Everglow

Chapter Eighteen: Fear

Hope you enjoy ☺️

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Rowan's POV

Fear; An unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain or harm. That's exactly how I was feeling. I was drowning in a pool of fear.

My eyes were squeezed so tightly shut that it felt like the stitches over my eyebrow would tear open any moment and the start of a migraine was lingering in my temples. I didn't want to open them though, knowing that it was keeping the waterfall of tears behind my lids from escaping.

My one arm was stuck beneath my left side. I could feel it turning numb with a painful throb running through the little muscle I had, screaming at me to change its position; But I couldn't move. My head was completely restricted, having been pushed down onto someone's lap with their hand pressed firmly against my mouth, trapping any of my panicked sobs in the back of my throat; making it harder for me to breathe. The voice inside my head kept telling me to take deep breaths through my nose, but I was too anxious about making a noise.

They say 'ignorance is bliss'. If you're unaware of an unpleasant situation, you cannot be troubled by it. And once the truth is unveiled, your eyes will be opened to everything going on around you - and that's not always a good thing. Looking back, I wish I listened to those three words that were spoken to me. I wish I wasn't so inquisitive and determined to know what was going on.

And now here I am, smack bang in the middle of something I can only describe as absolutely terrifying. Sure, this situation I'm in would've still happened even if the truth didn't come to light but atleast then I'd still have full trust in my own family; But I didn't even know what to believe anymore.

My heart felt like it was in my mouth, with every beat hitting my ear drum. The muffled sound of voices still managed to make its way through, but my frazzled mind couldn't fully make out what was being said and quite frankly I didn't want to know.

I could feel the presence of someone looming over me, but not even my curiosity of what was happening could get me to open my eyes.

When all of a sudden my whole body flinched at the sound of a loud gunshot, quickly followed by another.

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10 hours earlier

As consciousness hit me, so did the aching pain in my face. I groaned at how bruised and sore I felt which wasn't a good start to my morning.

The reality of everything that happened yesterday came crashing down on to me; From Melissa's theory about my family, Aaron chatting to the teachers about us leaving town and him acting odd in the car, Finn lying to me about why he needed stitches, the frustrating conversation with my brothers and then enduring that god-awful nightmare. Dread filled my chest at the thought of it all.

I rolled over on to my side and stretched out my arm, blindly reaching for my phone on my bedside table. I squinted at the screen as I read over the time. 7:30am.

I placed my phone back down and shut my eyes. I felt Comet nuzzling into another comfortable position next to me; both of us hoping to get a couple more minutes of sleep. But God was not on our side because what felt like only thirty seconds passed by before there was a heavy knock at my bedroom door.

"What?"' I whined at whoever was disturbing my rest.

I heard the click of my door, signalling that someone was opening it.