Afterlife

Roomates -Ceris

That was a joke! Sheesh! You're so uptight about everything! No one else would be upset right now!

I'm the only one who will love you, and you're starting to drive me away! What's wrong with you!

You keep blowing everything out of proportion! Stop being so sensitive Ceris!

Time for you to burn like the f*ggot you are!

  I pick at my lips as those horrid thoughts came to my mind. His words... his horrible words. His words of poison that brought so myself and others so much pain. My eyes hurt from holding in tears so I just close them.

  "Ceris, did you know he had married in life—" Notch tried to add —as he stood up from his chair— before Steve cut him off.

  "Dad, give her some time. This is a very difficult situation to discuss. Please be patient." He said in a soft tone.

  "This trial needs to happen soon son! We can't be here all of eternity." He replies rather harsh and impatiently.

  Steve rubs his forehead. "Father, would you mind stepping out for a bit. This situation seems to be stressing you out too and it's not helping her." He whispers to his dad, his voice hardly audible.

  Notch doesn't say anything else and I hear him leave the room. The room was silent and felt like it suffocating me. I bite my nails, tasting the disgusting taste of nail polish. It tastes like toxic chemicals—I mean, it definitely is... so thankfully I can't die again—but it does help ground me.

You're okay... you're okay... it's going to be okay... think about... about how the polish tastes... yeah, it's gross, but—

I look up to Steve holding out a peppermint. He looked worried, but he seems to know what's happening.

"Here... use this to ground yourself. It'll probably better for you then nail polish." He offered, unwrapping it for me.

I do hesitate for a second or two but take it from him. It does help more then my polish did. I just eat the peppermint as I fidget with the sleeves of my turtleneck and my hair.

"Take deep breaths, you're going to be okay Ceris. He can't get you here. You're safe here. He's not going to hurt you." He says to me calmly. He continues on informing me of the date and time and where we are at the current moment. It helps. After a few minutes of this, I feel much better than I did before. Tired... but better.

"Hey... you feeling okay?" He asks, keeping his calm voice with me.

  I nod. "Y—Yeah... I'm okay."

  "I apologize for my father's temper... do you need to step out for a minute? A glass of water?"

  I shook my head. "N...No thank you Steven. I think I can talk again."

He nods, leaning back in his chair. "If you need a break, just tell me, and we'll stop talking about him until you can."

I nod and took a deep breath and try to look him in the eye. "To answer the question, no, I did not know he married in life."

He wrote that down on his clipboard. "Based on his medical reports, things were a little rough when they took you out of the house. Could you tell me what you know of this?"

"... Well... when the others were trying to get me out of there, Crevan did start to try things with Abigail... Lance and Zeg got me out of there before anything more was done." I struggle out.

Steve nods, and wrote that down. "Okay. And could you tell me what what happened when you two were living together? He said you consented to a relationship with him, not that it justifies his actions, but is this true?" He questions, interlocking his hands.