Caught Up In Your Darkness

CHAPTER 8 - SOFIA

Let me be very honest here, I have seen a lot of shit in my life, stuff others will never even see in seven lifetimes. And out of everything I have seen in all these years the one thing I had never expected to see was a distraught Alex Barracks sitting on my bed.

“Um, Alex?” I walked into the room, suddenly very hyper aware of my clothes strewn about the room and the underwear hanging out of my drawers as I left in a hurry this morning.

She turned to face me and I noticed the redness in her eyes and the moisture on her cheeks. She was crying. For some reason I felt a knife stabbing me in the chest. I looked down to find nothing of the sorts and yet there was this horrendous pain I felt from the inside that I couldn't explain. It just got worse as I heard her voice crack.
“You got something to say?”

“What do you mean?” I did not like this. Not knowing what was going on sucked. Especially when it was about her. I wanted to know what was hurting her, what made her cry. I wanted to hold her really close and wipe everything bad from existence if that would make her happy. The thought of her being that close to me sent shivers down my spine. I cleared my head. Not now.

“So you're telling me you have no idea what your father is up to? Really? And I'm supposed to believe you? Why did you bring me here? What do you want from me?”

Woah. “What do you mean? What happened? Did someone hurt you? Please, I don't know what you’re talking about. Did he hurt you in any way? What did he do?” for a split second it scared me how fierce I had suddenly gotten against my own father. It didn't matter tho, I felt something strong for her, that's all that mattered.

She cleared her throat and looked at me deeply, staring into my soul. I felt uncomfortable having her deep brown eyes examining me, as if she was unsure of me. Like she didn't know if she could trust me. I could see her fight the battle with herself, the conflict behind her pupils.
For a second it felt like I had lost, like she would run far away and I would never be with her. She felt distant as she closed her eyes and hung her head.

The next second she picked herself up. A deep breath emptied her chest and with it a lump in my throat. She locked eyes with me and I could see her struggling with the words. But I was ready to give her all the time she needed. Surprisingly, I was content to sit there at the edge of the humongous bed and just stare at her like a little girl staring  at the night sky, full of awe and wonder.

But that was not to be. She found the words and began slowly. At first the words new to her, unreal and horrifying. But then they started flowing, manic and crazy. By the end she was in my arms.
Never in my life did I ever imagine having her in an embrace, consoling her. All because of what I had put her through. I had never hated myself more. 

After a lot of deep breaths and tears, she felt good enough to pull herself away from me and sit up straight. She stared at me, her eyes emotionless and old, which was strange given that only five seconds ago she was dumping some of the most traumatizing shit she had ever seen.

“Did you know what he was doing?” Ouch. Her words were so cold it almost hurt physically.

“I'm going to be very honest, I knew he as not going to be voted most favorite billionaire but I didn't know it was this bad.”

“So you did know that he was some sort of a paid hitman.”

“Woah okay, we don't know what exactly happened there. Can we please take a second and think with our heads here? We have to figure out what went down and who he was there with. Tall man you said?”

“Yes, almost balding. He was huge. Built like a truck.”

That didn't help. Everyone from the gardener to my great grandfather matched the same description.