Love Me Or Hate Me (Everlark)

Secrets

        I'm staring into the bluest eyes I've ever seen, they look hopeful, they ask me to let him in. I want to. What if he runs from me? 

     "I.." I look over at the stone cabin, the door made of old wood. "We should go in there. T-then I'll tell you." I promise him below a whisper. He takes my hand, giving it what seemed to be a reassuring squeeze. For all I know it could be a nervous spasm. He was probably dying to know inside, most people are. I know that I haven't known him long but, I feel connected to him. I just know I can trust him with this.

    I lead him into the cabin, the sun above beating down on our back on the way. The slight burn was almost like a warning to turn back now. Do chicken out and go swim in the crystalline lake behind us. Once the door is closed behind my back though, and the burn is gone, I know there was no turning back.

    Putting on a mask of control to make it seem as if my features were frozen blank. He sits in one of the chairs while I stay standing. "My father...used to sing me to sleep every night, not any normal nursery rhyme either. The Hanging Tree was what he sang to me at night. I didn't know the meaning of the words then, the story behind then. His voice was so beautiful, so amazing everything around him went silent just to hear it. It wasn't the song but his voice that lolled me to sleep." I take a deep breath, looking up to meet his eyes.

     "One night....I went to the bathroom in my room before he could sing to me that night. I was 7. Tiny bladder." Peeta half smiles at my little joke, but my face shows nothing.

    "I was washing my hands when he came in...fear in his eyes. 'Katniss, stay in here, no matter what you hear, don't come out.' He said. I turned the water off thinking for a moment that he was joking...he wasn't. I nodded, a bout to say okay....when...the glass in my windows broke all at once, he turned from the window. He left it open a crack so I peaked out." I turn away from Peeta staring out the window as it came back to me.

    "They beat him...my mom and Prim had gone to the movies that night, so only I heard his groans of pain. I started to cry. 'This is for not paying us back, Zain.' one of the men said....pouring liquid on my father. As the pain pulled out a match to set my father on fire...He looked at me, his eyes apologizing. His eyes saying he loved me as the match dropped on him and he burst into flames. He screamed in agony for only ten short seconds before he was silent. I watched the men leave the same way they came, through the window. I watched my father burn up, the fire spreading all over the room, smoke filling the air. I cried, curling up in the bathtub as everything that I owned in that room burned."

     I noticed now that, even though my face was blank, their were tears going down my cheeks. Yet I still continued. "Just as the flames reached the door, I heard people calling my name. Firemen burst in the room, hosing it down. I didn't reply. When they found me, they told me that myself and my family would have to leave the state for awhile to be safe from the men. All I did was stare then. I had nothing to take with me. My father....was so burned up...only ash remained. My mother went into depression, leaving me to raise Prim when I was 7. We moved to Alabama. Moved back when the coast was clear. That's why I left before you got to talk to me." I turn to look at him to see horror on his face as he gazed at me. In his eyes I see wonder. He stands, pulls me into the comfort of his arms, wiping away my tears. 

"You are the bravest girl on the planet." He smiles a bit, closing his eyes as if trying to make a decision. "So I'm going to try to be brave for you." 

He pulls away, pulling his shirt off in the process, before I can so much as blush at how hot he was shirtless, he turns around. His back covered in cuts, bruises, and welts......

So My Wattpad messed up a bit making me rewrite the last few paragraphs all over again. Thanks so much for the 1,000+ reads. I love you guys. 

E.J.