*There's a scene in this chapter that can be very triggering for some people. Please don't read if it makes you uncomfortable.*
Sophia Woods Point Of View
I sat in what I'm assuming was Blake's car, shifting uncomfortably every few minutes. She seemed to be really focused on the road but I saw that her knuckles were white from squeezing the steering wheel every so often.
"Hey, could I ask you something? I'm sorry if it's too personal." She tapped her fingers on her steering wheel before she stopped at a red light. She glanced over at me, her blue eyes seeming to pierce through my built-up walls.
"Yeah, sure." I quietly replied as I looked out my window. I knew she would ask questions eventually. I mean, she was asking me to trust her when she didn't even know who I was. I expected her to ask why I only wore long sleeves and pants or why I was so jumpy and nervous. But she didn't.
"Where did you move from?" I was a little surprised by her unexpected question. Didn't she want to know why I was so suspicious?
"Um, Columbia. It's about a two-hour drive from here." I said as I looked down and picked at my fingernails. I glanced to my left to see her nodding slowly. She bit her lip before opening her mouth to speak but then shut it. She was being hesitant with words, like if they could possibly hurt me.
"Who do you live with?" I tensed up at her unexpected question. What should I tell her? The truth?
No, she would judge you. She would make you feel at pathetic as he did. You can't trust her, you can't trust anyone. You should know that by now. And he would find out if you ever told anyone.
I wanted to put my knees to my chest and cry until I couldn't breathe. I felt like I was suffocating. I could feel his hands on me. The scars on me burned like a hot iron was being placed onto my skin. I swore I could feel like he was touching me. I could feel his hands around my throat, pinning me to the wall. I could smell him. The way his breath always smelled of alcohol or tobacco.
I started to breathe heavily as I was suddenly back home. Well, what should have been my home.
I was standing in the living room, slowly folding laundry, when I heard a sudden crash from the kitchen.
"Come here you little bitch!" I heard his footsteps and voice boom throughout the entire house. I quickly started running to my room and went to lock the door but he threw it open, knocking me onto the ground.
"N-no! Please! I-I-" I begged and pleaded with him to stop but he continued with what he was doing. He sat on my stomach and wrapped his hands around my throat. I pried at his arms, scratching and pulling at him but he didn't move a muscle.
"You shouldn't even be alive, you know that?" He laughed as his hold on my throat tightened. I could hear choking noises coming from my throat as I felt dizzier by the second. "You deserve to die." I heard him whisper before everything around me turned black.
No... No. No! No!!
I suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around me. I thrashed around as I breathed heavily. Who was holding me? Was it him? I opened my eyes and saw that the headlights of the car were still on. Shit, shit, shit. Where was Blake? I looked over at the driver's seat and saw that she wasn't there. What happened to her?
I flinched when I felt someone gently touching my right arm. My head snapped to the right and I saw that Blake was standing next to me with a worried expression. She didn't say anything but instead, she leaned over and unbuckled my seat belt. She slowly hugged me around my shoulders without saying anything.
Her touch was gentle and careful like she could break me if she touched me in the wrong way. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. Why was she hugging me? Why was the car stopped? Did we get into a wreck?
What happened?
She pulled back and gave me a smile. She brushed a piece of my hair behind my ear and cupped my cheek. Her eyes held such an intensity of emotions. Her thumb wiped off a few tears that I just noticed were on my cheek.
Ba-bump. Ba-bump.
"I'm sorry about the question. Are you alright?" I nodded my head and gulped. She made sure I was in the car okay before leaning over my lap to put my seatbelt back on. Once she shut my door, she started walking over to the other side of the car. I suddenly realized that she had calmed me down. Her touch alone made me calm down. It had snapped me out of my living nightmare. I didn't flinch or start breathing hard when she hugged me or when she put my seatbelt on.
What was that all about?
Once we were on the road again, I tried to piece together what just happened. Was I screaming? Was I freaking out? Had she pulled over just to calm me down? Did I say anything?
I've gotten pretty used to all of my nightmares when I'm asleep but this was the first time I've had a nightmare while I was awake. Maybe I need to see a therapist?
No, you can't tell anyone about your problems. They would just send you to a foster home, or even worse. To your real "home".
I slipped my shoes off and left them on the floor before bringing my knees up to my chest. I wrapped my arms around my legs, resting my head on my knees while looking out my window.
What's wrong with me? Even when I was just trying to live a normal teenage life, I still managed to fail at it. Maybe I'm just broken.
My mind was racing with my thoughts before it landed on Blake. The movie we watched earlier was really good, but it was really sad. I remember crying as quietly as I could and then looked around to see if anybody else was crying.
Claire and Peter were obviously bawling their eyes out while Hunter was just comforting Claire. Victoria wasn't really paying attention to the movie and I could tell her mind was on something different. But Blake? She was doing the same thing I was. She was silently crying. But she didn't seem like she was crying because of the movie, she looked like she had other reasons. And after she excused herself to the bathroom, I knew I was right.
I turned my head towards Blake and watched as she drove. Her soft and silky brown hair was up in a messy bun, her blue eyes seemed to be filled with confusion and fear. Her lips were pressed into a thin line and her eyebrows were creased together. That's when I noticed the scar that was through her left eyebrow. I wonder what it was from.
What could she be thinking about? Was it Victoria? Was it her friends?
"P-penny for your thoughts? I m-mean, if you're o-okay with that." I whispered to her. She sighed before parking in the Dominos parking lot. She parked the car and turned towards me. She looked so worried. She kept opening and closing her mouth, hesitating her next words. Her eyes looked around before she looked right at me, glancing between each of my eyes.
"Do you remember what happened? I mean, on the way here?" I felt my body tense up and I picked up my head. "I only ask because, well, you seemed to be just as confused about what happened as I am."
Did I?
I slowly shook my head before murmuring a small 'no'.
"Sophia... It's almost like you were having a nightmare. I know that it's my fault because I asked the question, and I don't want to be nosy, but has that ever happened before?" I shook my head and heard her sigh. "I was scared for you. I was just driving when I asked the question and then all of a sudden you started screaming. Your eyes were closed and you just kept screaming 'no' and 'stop'. Is there maybe... I don't know. Do you want to talk about something?" Her voice was laced with worry and concern.
Should I tell her?
I thought good and hard about it before shaking my head.
"I'm okay. And... I'm sorry. For making you worry and for making you pull over and-" I stopped talking to take a shaky breath.
Please don't cry.
"It's okay, it's okay." She grabbed some money and opened her door and got out. "But I'm always willing to listen. Alright?" I slowly nodded before she shut her door and walked inside the pizza place.
I sat there and waited for her to come out when I remembered that there was a radio. I slowly turned up the music and immediately recognized the song.
"I know, you know, we know you weren't down for forever and it's fine. I know, you know, we know we weren't meant for each other and it's fine." I slowly sang along to the radio as I looked out my window. I reached over and locked the door just in case.
"But if the world was ending you'd come over, right? You'd come over and you'd stay the night." I loved this song, the vulnerability in it was all so heart warming. "Would you love me for the hell of it? All our fears would be irrelevant. If the world was ending you'd come over, right?" I softly sang before picking my head up.
I saw Blake coming out of the building with two pizzas and a bag on top of the boxes. I turned the radio down as she walked over to the car and opened the back door before setting them on the seat. She opened her door and got in. She put her seat belt on and looked at me.
"You alright?" I nodded before she backed out of the parking lot.
The next thing I know, I'm saying something that surprises both of us.
"I... I used to live with my brother and my mom." I rested my head on my knees again and watched out my window as lots of homes passed by. Would I ever get to live in a home that nice?
"Thanks for telling me. But you didn't have to. I don't want you to feel forced to do anything. Okay?" I nodded even though she couldn't see me.
After another ten minutes of driving, we pulled back into Peter's driveway. I unbuckled my seat belt and slipped on my shoes. I unlocked my door and got out. Blake opened the back and grabbed the pizzas.
"Did you need help with anything?" I asked quietly as we walked up to the house.
"No, thank you." She said as she opened the door to Peter's house. When we walked in, Hunter was rambling about something to Peter, Claire was no where to be seen, and Victoria rushed up to Blake.
"You two have been gone forever! Where were you?" Victoria said dramatically as she wrapped her arms around Blake's waist. I watched as her hand slowly reached down to Blake's butt and lightly squeezed it, almost like she was marking her territory. I had a feeling they were together and I guess this just proves my theory.
"What are you doing? I have to go put the pizzas away." She lightly pushed her off while walking to the kitchen. Victoria gave me a strange glare before going after her. I walked over to the couch and saw that Hunter was standing up while running his fingers threw his blonde-ish hair. He sighed before walking away and down the hall.
"Hey Peter. Is he okay?" Peter looked at me with wide eyes before he started talking.
"Oh my goodness! You would never believe it. So, after you guys left we decided to play a game to pass the time. So we thought it would be interesting to play seven minutes in heaven. You know, where you have to go into the closet with someone else for seven minutes. And so Hunter and Claire went in there and then we started hearing moaning and weird stuff like that. And then we heard a slap and Claire comes out of the closet crying and runs to the bathroom. She's hasn't left since then and I think Hunter is trying to talk to her now. And Victoria is being all weird because she's jealous of you." He says all in one breath before shoving some cotton candy into his mouth.
Where did he even get that?
Realization hit me when I thought of everything he said.
I got up and went to go and see what was taking Blake and Victoria so long but I heard them talking so I decided to just wait in the living room. Then I heard Blake say my name so I stood by the corner and listened.
"I cannot believe you right now Victoria. Sophia isn't a fucking threat to you. She's new, she's scared, and she doesn't know anybody here. It was your idea to have her here tonight anyway. So if you feel so jealous over her, why did you invite her?" I flinched when she dropped the pizza's on the counter. I heard some shuffling before Victoria spoke.
"Because I thought it would be a good idea! But how can I even stand her in the same room as me when she's always touching you and looking at you." I heard Blake walking towards me so I ran to the living room. I sat on the couch and acted like I was there the whole time. I didn't see Peter so I assumed that he had disappeared some where. I felt bad for eaves dropping but I was curious. Were they fighting? Was someone going to get hurt?
"Wait! Where are you going?" Victoria grabbed Blake's arm before Blake turned around and glared at her.
"I'm not going to go anywhere. But you? You're leaving." I heard Victoria gasp before she covered her mouth and stepped back from Blake.
"Are you... Are you breaking up with be?" She said sounding like she was going to cry.
I shifted uncomfortably, knowing that I shouldn't be sitting here and listening to their personal conversation. But where else was I supposed to go?
Blake sighed and looked sadly at Victoria.
"No, I'm not. I'm not going to say something in anger that I will regret later. I don't care that this isn't my house, I'm asking you to leave."
"But Blakey, why would you want me to leave? Don't you love-" Victoria stepped closer only to have Blake step away.
"Yes, Victoria. You know I love you. But you see that girl on the couch?" She pointed at me and I flinched before hiding behind my hair. "She's afraid and she's new. And I love everyone in this house but no one has tried to say anything to her since she's gotten here. I'm the only one that has even tried to get her to warm up to us. And that's why I'm asking you to leave. Because you aren't making her situation any better. Go home, cool off, rethink your decisions, and let me know when you stop viewing someone who wouldn't even hurt a fly as a threat." Blake said while crossing her arms.
Well this was unexpected.