After being disowned by her parents, fifteen year old Serena Verlice finds herself in a toxic relationship with a much older man. She undergoes four years of emotional and physical abuse until one day she goes to the doctor and receives a devastatin...
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"Serena?" I call out, rushing towards her sprawled out body.
Any hope that she may have just fallen over or is playing some sick joke on me dissipates when I turn her body over, her lips blue and her face drained of any colour.
"Lucian!" I shout, panic coating my voice.
My fingers prod back and forth from her neck and wrist, my actions desperate as I try and find a pulse. I can't find one but I keep going, hoping if I try for long enough one may appear.
"Lucian!" I repeat, my voice strained and anguished.
I don't hear his or my dad's footsteps rattling through the hallway as they approach my room, my ears filled with ringing as a panic attack sets in.
I've never been good in high stress situations, my brain always shuts down and becomes utterly useless and since the stakes are so high right now that's exactly what it's doing.
"What the fuck," Lucian mutters, standing in the doorway as I hold onto Serena.
"Call an ambulance," I shout at him, his voice snapping me out of my haze slightly. I don't look at him, unable to take my eyes off her but I do hear the sound of his phone fumbling about in his hands before he begins to dial.
"Son if she isn't breathing you need to start cpr," My dad, clearly the rational one instructs as he stands over me.
His stern words register in my panicked mind and I lay Serena out on the wooden floor, my hands shaking slightly as I start delivering compressions.
I could have been doing it for minutes or hours but I keep going, my hands roughly pushing into her chest as I pray that it'll be enough to bring her back to me.
Suddenly she lets out a gasp, harshly sucking air into her deprived lungs as she bolts upwards.
I hear the distant sound of paramedics entering the house as I pull her into me, my hand resting against her hair as I cradle her into my chest.
Her breathing is still shallow and pained as she grips onto my arm, clearly terrified.
She tries to talk but horrifyingly it just sounds like she's choking.
"Ssh it's alright, you're going to be okay," I try and comfort her, gently stroking her hair.
Not only until the paramedics come in and pry her off me do I realise that she'd passed out again. I'm slightly less panicked considering that she's now breathing.
We watch her be taken out of the room, the paramedic's worried actions doing nothing to ease my fear.
"Come on I'll drive you to the hospital," My dad offers, extending his arm out to me. I take it, allowing him to pull me to my feet.
"No I want to be with her," I reply curtly, rushing to follow the paramedics out the door. I follow them to the ambulance, attempting to climb in when one of them stops me.
