32. SILENCE
A WEEK HAD PASSED SINCE the incident and Aliyah barely slept since then. She'd temporarily moved in with Elijah and taken a lot of sick days from work but she'd left the work up to Loren who she had full faith in.
Her attacker wasn't caught yet ━ she saw his face everytime she closed her eyes to sleep. She feared that one day, he'd somehow figure out where she is and find her and finish the job.
His brown eyes and gruff voice. They haunted her for the past week.
She no longer had the cuts and scrapes littered all over her face to remind her of that night ━ only her brain.
She'd gotten better at receiving human contact ━ that's the only way she got three full hours of sleep one night. Elijah wrapped her in his arms, allowing her to sleep on his chest.
Aliyah has been stuck in the house for the seven days she'd been living with Elijah ━ she couldn't find the strength to go anywhere, with the fear that the same thing might happen again and this time, no one will be nearby to hear her scream.
One of her favorite pastimes, recently, is to stare at the navy blue wall in Elijah's bedroom. If she concentrates hard enough, she can put all of her thoughts to the back of her mind and just zone out.
She holds her knees to her chest, trying her hardest to focus on her breathing. Her eyes flutter closed but snap open only seconds later.
The bedroom door opens, Elijah entering with dark bags under his eyes. His eyes finds hers, taking in her position.
"Are you thinking about it again?" He asks, already knowing what she's doing. He drops his work bag by the door and approaches her. Avoiding the bed considering he just did a thirty-seven hour shift, he stoops down in front of her.
Aliyah shrugs, biting the inside of her cheek nervously, "It's kind of hard not to." His beautiful blue eyes snap her from her reverie, making her shake her head of all the bad thoughts, "Uh, how was work today?"
Elijah shrugs, "Nope, we're not talking about work. You know what we're gonna do ━ after I take three showers to wash off other people's bodily fluids? We're gonna bake cookies."
Aliyah tries to hide the smile that unfolds on her face but she can't help herself, "Eli ━"
"Nope," He stops her, "You need to do something that isn't staring my bedroom wall."
She tilts her head at his words, the smile still on her face, "You're annoying."
"You love it." He stands and makes his way to the bathroom, leaving Aliyah to stare after him with a look of admiration in her eyes.
"HOW ARE A GREAT COOK but a terrible baker?" Aliyah questions as she stares the man down in wonder. She didn't know it was possible to mess up cookies but yet, here Elijah West is, messing up cookies.
After she took her first bite, it quickly became apparent that Elijah had thrown in salt rather than sugar when she wasn't looking. They're simple sugar cookies ━ the word is in the damn name.
Elijah is cleaning up, with her watching him from her seat around the island. He just chuckles and roll his eyes, playfully, "You were supposed to be helping."
"I was," Aliyah giggles, throwing the cookie back on the tray, "But I looked away for like two seconds. How you mess it up in two seconds?"
"Your singing was distracting," He chuckles, shaking his head. He changes the topic, "So, how's the wedding planning going?"
Aliyah hums out a no, "No, no work, you said that."
Elijah narrows his eyes in amusement, "Fine, have you talked to your mom?"
"Have you talked to yours?" Aliyah questions, nonchalantly as she picks at the cookies.
Elijah finishes wiping off the counters, "I asked you first."
"I asked you second." Aliyah winks, playfully throwing her words around. This was her tactic to avoid talking about stuff she doesn't want to talk about ━ she tries to divert the subject, switch the question back and then completely ignore it, "I'm gonna go take a shower."
She goes to stand up when Elijah calls her out, "Uh-uh, sit down, Little Miss, you're not getting away that easily."
"Did you just ━"
"Yes, yes, I did," Elijah throws his head into his hands with a cringe, "Let's forget that happened." He looks back up at her, "But, for real, though, Lee, you need to call her. She probably thinks you died."
"A week isn't the end of the world," She tells him, propping her elbow up on the island surface and resting her chin on her palm, "I'll call her soon."
"And, when is that?" He questions, moving to sit beside her.
"Soon." Aliyah deadpans, raising an eyebrow at him, "I just don't want her to freak out."
"Lee, no matter what you do or when you call her, she's always gonna freak out. That's what moms do." He trails off, his eyes scanning hers.
"Yeah," Aliyah snorts as she begins to zone out.
This is another side effect ━ she'd be in a completely normal conversation and her brain would just seem to shut down. Her mind would go back to that night and she would see her attacker in front of her.
She has to snap herself out of it and remind herself ━ I'm safe. I'm with Elijah.
It usually works and that's what she does now. She, successfully, pulls herself out of her stupor before Elijah even notices.
He raises an eyebrow at her, catching the moment much to her disappointment. It's not the first time he's witnessed it.
He reaches forward and rests his hand over hers. She flips her hand and tightens her grip, trying to hold on to reality ━ to him.
Eli has learnt to just bask in the silence. That's the best way for Aliyah to heal ━ silence. To gather her thoughts and make them make sense.
She was still getting there.
And she knows Elijah will be by her side every step of the way, making sure she gets to where she needs to be.
No matter how long it takes.
✌🏾😗✌🏾 we on chapter 32 and they still ain't fuck yet...
what is wrong with me 🤧🤧
okay, there might be some time skips cause according to @juicejays, we're like three months into the friendship AND Y'ALL ARE GETTING IMPATIENT AND I GOT STUFF PLANNED SO 🤗🤗🤗 just wait a lil bit more