Saving Nicole

Chapter 31: Nicole

Dallas's POV
--

"Dallas!" Mum's voice startles me to reality. Can't say sleep if I wasn't sleeping. I blink drowsily up at her, uncaring of the rashes on me. She quickly grabs my shirt, which Mason and Ian had taken off to put the chains on my stomach, and wraps it around one hand to start undoing the chains around me.

"Mum, let it be." I mumble. The pain takes my mind away from everything.

And then my dad bursts in, a murderous look on his face. "They were h - " he stops when he sees the chains. His eyes narrow and then he's next to my mom with his own shirt around his hand tugging at the chains. My head lays back against the post and I close my eyes when I feel the slow thudding and pounding in my head fade. The scars on my stomach sting, freshly opened, but I really don't care.

"Let me be..." I mumble quietly, tilting my head and opening one eye to peer at my mum's sweat glistened face. She's as pale as snow as she stares at the fresh scars on my wrists and wrapped around my stomach. My father wraps his arms around me, careful of my new scars, and lifts me to my feet. "Leave me alone..." I mumble. Ironically, the ache in my stomach has not faded.

"Dallas, you're not yourself. Go lie down on your bed. Go sleep. You have bags under your eyes again and your cheeks are hollow. Your mother'll bring some food up. Just go lie down." I used to jump for joy at those thoughts.

"Just leave me alone. Put those chains back. Let me be." I whisper as my dad basically drags me to my bed. When I'm successfully in it, he stares at my empty eyes like I'm a stranger. Which I probably am.

"Doesn't it hurt?" He pokes my stomach hard on the scars, making my eyes widen, but no sound comes out. He grabs my wrists, squeezing hard. Mind you, he's an Alpha with more strength than a regular werewolf. My mother finishes putting the chains in a plastic bag before realizing what's going on.

"Damian!" She yells angrily, rushing towards us. "Stop that!"

"He won't even react! He doesn't feel it." My father scrunches his nose in dismay.

"Yes, he does!" She insists, ripping his hands free of me and shoving him hard. She grabs my wrists, bringing them to her lips, and kissing the sensitive skin. When she pulls away, she shakes her head, barely holding back tears. She knows I'm broken. And she knows I'm dying.

"I'm so sorry, Dallas... I'm so sorry.." She breaks into tears. Let me say, I rarely see my mother cry and it's quiet a shock.

Tears do not go with her personality.

--

It's been two weeks since I last saw Nicole. I'm sickly thin, have bags under my eyes, and scars racing all over me from the multiple times Mason and Ian come to chain me. Which is every night. At different times. With no pattern. My parents have tried to stop them. But they are always too late.

I barely move from my spot on my bed. Mason and Ian have to lift me themselves to chain me.

Everything hurts and aches, and honestly? I'm numb. Numb with the belief that I deserve this.

And then one day, Mason and Ian don't bring chains. This makes me tilt my head in curiosity.

"Hey, kid. How's life?" Mason grins cheekily. They've grown attached to me in a sick way.

"Aw, perk up. No chains today!" Ian exclaims, raking a hand through his hair.

I stare at them blankly.

"You're lookin' hollow... Well, I guess you'll like this news, then. The pain ends soon!" Mason says excitedly, clapping his hands. Ian nods his head.

Again, I just stare at them. That's all I do; stare. At everything.

"Tonight is something different..." Mason eyes Ian as he pulls out a black pouch. I know exactly what's in it before they pull it out.

A Wolfsbane dagger.

"This'll get a reaction out of you ,kid." Mason says happily, inspecting the blade like he would his fingernail.

Ian grabs me from my position on the bed and hauls me toward Mason.

"Spencer wants me to engrave Nicole's name on you so every time you look in the mirror, you'll remember how you failed her." I flinch at the mention of her name and keel over slightly.

And then the knife is on my chest, cutting my shirt off. And then it's in my skin, engraving her name across my chest. Mason does the knife-work agonizingly slow. I thought I was numb to pain. I'm not. At least not to wolfsbane.

I hiss at Ian as he clutches my arms tighter.

"Calm down kid. Almost done with the 'l'..." Mason mumbles under his breath. I exhale loudly, feeling the wolfsbane melting my skin like metal. Leaving unreadable scars. At least the iron chain scars'll fade away fast. These won't fade at all.

I don't say one word besides my occasional hissing as the blade digs deeper.

When they let go of me, I drop to the floor in a heap, and then they are gone. Like they weren't there.

And then the door of my room bangs open. Late like usual.

My father sees me not in my usual spot by the bedpost and rushes to me, turning me so he can see what they did. And he almost falls over when he sees. My mom almost faints. Above the words 'You are the message' is the word 'Nicole' sprawled across my chest right below my collarbone. The cuts seep black liquid wolfsbane dribbling down my skin. Mum wipes at them with a washcloth, her eyes watery.

They exchange glances with each other. This aching in me hurts so bad. I can't get it to stop. But Mason and Ian said it was coming to an end soon. I can't tell you how excited I am for it to stop. I can't prevent the unpreventable. I know that.

I'm dying. Actually, I'm already dead inside.