She woke up with a gasp, sitting up immediately. Her breathing was rapid as she looked around at the unfamiliar surrounding. Red bricked walls with a refrigerator at one end with a small table with two chairs and a door to which she assumed to a bathroom, across the room from the refrigerator. She was in a studio apartment. The ceiling height window behind her welcomed the sunlight in. She was on a mattress, a queen sized mattress and when she turned around, she realized she wasn't on the mattress alone. Elijah was still fast asleep next to her, fully clothed with a dried cut across his left cheekbone, his face faced to the right so the cut was evident to her. She was fully clothed too, in blood stained clothes nonetheless with a massive headache. She closed her eyes for a moment, hoping to ease the pain. Images from the night before flooded back into her memory; the sudden pull into the dark alley, the faint, the dark room, the hits from that woman. Her body started to shake. She put her palms against her head, her fingers digging into her scalp, wanting desperately all those images to go. She didn't realize she was whimpering and crying until she felt a hand on her shoulder, to which she jumped to, turning around in an instant.
Elijah's morning hair and worried face greeted her, with bright light shining behind him. She squinted.
"Its just me," he whispered, putting his palms up, not wanting to panic her.
After several blinks, her breathing started to slow down to normal.
She felt Elijah's hand on her head and slowly, it stroked her hair.
Arya felt like she was at the verge of crying again, something she couldn't bear to do anymore. Crying reminded her of the dark room and the dark room made it difficult for her to get control of her breathing. So, instead of crying, she just turned around and threw herself on Elijah. Elijah's arms wrapped around her instantaneously, cocooning her in a tight embrace.
"I'm here," he said against her hair, breathing her in.
"I'm so scared," she whispered against his shoulder. "Elijah, I'm scared," her voice cracked.
Reluctantly, Elijah pushed her away from him and looked into her big brown eyes, swollen from the crying.
"I promise you, they would never touch a single hair of yours ever again. I won't let them," he said, his voice serious, his grip on her steady.
Slowly, she nodded, trusting him despite the short amount of time of acquaintance.
"Who were they?" she asked after a while, her voice soft.
And to that, Elijah sighed a heavy sigh.
"They were my family," he said almost unwillingly, sad even.
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