Fade To Black [1]

{Chapter 17}

➳ I'll protect you ➳❥

Miray's eyes widened, and her chest moved up and down faster as her breath quickened,  shocked at the horrific scene in front of her. She opened her mouth to scream, but this time a hand covered her mouth, preventing her from shouting.

"Hush, don't scream," Rayan whispered nervously, looking anxiously at the door, his hand still pressed to her mouth. He felt panicked, this should have never happened, but he must find a solution to this mess.

"I'll remove my hand, but you need to promise me not to scream. Okay?" He instructed slowly, fixing his eyes into hers and emphasizing each and every word. "Okay?" He repeated when she didn't respond.

Miray nodded her head hesitantly, and Rayan removed his hand. He rushed to the door closing it and locking it twice. He couldn't believe he had forgotten to lock the door. Stupid, stupid, stupid.. he repeated internally.

He heard a loud gasp and turned around, meeting Miray's pale face. She looked like she'd seen a ghost. He felt disgusted with himself. This should have never happened - he kept repeating in his head. He felt humiliated, disgusted, embarrassed, and angry at himself. She must hate him now... She must think he's so disgusting and ugly. With shaky hands, he quickly grabbed his T-shirt from the ground and covered his ugly body, avoiding meeting her gaze... too afraid to see the look in her eyes.

Looking at his bare back, Miray's breath hitched. The more she saw, the more panicked she felt. His torso was full of bruises, burns, and old and new cuts that formed some words in another language that Miray couldn't read. Some cuts were fresh and still bleeding.

Miray felt dizzy; she had never seen anything like this, and it made her feel sick and scared. "I-I'll go bring Damian," She stuttered and rushed to the door.

"No!" Rayan almost shouted, and he quickly blocked her from the door. This was his biggest secret that no one ever knew about and no one should've discovered. But now... now Miray knew about it. And soon, if he didn't stop her, everyone would know about it.

Not that they will care - because no one does. But it will just make him feel more disgusted about himself than he is now. And he was already beyond disgusted. He needed to find a way out of this, right now!

"But you're hurt," Miray argued, taking a shaky step forward; her voice was thick with fear. She was on the verge of tears.

"I'm not hurt!" Rayan replied defensively. He glanced around the bathroom, still refusing to make eye contact with her, and thought of something believable to say. "L-look," He said, grabbing her hand, he was still not looking at her, but he had to. Miray was looking at their hands, and only now did she notice the fainted scars and burns on his hand. How did she never notice them before? He squeezed her hand to grab her attention.

Miray's eyes flickered to his; she could tell he was also nervous. "I-" he started, then paused and squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to do this. He felt his throat tighten, and he forced himself to swallow. He didn't want to use the same method he hated the most; he wasn't a manipulative monster like them.... or so he wanted to believe. Because here he was... about to do the same thing he detested his whole life. Maybe I was like them... he thought.. after all, he was their son, and he got their DNA.

He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and was met with Miray's scared ones. She was looking at him worriedly. "Look, I'm okay, I just fell, and I need to use some band-aid, and I will be okay. If you tell anyone, I'll be in a big problem, do you understand?" He looked at her pleadingly, praying she would just let it go.