To Be A Prize

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

My hands grip around my wrist, my finger running small circles over my veins. Until this moment I had repressed all memory of that horrible night.

Now, I remember the man's breath on my neck

His hands clasped round my arms.

His dark eyes staring desperately into my own.

And then light.

As four unknown men came to my rescue.

I don't know what to say so I'm surprised to hear the words "thank you" fall from my lips, but I know I mean it.

"Thank you," I say again, looking up from my lap where I've been staring for the past ten minutes as the boys recount the story, interrupting each other to add in details and filling in the blank spots in my memory.

Dream squeezes my thigh once more and gently says "you don't have to thank us for the bare minimum, y/n".

"Fuck off with that fake humbleness, Dream, just accept my thanks," I say, irritated that I can't seem to have one conversation with any of them without it turning into an argument.

"You're welcome," Sapnap interjects, with a smile, trying to diffuse the situation. He looks at me deeply in my eyes as if he's trying to look inside my brain to see how I really feel about this whole situation. To see if I love him in the same way he so clearly loves me.

"You had been watching me the whole night, hadn't you?" I ask, staring back and making him blush once more.

"Well, yes, but not in a creepy way," he says.

"We all were," Punz chips in matter-of-factly, "but I spotted you first".

"That's bullshit and you know it," Karl says, slamming his fist down on the table making me jump.

"What's 'bullshit' is that you've got away with this whole nice guy act for so long but now your true colours are starting to show. You cheated in the game, then hit y/n and now you're refusing to let her go. It's pathetic, really," Punz spits this last sentence out with as much venom as he can muster, a vein in his forehead bulging as he perfectly places emphasis on the words he know will hurt Karl the most.

"For the last time," Karl says, his voice raising with each word, "I didn't fucking hit her."

"Then why is she so scared of you?" Both Karl and Punz turn to look at me. I hadn't realised it but as they had been arguing I had slowly began to shiver with fear, pushing myself back into my chair as far away from Karl as possible, trying to take up less space in the room.

The men watched as my bottom lip quivered and I wiped the tear from my left cheek that I didn't give permission to fall. Underneath the table, my right hand grips Dream's so tightly, his palms have gone white save for the tiny red pinpricks where my sharp nails draw blood. My eyes widen as I realise this and mouth 'sorry', he smiles kindly in response.

Drawing in a deep breath, I face Karl who's been staring at me, his eyebrows creased to display an emotion I can't read, "you don't scare me because I fear you will hurt me," I begin.

"See! I told you-" Karl interjects.

"I hadn't finished. You don't scare me because I fear you will hurt me, you scare me because when I look at you, all I see is a stranger."