My Orphan

Chapter 20: Sad reunions

*Triger warning*⚠️

Layla's P.O.V.:

I woke up with a huge headache feeling like I had just lived one of my best dreams ever.

I felt something under me, and it was breathing. Looking up, I realized that maybe this wasn't a dream.

My sister was sleeping there peacefully, me in her arms, and I couldn't believe it was reality.

She was back. Like actually back, after I thought I had lost her.

Right then and there, I swore to myself that i would never let her go, that I would protect her with my own life if I had to. I'm not repeating the same mistake I did two years ago.

I wanted to know what happened to her so badly, but I had to wait for her to wake up. She seemed exhausted yesterday. And she looked so frail, so weak. What happened to my precious sister? Who hurt her?

I started overthinking, going to the worst situations ever, until I felt Ash move a bit.

"I can hear the gears turning in your head, Lili." Came her raspy morning voice.

I looked up and saw her eyes bearly open. She was struggling to keep them like that.

"You should go back to sleep. You're still tired."

"Nah, I'm already awake. Now, tell me, what's on your mind." A huge yawn came out of her, and all i did was shake my head in amusement.

"How about we go for a morning walk together so we can talk peacefully."

At that, she nodded, and we both got up to get ready for the walk.

I changed out of my clothes, and I gave Ash some of mine as well so she could change. After about 15 mins, we were both ready to go.

I made sure to kiss my girlfriend on the forehead before heading out, and thankfully, that did not wake her up. I couldn't help but think about how beautiful she looked at that moment.

My sister held my hand, and we both walked in silence for a bit, I think she wanted me to initiate the conversation whenever I was ready. And i appreciate that a lot.

Slowly, we found our way to our safe place. The one we used to go to all the time when we wanted to be alone, it hasn't changed at all.

It's a little clearing in the woods near our house. It was right next to a river and surrounded by trees that gave us shade to sit comfortably.

I have never told anyone about this place, even after Ash's disappearance, I wanted to keep it our secret.

I will tell my girlfriend about this place, of course, when I am ready. But for now, I'm just going to enjoy this moment with my sister.

We sat close to the river and decided to put our feet in the water.

I lay my head on my sister's shoulder as i heard her speak.

"I know you have a lot of questions, and I'm ready to answer any of them whenever you feel ready to ask."

"What happened that night?" Was all i was able to ask.

She sighed and started stroking my hair, her way of calming me down. She knows me way too well.

"Before i start the story, you have to promise me one thing. You stay calm no matter what you hear. You getting angry is not gonna change anything that happened." That made me even more worried if that was possible, but I nodded regardless.

"Good. So that night, when I went out to search for you, I wasn't able to make it to the club, I got stopped by two big men with masks on, they held me tightly and as much as I tried to free myself nothing worked, they were way stronger than I was. They tighed me up, gagged me, and put me in a car to god knows where they made sure I couldn't see where we were going.

When we arrived, all I saw was a huge... house? Yeah, I dont really know if you could call it that. But anyway, the sounds I was hearing were only screams and cries for help. I was terrified but tried not to show it to them.

They led me to this room that was more like a holding cell. It was small with nothing in it but a bucket. You can guess what that was for." I winced at those words. What the fuck did they put her through. I decided to keep my mouth shut and let her continue. But inside, my blood was boiling.

"At first, they didn't do much. They just starved me by only giving me one small portion of food and water every day, and that went on for a month. After that came the real torture." She paused for a bit, so i looked up at her to see her eyes glossy, and she was looking out into the distance.

I grabbed her face gently and made her look into my eyes. I wiped the stray tear that escaped from her cheek.

"Ash, if you can't continue, I understand."

She shook her head and looked back towards the trees.

"I'm okay Lily. You need to know the truth."

I nodded even though I didn't want her to go through any of it again in her head.

"I soon realised what type of place I was in, I was taken to be a slave along with several other people who were going through the same treatment I was going through.

One day, they came into my cell and told me to change into some lingerie they got, saying that today I was the lucky girl that got to sleep with the boss. That made me shake, yet i couldn't do anything about it. They watched me closely while I changed, and I had never felt more uncomfortable in my life.

Until I got to the bosse's chamber.

I don't really want to go into details about what happened there, but just know that I had gotten raped that day over and over until I collapsed and passed out and even then i think he didnt stop.

My virginity was taken in the blink of an eye by a man who thought he owned us."

At this point in the story, I was already in tears, I couldn't stay strong anymore after I found out what happened to her, and I dont even think the story is over yet.

She took another deep breath. She was still trying not to cry, so I did the only thing I knew to do to comfort her. I hugged her tightly, leaning her head on my shoulder. This was like a trigger that begged the tears to just flow down her face, so we just sat there, both crying for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes.

When we both calmed down, she held my face in her gentle hands and whispered, "Hey, I'm okay now, see I'm here with you."

"But you're not. You went through hell. And i know there is way more to this story. I hate myself for being the reason you went through this."

"You're not responsible for what happened, Lily. It's those filthy people's fault. I promise, I didn't even blame you once."

At this point, I was speechless. How can someone so pure and kind go through the worst shit any girl can go through.

"I love you sis."

"I love you too Ash."

"Are you ready for the rest of the story?"

I looked her in the eyes and nodded.

"Yes."