I never really dreamed of anything since the death of my parents. I only had recurring terrible nightmares for three months or so. After undergoing some therapy and talked things through with Jonathan, my therapist, I stopped having nightmares but once in a while, they would come back to haunt me. I never went back to my therapist though. I just avoided the old man at all cost.
The next morning came faster than I expected.
I was woken up in the morning when the door bell rang.
I groaned as I tried to turn away with my hands pressed up against my ears to block off the noise but it became persistent.
I wanted to shout at whoever was at the door to go away but decided against it when my eyes fell on the clock.
It was already eleven o’clock.
I might as well wake up, I thought as I got off the couch.
I tried to find my slippers but after a while of searching for them, I stood up in anger as the door bell rang like crazy.
Whoev
The door burst opened and I quickly looked away, my loose hair creating a curtain between them and me, covering the right side of my face. I wanted to get up but I just couldn’t bring myself to stand up. Before, maybe it was because my legs were numb and weak but now, I just did not have that strength to get up and face them. I was afraid of interacting with new people because I was so scared of being judged again.And, I just don’t have that will power to raise my head up, walk straight ahead and just avoid their crude judgments on the way. I felt the need to stop and glanced sideways towards them and freeze up due to their remarks. I fisted up my hands, trying to forget those feelings. Maybe these people won’t be like them, like my father and like Alicia.However, I spoke too soon.“Who is she?” I heard a male voice asking in curiosity.Stop that, don’t you know that curiosity kills the cat?I couldn’t he
“Shit!" Ryder cursed and ran his right hand through his already messed up hair, his fingers leaving traces of lines behind them. He rushed towards me but I got away, making him stop from advancing forward. When he stared at me with a pained face, looking dejected and worn out, I almost wanted to forgive him but I can never forget his words from last night. Almost like he did not just look at me like that, the expression on his face contorted into a fierce one but it wasn’t directed towards me. Instead he raised his right hand high up in the air, his index finger promptly pointing at his bedroom door and glanced over his left shoulder.“Get out, now!" he angrily ordered both of them and they rushed out right away, too scared to face his wrath.The other guy who had tried to stop Ryder from punching the one, who just scrambled out of the bedroom, remained inside.Soon, his face morphed back into the dejected look it was sporting just a few second
Lea’s point of view:“Lea”, I felt someone’s grasp on my shoulders, shaking me.“Lea, wake up!" someone called out to me.I groaned and struggled to open my eyes. It’s been a while since I’ve had such a slumber and waking up seemed to be so difficult right now. My eyesight was blurry at first but it then gradually focused on the face leaning above me. Ryder! I gasped and sat up slowly, trying to avoid any contact with him. I pressed my back up to the head of the bed and stared at him. He was currently watching my every single action closely.When his eyes travelled up and down my body, his piercing blue eyes sent a bizarre kind of chill down my spine, I covered myself up with the bed sheets, squeezing the material in my fisted hands. He shook his head at my actions and glanced away but I did not miss the tint of pink covering his cheeks for a split second before fading away.“Sorry! I
Ryder’s point of view: I slammed my bedroom door on the way out. What the hell? She is not fucking mute. I just made a complete idiot of myself. Not only will she be afraid of me for the comment I made about her last night and after what had happened the moment she woke up to find herself surrounded with people who were once again judging her when she clearly wasn’t the kind of person to be treated like that, she might also think that I’m not right in the head. I rushed downstairs with the thought of calling Jason. I snatched my phone off the kitchen table and called him. While waiting for him to pick up, my eyes fell on the amount of dirty dishes lying by the kitchen sink waiting to be washed. “How’s life?” Jason chirped as soon as he received my call. “Wonderful!” I chirped back with the same amount of enthusiasm. Note the sarcasm. “What crawled up your ass?” Jason taunted in a provoking way.
I leaned up against the kitchen table as I listened to their plan of actions. Roland Hilton is the head of the police department back in Jacksonville. He has solved all the cases that he took up so far. I was certain that he will solve this case as well as get Lea’s father behind the bars in no time. When Jason told me about Lea’s mother, I felt my heart twist in pain. I really hope that the woman is okay. I wouldn’t want Lea to suffer like me and live without her mother. She lived ten years without her. She shouldn’t live motherless her whole life. She should at least meet her mother now that she was at such a difficult stage in her life. Lea doesn’t deserve any more pain.She already suffered enough by her father’s ill-treatment. The way her father treated her was close to being disowned by him. The bastard clearly did not want anything to do with her. Instead of finding the reason why his wife left him, he began blaming his own daughter.
I snacked off some chips while trying to understand my conflicting thoughts but I ended up dozing off on the couch right after I finished the packet of chips. The TV was still on when I woke up two hours later. The haze of sleep dissipated from my eyes as I tried to refocus on the living room area. The empty packet of chips was lying down on the floor. It was already three o’clock in the afternoon. I drank some water and rinse my face before deciding that Lea needed to be woken up. She has been asleep for three hours now. She missed breakfast and lunch. She has to eat something.End of flashback:I dried up my hands once I finished rinsing the last plate.I walked back upstairs to apologize to Lea for my past actions but I halted with my hand on the doorknob once I reached my bedroom. Should I just go in or wait for her to come out? I bit my lower lip as I lifted my right hand to knock on the door. After waiting for a while, I fro
Is it because I have never been in the same room as a guy?My father never allowed me to have any friends and has always been watching me and whenever some people talked to me back in my high school, he was already aware of it by the time I get back home. I never got the chance to tell him that I wasn’t the one who initiated the talk and that people was embarrassed to be seen with me. Only new students, who did not know that I wasn’t the person they should be approaching, stopped to talk to me or even spared me a glance. I never spoke back though. I was supposed to be mute. My father never gave me a chance to explain. He only shouted at me with his punches.So, having a relationship or even befriending a guy was just out of question. I never really thought of befriending one. I was scared of what my father would have done to the guy even if someone would have been interested with me. I knew no one really saw me as girlfriend material back at my high school
Ryder’s point of view:I clenched my jaw when I saw her stepping away from me.I wasn’t going to hurt her. I know that trusting a stranger is not easy but since Jason left her here for protection, she should at least have some trust in me. I agree that I should not have made that comment last night but still.Fuck this! I am going insane with my thoughts. They are messing with my head. Why should I worry about her? She’s here to be under the protection and care of my brother, not me. I just need to watch over her until my brother returns back from whatever unexpected case he had to fucking tend to.Thinking about my shitty brother, I’ll have to deal with him once he’s back.I fisted my hands as I felt a familiar emotion simmering from inside of me. I felt my jaw ticked in anger but I grounded my teeth together to rein in my anger. After a while of debating whether to just leave her in her misery or to