep on touching my lips to make sure I'm not actually screaming.
The nurse is out, the screamings' stopped and everyone is looking at me.
My eyes are watery, but I manage to look up at them.
"Get out." The singular words thicken the underlying tension.
"Azalea―"
"I'm fine, Get. Out." My words are firm and understandable.
They all leave, quieter than ever.
Even though it's only me inside the room, the tension still lingers.
I spot a toilet.
I quickly rush to it, lock it, and curl up in a small corner with my cutesy little Hospital gown.
Tears overload. They rapidly run down my cheeks at unmeasurable speeds. A sharp pain pangs in my head.
I can't hold the tears in.
I cry for everything.
I know they already know about my past, but I knew they left the scars unoticed. They pretended they didn't exsist and that did it for me. But she came in there, left a nasty bruise on my upper arm and exposed me; asked me in front of everyone. I felt like I had been stabbed so many times.
It just hurts.
And this, was the minute I decided.
I was done.
༄ ✯ ༄
Took a long time to be written? Well, it's my longest chapter🙄🙄
Just kidding, I've been busy and I'm sorry I haven't been active. I'm trying to make the plot of this story as understandable and as mysterious as it can be all while adding plot twists. I seriously need help with opinions but at the same time I don't wanna ruin anything for y'all 😭
Anyway, I hope you enjoined this chapter!
Until next time,
~Violet.