Mended

10

Izzy's POV

My legs wobbled from beneath me as I stumbled back a few steps, finding it hard to keep my balance.

No.

It couldn't be. I wondered if I was hallucinating. Maybe this was some sort of night terror. A nightmare; one that seemed and felt too real as the boy from my past took a few steps toward me.

"No," I breathed, pinching my eyes closed. Maybe when I opened them again, he'd be gone. "Please, no."

"Izzy."

My eyes flew open at the sound of my name coming from his lips. Reality slammed into me like a tidal wave, the impact devastating enough to almost completely knock me off my feet.

It was him.

It was Sebastian.

He looked the same, yet so much about him had changed. He was taller now, and more muscular than he had been before. His hair was the same ash blond color, tousled messily as if he'd run his hand through it multiple times. His eyes were the same piercing shade of emerald, yet they seemed darker than before.

"Izzy," Sebastian enunciated my name again, his voice breathless as if he was in shock. "I've been looking for you for years."

He took a step towards me and my chest began to tighten; invisible hands slowly wrapping their fingers around my throat. Oxygen became scarce as I struggled to suck in air.

Not again. Not again. Not again. Please, not again. I couldn't do this again.

"No," I gasped, lunging forward. Sebastian's brows furrowed as he watched me move towards him, and I took his surprise as my opportunity to act. I grabbed the door and tried to slam it shut, but he must have registered what I was about to do because he was inside in the blink of an eye.

"Wait, Izzy!" he called out, moving forward. I screamed when he started for me, shoving the door out of the way. Sebastian put his hands up in surrender, halting when I scrambled back like a crazed animal. "I'm not here to hurt you, I just want to talk."

I heard Julian shout my name. I barely registered him run into the room. The world started to blur around the edges; every voice, every sound turning muffled like I was sinking underwater and I couldn't find my way back up to the surface.

Sebastian reached for my hand. I didn't move away in time and his fingers wrapped around my wrist. I lost it.

"Get out!" I screamed, my voice breaking as I stared at Sebastian through blurry eyes. Every part of me began to shake so violently that I feared something would break. I felt like something would break. My chest began to constrict as a feeling I hadn't experienced in months began to rip its way through me. "Get out! Get out of my house!"

"What the fuck is going on!" Julian's voice sounded distant, even though he was standing right next to me now. I felt his hands try and grab me but I was too frantic, too panicked, to be contained right now.

Sebastian ignored Julian as he took a small step in my direction, his eyes never leaving mine. I tried to speak, tried to tell Julian that he needed to call someone—the police, my brothers, anyone, but words failed me. My voice shriveled away, my body failing me as everything I'd spent years burying tried to rip back through the walls I'd spent so long building.

He was here. He was here. He'd worked for Lucas. He'd betrayed me. He'd hurt me and now he was here and I was remembering things I didn't want to remember and these things were hurting me so badly that my body was beginning to physically ache.