ℂ𝕠𝕓𝕒𝕝𝕥 & ℂ𝕣𝕚𝕞𝕤𝕠𝕟 ❪✘❫ 𝑁𝑂𝑇 𝐶𝑂𝑀𝑃𝐿𝐸𝑇𝐸𝐷

04 || 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐒

Afina's hand trembled as she listened to the voicemail from her handicapped mother back in Texas. Hearing her voice made Afina get choked up, wishing she could speak to her. She didn't want to take any chances, though. As the tears trickle down her face, she did her best to visualize her mother.

"Baby girl," The voicemail began. "Just letting you know that I'm always thinking about you and... I miss you. Please, please... contact me when you are able, okay? I love you. Stay safe. Bye-bye."

How funny. Afina would assume that her mother thinks she's dead after a whole month of no contact. Sometimes the 18-year-old felt lonely and put her mother's voicemails on repeat. Just hearing the sound of a main relative's voice made life a little better, despite the possible dangers outside of Afina's life.

It breaks her heart to ignore her mother. She knows for a fact if she answered the calls, she will say some things that must not be mentioned, or else, her safety had been tampered with. Afina told herself every day that it'll be all right. It had to be. She needed to believe it.

The young girl, trying to make the best of her miserable and controlling life set her smartphone down beside her, getting yet, another sense of mental torture with a tight chest and fidgety hands.

Just when she believed that her evening was going to end terribly, Afina heard two very rough knocks at her apartment door. Her heart skipped a beat, a sharp gasp escaping her lips and hoping it wasn't Damien on the other side. Slowly and shyly, Afina got up from the couch, walks to her kitchen to grab a clean cutting knife, and proceeds to the door.

Knock, knock

Her hand gripped the knife tighter, reaching for the doorknob before peeking through the peep-hole. Thankfully, it's just Raquel. Afina sighed deeply in relief, unlocking the door and opening it up to see Rocky smiling widely at her. "I got off early!" Rocky chuckled, holding two small cartons of rocky-road ice cream: Raquel's favorite. "So, I brought some goods in hopes we can start that Marvel Marathon!"

"Oh..." Afina smirked, hiding the knife behind her back. "Um... that's great." She turned from the door, letting Rocky in. Her dark-haired friend of Afina shut and locked the door and followed her friend through her apartment.

"Everything okay, Jade?" Rocky asked, opening Afina-Jade's freezer and placing the ice cream inside.

The paranoid teenager nodded, setting the knife down on the counter, Rocky hardly questioning it. "Yeah, I'm fit as a fiddle, Rock." She hated lying-- hated it with a burning passion. She said these words as her hands trembled uncontrollably.

Rocky noticed this. "Another anxiety attack?"

Afina crossed her arms against her chest, tightening her lips and lowering her chin. "Yes." She paused. "The fifth one this week."

Rocky guides Afina-Jade to the couch. "Oh, hun," She says, sitting next to her. "I think it's time you see someone about this. You can't let your father's past actions hurt you this way."

Gulping, Afina could hear the truth screaming inside her head. Literally. Her father never touched her or mistreated her. All that Afina's father had done was treat her like the princess she is... that is until he wrapped his car around a telephone pole five years ago. His permanent absence made things worse because he was her whole world and he couldn't protect her from her mentally ill boyfriend.

Her memories showed Damien chasing her the night she left, getting a haunting echo of his bellow. Her breath is shaky while responding to Raquel. "Maybe you're right." Afina says to Raquel, tears wanting to escape her eyes.

"Until then," Rocky says, getting up from the couch. "Let's have a movie night. You and me." She walks to the freezer and took out the ice cream and retrieved a few silver spoons from the kitchen drawer.