Escape (N.H.)

Chapter Eighteen

Valeria POV

AN: Hi Angels, I'm so so so sorry this chapter is so late, I've had writers block, and my mental health took a crap this last week. But I'm feeling better now, thank you all so much for the patience!

~~~~~~~~~~

It had been a few days since Niall kissed me and we were avoiding each other like the plague.

I was a wreck the first twenty-four hours after it had happened.

I was so lost inside my own head, I hadn't even realized what I had done to myself until Elius found me still in the kitchen the next morning.

Thankfully, he didn't see any of the scratches I had inflicted on myself, but I knew I had worried him.

He seemed to have been calling my name for minutes before I was able to register where I was. I had spent the last eight hours stuck in my own head replaying everything that had happened to me, digging at myself trying to get the feeling of Aiden to leave my body.

If it wasn't for Elius calling my name in that worried tone, I wasn't sure how much longer I would have been stuck within my own torturous mind. I didn't know if I would have eventually been able to get myself out of it.

He had found me on the floor of the kitchen, my back against the wall, my body drenched in a cold sweat and I continued to cry and cry, unable to escape my mind.

I hated that Elius had seen me so weak, so broken. I hated the look I had caused on his beautiful face.

I hated that even now, as I sat with Iridessa and Liliana, I couldn't get the feeling of Aiden's hands off of me.

No matter how many hours I spent in the shower after Elius fallen asleep, scrubbing at my skin, I couldn't get the touch of him off of me. It felt like my entire body was on fire, I swear I could see the bruises on my skin, all the open wounds and broken bones.

Everytime I looked in the mirror he was there with me, either behind or beside me, his hands roaming across my bruised and bloodied body.

I felt like I had never really escaped him, even though I was no longer in that house, in that bed, he was still around me, everywhere I went. I could still smell him and that expensive whiskey he always drank.

I hated that I was so weak, that I had let him break me so much that a mans touch along one of the more painful scars had caused me to freak out in such a way.

I couldn't even blame Niall, even if I was shocked that he had kissed me, anyone could have touched that scar and I think I would have had the same reaction. Maybe not as intense, but the feeling of someone touching that scar still would have brought me back to that night.

That didn't mean I could look at Niall though, between the pain he had unintentionally caused, to the darkened look in his eyes mixed with how guilty I felt I was avoiding him as much as he was avoiding me. " I'd be more than happy to watch Scarlett Saturday night."

I ran my hands through my lavender colored hair attempting to push the thick strands out of my face, the wind making it nearly impossible.

" Absolutely not, " Liliana shook her head, " She's going over to my moms, and you aren't staying at home."

" Amara has already made it extremely clear, she isn't taking no for an answer." Iridessa smiled lightly as she looked back to the playground Elius and Scarlett were playing at.

I wasn't looking forward to Saturday, even if it was still days away, I had been trying to do everything in my power to get out of that night. I didn't want to be rude and flat out refuse, especially since I'd be apart of the activities that day.