WARNING!!!
THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MENTIONS OF VERBAL ABUSE.
PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
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Fiore lifted her head up a bit, like she didn't realize what she said.
"...huh? I called you Alec, didn't I?"
Alec shook his head. "No, you... you called me 'dad'..."
Fiore squinted her eyes, as if she was trying to remember something. Soon, she finally realized.
"Shit!" Fiore turned around and hid her embarrassment. "I didn't mean to call you that, I just did!"
"No, no, it's alright." Alec assured her. "But... what could I have done to make you call me 'dad'?"
Fiore didn't wanna say anything at first. But, eventually, she sighed and sat up with her blanket wrapped around her.
"I told you earlier that, during our season, you felt like a dad to me? Well... I wasn't lying. Especially during that cave challenge, when you tried to protect me from the scorpions. Had it been anyone else, they'd just leave me to die."
FIORE'S POV
Why can't I say that without remembering her?
What she'd say to me... I can't get it out of my head.
"YOU'RE SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT!"
"I WISH I NEVER HAD YOU!"
"I SHOULD JUST DISOWN YOU ALREADY!"
"YOU RUINED MY CHANCES AT BECOMING A MODEL!"
"I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE ABORTED YOU!"
No... no. I can't cry again. No matter how much he might argue, I'll always know one thing.
Feelings are for weak people.
"Fiore?"
THIRD PERSON POV
"Fiore? Hello?" Alec noticed that Fiore was spacing out.
"Huh?" Fiore looked up at him.
"You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"...are you sure you're 'fine'? Everytime you say that, I catch you sad again."
"Yes, Alec, I'm fine." Fiore rolled her eyes.
Alec sighed. "Back to my original question. You called me 'dad' by accident, right?"
"Yeah... it was... just a slip of the tongue. After what happened, though, I couldn't think of you as my dad anymore. Once again, you were just... another guy. Another person who hated me." Fiore looked away. "Y'know... a lot of people forget I'm human, just like them."
Alec's eyes widened a bit. "Seriously?"
Fiore nodded. "They all just see me as this... monster. A monster, completely undeserving of love and care. No one stops to think of how old I am, who I am, what I went through... they just add to the pain. And whenever I try to tell someone, they laugh and don't believe me. It... it hurts. A lot."
Alec frowned. He felt bad for her. She was eight, and already going through this much trauma? It was really sad. He sighed and sat next to Fiore on the bed, hugging her with one arm. "Have you told anyone else about this yet?"
Fiore shook her head no and wrapped the blanket tighter around her. "I mean... I tried to tell people. But they never cared enough to listen. You and Grett were the only ones who knew about my mom calling me a monster."
Alec remembered that day. He didn't think Fiore's mother was too horrible.
"Fiore... you know you can talk to me whenever you need to, right?"
"I know... but I feel like you don't wanna hear anything. I mean, no one wants to hear anything I have to say about my trauma. Why would you be any different?"
Alec looked at her with a sympathetic look. "I never knew you went through so much."
"People surprise people everyday, huh?" Fiore chuckled. "But, anyway... I don't know. I just want it to stop. It's all too much to handle, and whenever it gets too quiet, I can hear their insults in my head. Over. And over. And over again."
"That includes what I said to you... right?"
Fiore nodded. "I've been rewatching our season over and over again. The biggest thing I regret is betraying you. I felt like I had a real friend. But I just... threw it away for money that I didn't even win."
Alec's frown grew. "You know... at times, I thought of you as my child."
Fiore's somber expression faded into a surprised one. "What? Wait, wait, wait... seriously?"
"Yeah. At first, I considered our friendship as a simple alliance. But, as days passed, and our friendship started to grow, you started to feel more like a daughter to me. The cave challenge just increased that feeling. But... it all went away once you betrayed me. And just when I thought I could trust you."
Right as Alec said that, Fiore looked ashamed. "Yeah... I was a bad person. I wanna change, but... for some reason, I just can't."
"What does that mean?" Alec was confused. If she wanted to change, why didn't she just do it?
"My situation is confusing to other people, so I'm not surprised you're asking me this." Fiore brought her legs up to her chest. "I don't want to be mean. It's how I lose friends and how I get everyone to hate me. But... it kind of became this defense mechanism. A way to hide the soft and sad version of me."
"So... you're a villain. Not because you want to be, but because if you're not, people could see your real emotions..."
Alec felt bad for her. He sighed and pulled her closer into the hug.
"I said this earlier. Feelings are what makes you human. You don't have to store them away."
"I know, but..." Fiore groaned. "You don't know what my world looks like. Whenever I try to let out even a tear, the kids in my grade laugh and call me a weakling. I don't want to be a weakling."
"Fiore. Feelings do not make you a 'weakling.' Sometimes, you just need to let yourself cry. Keeping the negative emotions inside you without letting them out at all can lead to mental health problems. I don't want you to end up lonely and depressed because of all this. You're still a child."
Fiore started tearing up. Never once in her life had someone cared about her this much. She jumped up and hugged Alec, crying into his shoulder.
Alec sat there and let her cry, patting her back comfortingly.
She cried herself to sleep, still being hugged by him.
Alec sighed and carried Fiore to her bed, tucking her in.
"Goodnight, Fiore. You need your rest."
