Carter

Chapter 3

 Carter's pov-

After getting all cleaned up I wrapped Miles and myself in warm, fluffy towels. I walked back into my room and saw a stack of clothes neatly folded on the bed. I picked them up and went back into the bathroom to get dressed. I sat Miles down on the sink along with the clothes.

I felt my heart drop when I looked in the mirror, no, no, no. The body makeup I had on washed off in the bath. I never even thought about that. I felt my body shaking with anxiety and sadness as I looked at myself. I looked disgusting.

I hadn't realized how bad I looked. There wasn't a part of my skin that wasn't covered in bruises from my neck down. My body was a mixture of black, blue, purple, yellow, and green. It was a sickening sight. Every bruise had a horrible memory attached. They were reminders of everything that's been done to me.

I could still feel every ounce of fear I had felt when they had done this to me. Every time he raped me. Every time they beat me. Every time they punished me for existing. They hated me simply because I existed. I'm disgusting.

Tears fell from my eyes, my body was shaking, memories of my childhood flooding my mind. All the emotions I've suppressed were slowly coming to surface. The fear, sadness, anger, disgust, confusion. The overwhelming hatred I felt towards Chris and Natalie. The hatred I felt towards myself for letting this happen.

 Miles whimpered and I snapped out of it and tore my eyes away from my reflection. " Sorry, my love." I whispered, wiping the tears from my face. I dried him off and slipped on the t-shirt they had left for him. I then got myself dressed, feeling more than grateful they gave me conservative clothes. Carson had given me a hoodie and sweatpants.

The bruises on my body were covered but the ones on my face were now clearly visible. I hadn't realized just how swollen and bruised my face was. Both my eyes were swollen and black. I had a deep cut and a bruise on my cheek bone and another cut on my lip.

There's no way I'm going to be able to hide this. I was able to cover it up with makeup but I don't have makeup here. I don't have anything. I cannot believe I was stupid enough to forget about the makeup. I was just so used to not bathing because of Chris that it never occurred to me it'd wash off.

I took Miles and walked back into the room, turning the bathroom light off on my way out. I climbed onto the plush, setting Miles down next to me. As soon as my body sunk into the bed I felt like I was about to pass out from exhaustion. So naturally Miles decided now was the time to start crying.

I let out a small sigh as I picked him up and sat him in my lap. I was gently rocking him, " Shh, go to sleep, my love." I whispered. I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. Miles continued to cry for another twenty minutes and I tried my best to calm him down. Another five minutes passed and he finally stopped crying. He fell asleep on top of me, his head resting on my chest.

There was a gentle knock on the door and my heart stopped. I looked down at Miles to make sure it didn't wake him, thankfully he was still peacefully asleep on my chest. Callum walked into my room, his face illuminated by the light from the hallway. " Is he okay?" he asked in a whisper.

" Yeah, he just went down." I whispered back, making sure to keep my head down, away from the light. I know they're going to see it at some point but I also have a feeling they're going to ask me what happened and that's not a discussion I want to have tonight. " I can take him for the night, you must be exhausted." he offered, taking another step further into the room.

" No, thank you. I've got him." I replied quickly. I hated the thought of Miles away from me, especially when I'd be leaving him with a stranger. He gave a small nod, " Alright but if you change your mind my room is the last one on the left." he said and I thanked him once again. " Goodnight, peaches." he said before leaving, closing the door behind him.