crave | 16+

XXV

JOSIE

EVERYTHING IS ECHOING AND I feel myself unable to keep my head up. I feel like a punching bag that's finally had enough of being hit. It feels like my body is slowly giving up on me—betraying me—and I can't do anything to stop it.

"You're fucking sick!" I yell at him, and the smile on his lips drops faster than an angel with broken wings. Zakaria may be a year older than me, but he's nearly as tall as his brothers. I guess it runs in the family. He grabs my loose hair and drags me closer to him by pulling my hair. I scream, but to no avail. No one kicks the door open. My prince Charming isn't going to come in and save me.

"My brother doesn't deserve you," he says before burying his nose in my hair.

"As opposed to you?" I snarl, an angry tear freeing itself down my cheek. His hand tightens around my hair, and I wince. I open my mouth and bury my teeth into his arm, making him let go of my hair before I cling to the wall. Zakaria looks at me with nothing but death in his eyes as he chuckles.

"Why'd you do this?" I ask in a pathetic beg.

"Why? Can't you see I did all this to protect you from him? He killed an infant, Josie. Do you think you'll be safe with anyone but me? You're dearly mistaken if so!" he yells as if he's the only one who's right for me.

Shock steals my air away like a vice at his words. Elijah would never. "Elijah didn't kill a baby you... you did. You killed him, and now you're– You're blaming him to make me hate him! Ares–You– They're all brainwashed with the bullshit you've been feeding them for months! You're sick, Zakaria, you need help you need–"

He nearly sprints up to me and puts his hand on my mouth, stopping me from finishing my sentence.

"I don't need help. I'm fine. I'm fine! Do you hear me?! I'm fucking fine! I would never kill a baby." he says under his breath while shaking his head as if he's trying to convince himself and not me.

Slowly, he lets me go while pacing the small square of a room I've been sleeping in for six months.

"I didn't kill him. I didn't kill him. I didn't kill him. I didn't kill him. I didn't kill him." Suddenly he turns to me, his hands buried in his hair, laughing like an absolute maniac. "I didn't kill him!" he screams at me, and the door springs open.

I feel my body shaking, and my eyes pull open with a gasp leaving my lips. Before me, I see a pair of blue eyes striking me, assessing my body, and hands on my neck to feel my pulse. I move to stroke my head, but wince and look down when I see the needle stuck in my arm. My eyes follow the tube attached to my arm, and I see a bag of blood.

"Blood transfusion," Aaron confirms. I nod, my mouth dry. Behind him, a small frame comes to life. Her red mane is out of control, curling around her head, in a way that makes her green eyes stand out much more. Her eyes are red from crying, and dry tear-stains run down her face. Worry settles in my stomach. Where is Elijah? I move to sit up and wince again, but before I can try again, Aaron has his hands under my armpits, helping me.

"You had a nightmare," Aaron says. I nod my head, in a confirming manner.

"It was Zakaria. He was...I don't even know," I finish off, a sigh escaping my lips. I lift my eyeline and lock it with Aaron's blue pecks. Finally finding the time to get a good look at his face, I notice the boy-ish look over him. There's some stubble on his cheeks, probably from the days he and Elijah looked for me, but it suits his defined jaw well. Shadows lay under his eyes, but impossibly, that suits him as well. His blonde hair is dishevelled, as if he's lost control over it. Then there's those ocean eyes, as blue as the ocean, as cold as the northern sea.