Her once true love defects to Dauntless, abandoning her.
Penelope finds herself lonesome two years later. She has everything she could ask for, but nothing is fulfilling. That's until she comes across Charlie again. Old feelings are lost but somethi...
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MY mind ran blank, and my arms slowly dropped from Eric's shoulders. It was like there was no air for me to breath. My instinct was to start panicking but I fought it.
Eric had never spoken of the few times he hit me. Even through our sudden liking, he never brought it up. I chose not to either, for the mere fact that I was still petrified. Or maybe it was just that I was scared he would snap.
Scared he'd return to the old Eric.
"Penny—" I cut him short.
"W—What do you mean?"
Eric still had his arms around my waist, but I had fallen limp in his embrace. Soon, though, he released me, and I stumbled back. Hurt flashed across Eric's face but I didn't intentionally stumble away from him. My mind was too fuzzy to coordinate my steps.
"See. ." he started. "This is why I didn't want to tell you anything!"
I flinched at his booming voice, immediately hiding behind my hands. That instinct was also unintentional, and I think it got the best of Eric. I peeked through my hands, finding him with a stunned look on his face. His eyes filled with remorse, which brought a heart-breaking pang to my heart.
It was all going downhill, I sensed it.
"Eric, I. .I'm sorry," I whispered, rushing to him.
He was a statue, and when I hugged him, he didn't return the affection. Instead, his eyes shifted down to my smaller figure but he said nothing.
"Eric, please," I pleaded, moving my hands over his chest.
Eric suddenly grasped both my wrists, backing me against the tile wall. The impact wasn't hard, but it still took me by surprise. He pinned both my wrists next to my head, while towering over me.
What was the worst he could have done at that moment?
"My father," he sneered, "was a brute. More of a sadistic brute, let's just say that. A man with such power, that he enjoyed bringing others down."
I looked up, watching him intently. Eric had to be up to something, or was it just me?
"Especially his poor, innocent family," he lightly chuckled, sounding like a crazed man. "That man enjoyed a nice, cold drink. Or a few. Countless drinks went into his system but he wasn't at all fazed by his drunkenness. See, you would think that being drunk would make him the brute he was, but no. It was his sober state that brought out the monster inside him."
Eric's hands tightened, and I felt his fingernails leaving crescent imprints on my skin.
"My mother had to withstand this man, whom she thought she loved. Endless beatings, but she never left. Then there was me. Young Eric happened to one day walk in on his father mercilessly beating his lovely mother, bruising her beauty. Being the brave boy I wanted to be, I tried stopping him, and I did. . .God, it was like the Devil had been invoked in him. He took rash decisions. .or more like his belt. With one hard shove, he pushed me down to the ground and striked me more than once. Even through my clothing he was able to cause a great deal of damage. My mother—" his voice cracked, and his head dropped.
