Barely Above A Whisper

Chapter 4

Vera's POV:

     Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep

     The sound that awoke me wasn't one that was wholly unwelcome, neither was it welcome either. I opened my eyes, struggling to adjust to the light of wherever the hell I was.

     I could see a hunched figure at the far corner of the room, my eyes widened in fear and I moved backward, hitting the table and knocking off the dish that was on it in the process.

     The figure looked up and I saw that it was Adrian, but that didn't make me calm down in the slightest, in fact my heart rate sped up as he stalked towards me like a predator hunting his prey, his eyes never leaving me.

     As he reached the bedside, he slowly stretched his hand out and I cowered away and covered my head, waiting for the ensuing beating that I was sure was coming, it never came though, I slowly looked up at him and his usually expressionless eyes were looking at me with rage.

     I don't know what came over me but I began to cry, the tears racking my body, I've never cried in front of anyone, not since the incident, I was momentarily blinded by the tears that were flowing freely out of my eyes.

     "Shit". Adrian cursed, and before I could even compose myself enough to look at him, his arms have already encircled around me, holding me, I tried to fight his hold, I tried to push him away, I didn't want anyone touching me,the feel of his hands were still fresh in my mind and I felt disgusting, anyone touching me further reminded me of him.

     Try as I might, Adrian didn't let me go, not when snot was flowing freely out of my nose, or when I was ruining his shirt, or when I feebly attempted to hit him, he just took it all in good faith and let me get everything out of my system.

      When I was done with my sob party, I slowly brought my head off his chest and look up at him, I looked away quickly when I saw that he was looking at me, but I frowned when my eyes landed on the mess I made on his shirt, he seemed to understand what was going through my head coz he said, "Don't worry about it, it's just a shirt".

     I didn't feel that way though, I felt horrible about ruining his shirt, but I didn't have any money to replace it and I bit my lower lip thinking of ways to earn enough to at least have it dry cleaned. I was drawn out of my thoughts when I felt a callused hand lift my head up and I was momentarily stunned by the intensity in his eyes.

     "Don't do that, please". His words came out more husky than usual, I tilted my head, sporting a confused expression coz I didn't know what he wanted me to stop. He just shook his head and said nothing, I suddenly realised that he was still wrapped around me and I moved away quickly, he allowed it this time, my movement was too quick and ill thought, as my back hit the bedpost behind me, I hissed in pain.

     "Hey, hey, are you ok?? Don't move too fast, you're just recovering, take it easy". He rushed to help me steady myself, while I stared at him, stunned, this is the longest he had ever spoken to anyone.

      After being satisfied that I was ok, he strolled out of the room leaving me to my thoughts, as soon as the door closed, my brain started replaying what happened to me and I felt myself choke on tears, I'd thought maybe my dad could still change, I'd thought we could still be a family, I was willing to overlook everything he had done, Lord knows his sins don't deserve to be forgiven, but I was willing to look past everything if he was willing to give us as a family a try, but what he tried to do to me made me realise how far he had already gone, how there was no redemption for him.

     I would never forgive him for what he put me through, for him making me lose my voice, my family, my innocence. I cried for what I lost, I cried for what would become of me as the future seemed so bleak, I was still crying when Adrian came back with a paper bag and two cups of Starbucks. On seeing my tears, he immediately dropped what he was holding and rushed to my side, "Hey, hey, don't cry", he cooed like he was talking to a baby, but I couldn't stop, my life was just so fucked up, "listen, the police have got your dad, he's behind bars as we speak, you're with me now, so you don't have to worry about anything". I looked at him through my tears, why was he being so nice to me?? I felt strangely safe at his words.

     I opened my mouth to talk, but I remembered that I couldn't talk, his eyes look at me in understanding before reaching out to the paper bag he had brought in earlier, and brought out a pen and a post-it note, he handed it to me and I began scribbling down.

     Why are you being so nice to me??

     I handed him the note and he read over it, he looked at me for a while, his eyes glazing over, his expression tormented, like he was recalling a memory he'd rather forget. He shook himself out of his thoughts and smiled at me, a smile that was supposed to make me feel at ease, but it didn't because the smile was obviously fake.

     "Let's just say..... I'm seeking atonement". He said making me even more confused, his expression however, let me know that he didn't want to be questioned, so I refrained from asking my questions. He took the paper bag again and brought out two burgers and fries, my stomach growled at the sight of food and he handed me one of the burgers telling me to eat, I slowly unwrapped it and began eating, the flavour that rushed to my taste buds made my eyes widen slightly.

      All the while we are, Adrian watched me which made me self conscious, after we were done, I was extremely sleepy, i struggled to stay awake but it was of no use and I fell asleep, the last thing I saw before my eyes closed were those eyes that I have grown to love so much.

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     Hello my lovvvvvvveeeeeesssssss 😚😚😚

Sorry I'm just updating, I have a bad case of laziness, it's like.... I know what I wanna write, but to start typing it out, I just get all tired even thinking about it

So......any thoughts on what Adrian means by 'atonement'. Feel free to lemme know your thoughts in the comments, anyways, till next chapter, byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee