A Way Back To You

11| Memory

Definition: The faculty by which the mind remembers information; something recalled from the past. 

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Trigger warning: This chapter deals with mentions and implications of abuse, mainly physical but potentially sexual. While the latter is never descript, reader discretion is still advised.

16 months ago. With Ariana. 

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Ariana flinched at the sound of her mother storming through the house. Mommy's friends were scary, she didn't want to come out of her hiding place. "Ariana you get your fucking ass out here now or I promise it will be 10 times worse when I do find you." Her mother yelled. 

The child shivered, having shoved herself behind the cupboard in her mother's room. She hoped that her mother wouldn't think to come in here looking for her. Unfortunately, her mother wasn't the only one looking for her. "Hey there little one." Her mommy's new friend, Lee, smirked at her. Ariana tried to dodge as the man grabbed her shirt and dragged her out to her mother.  "I found you." 

"Where the fuck were you, you little shit? You think I have fucking time to wait?" Mommy hissed at her. Ariana quickly shook her head, and opened her mouth to respond. Before she could say anything, the child received a swift kick in the stomach, winding her and sending her sprawling across the room. "What the fuck have I said about speaking?" Mommy sneered. 

"N-n-no-" Ariana began, and her mother lost her temper. The woman hauled the tiny child up by her shirt and dragged her into the kitchen, snatching a belt off the bench and beginning to whip the child repeatedly. 

Ariana sobbed, writhing around in pain but willing herself not to speak. "Are you gonna talk?" Mommy yelled. Ariana shook her head, but this time her mother was even more angry. "Are you disrespecting me right now?" She demanded. "Lee, I think this one needs a lesson." 

Ariana's eyes widened and she curled herself into a little ball as the man came closer. She didn't remember blacking out. But later, as she sobbed and tried to wipe away the sticky red stuff that covered her body, Ariana desperately tried to keep silent. Mommy always made her friends help punish Ariana if she was bad. Ariana was bad a lot. But she could be good. Mommy wanted her to be quiet. So Ariana would. Because Ariana was a good girl. 

And good girls were always quiet. 

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Ant's apartment, Saturday. 12am.

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Ariana gasped as she snapped awake from her nightmare. Ant had told her that was what you called the scary things she saw when she was asleep. Today had been fun so far, but every time Ari closed her eyes, she was scared. The nightmares always came, and sometimes it was like she could feel the sores on her body when she woke. 

Afraid, but also too shaken to sleep, Ariana got up and crawled out of her bed, wandering into the hallway with Ice-cream firmly squeezed in her grasp as she began her search for Maddy. Maddy had said she wasn't going home, so she must be here somewhere. Ariana was scared of the shadows that covered the darkened apartment in the black of night, and shivered as she walked past Ant's room into the living area. 

But Maddy wasn't there. 

So if she wasn't there, where was she?