ALANA

45

ALANA

"Okay honey, I will see you tomorrow okay? Take so much care of yourself sí?" Mama sniffles as I nod, wiping away the tears, as we finish up her very heart felt phone call.

"Sí." I sniff away the snot.

"Now give the phone to Xander, I will make sure he takes good care of my figlia." I smile at her calling me that.
(daughter)

I walk to Ares who is sitting on the bed and hand him my phone so he can talk to his mother. I feel a little light headed so I decide to lay down in my room. Well, the guest room that I had been using before.

When I get downstairs to the room, I sigh in relief and lay down, my back is very achey and I can feel myself cramping and I groan in realization.

My cycle is about to begin. I scrunch up my nose as I feel tears slip start to form and drip freely down my temples, seeping into my hair. I feel so very frustrated and emotional.

My period is very cruel every month. It hurts and I feel very uncomfortable constantly. Not to mention that it lasts 5 days of constant discomfort aswell.

It is also weird that this is the first I am getting it since the wedding. Perhaps it was the stress.

I hear someone knock on my door but I groan accidentally, a sharp cramp choosing this moment to be most painful.

The door brusts open and Ares comes thundering in.

"What wrong? Let's go to the hospital come." he reaches for my arm and pulls me up making hiss.

"N-No, no Im fine." I say making him make a face that seems to be angry.

"Bullshit, lets. Go." he presses.

"No I am fine I promise, it's a different thing nothing the hospital can help with." I try to free my wrist from his hold.

"Alana, you are clearly in pain. You're fucking crying"

"Can you please calm down." I whimper, crying again.

"Okay, okay shh" he tries to calm me down.

"Its not my surgery area or my head that hurts okay? Im fine." I try to breathe deeply for the pain. I think about the things I need. Uh oh. I cannot ask someone else to get me sanitary supplies, usually, Mrs. Fiore would have my drawer filled with them every month. She was so very nice.

"Can you maybe get Maybel? I need her." I whisper. He looks alarmed and very frustrated but relents and walks out to get her.

Soon, Maybel walks in.

"Yes honey, are you okay?" she asks quickly.

"Yes I need sanitary pads? Can you get me some I am so sorry but I don't have any and I should have been better prepared but-"

"Oh ofcourse young miss, do not worry I will get them right away. Don't stress okay? I will also make you warm milk and honey helps with pain." she hums, then walks out.

I hear her and Ares talking right outside and then he enters the room again.

"You couldn't just say what was wrong? I was-" he stops.

"I did not think you would know what it was. It is only a girl thing." I tell him. I hear the sharpness to my voice which makes me bite back. I can be a little mean when this time rolls around. I just have a lower tolerance for other things while I am also in pain.

He remains quiet, just looking at me.

"So you are okay?"

"Yes." I snip.

"Alright, I have some work to do, I will be out, call me if you need something okay?" he asks.

I just nod at him and he looks at me a second longer then leaves. Gosh.

I spend the day in bed, reading a book I had left off before I went away. And while I am reading, a part about the main characters father reminds me of my own.

What had happened to him? Did Ares see him? Did they talk?

As I think of these thoughts, I don't notice when I drift off to sleep.

A loud crash wakes me up and I scream. It's a storm. No. No. The light follows the cracking and I whimper.

Suddenly I am back in the old room, locked up in the darkness, the only light is from the loud storm that paints horrifying shadows on the empty walls.

I whimper, pulling the blanket up to my head. The storm takes on force and I continue crying, soon tiring myself enough to fall back into an uneasy slumber.

ARES

I get home later than usual. Around 11 pm. Work was more hectic than usual since I had not been doing my regular routine. But knowing that Alana was safe and home, I decided to just finish everything off. It has been raining heavily for the past hour, the thunder is crashing loudly and the sky lights up every so often.

When I get home, I get a strong urge to go see her but I resist. I do not like this pull I have towards her. It makes me weak. So I go up to my room and shower, then walk into the closet. Looking at all her colors of clothes, I feel the urge to see her again.

Maybe just to see if she is okay. She never does call me with that phone. I change than walk down to the guest room I now know she is in.

As I near the door, I hear the unmistakable sound of her crying and pleading. I quickly burst into the room but am surprised to see that she is still asleep, thrashing in her state of slumber.

"I- I am sorry, please dont father please don't leave me in here again." she cries. It is very strange that she is forming whole coherent sentences yet she seems to be asleep still.

"Alana." I shake her small frame gently, patting her cheek.

"Please don't lock me up." she whimpers, her body shaking.

"Little sheep wake up it's a dream." I say with urgency, trying to pull her away from her cruel subconscious.

Her eyes snap open and she shoots away from the pillows, clutching onto my hand that was on hers.

"Please help he- he will lock me up, please don't let him." She hiccups with a soul crushing cry as she scoots her body impossibly close to mine, clinging to my arm.

"I won't ever let him hurt you again baby, never." I tell her, gripping her waist to hold her. "He's not here gattina. No one but me and you is here." I try to calm her. She sniffles as she timidly looks around.

A loud thunder crackles making her jump in my arms and scream.

"Sh, its just the rain gattina, just some harmless rain." I tell her.

"Please don't leave." she whimpers into my shirt. I feel my chest tighten with an alien feeling and I nod, holding the back of her head, my fingers disappearing into her hair.

"Never." I say softly and hold her through the storm, not sleeping at all to make sure she doesn't get a bad dream again.