"pull it together" TNN SIOBHAN SERPANT ANGST

chapter six

"siobhan you need to get over yourself."

roger was angry. for the second time this week someone had commented on how drained and miserable siobhan looked, which graffitied the perfect picture that their relationship was.

he towered over her, his face red, his blood vessels popping out of his forehead.

siobhan was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, tears streaming down her face. her eyes were locked on the floor, not daring to look up at him.

she felt so useless and weak, ashamed and afraid. but there wasn't much she could do. the little bit of light she had left in her body was flickering, threatening to blow out. all she wanted was to be out. to be free again.

her breathing became heavy, and her thoughts wandered away from roger and the abuse his mouth was hurtling at her, to viv.

viv.
her savior.

just the simple thought of her made siobhan gain some confidence. she recalled the time when viv called her strong. eventhough the words were so simple, it meant everything.

siobhan was brought back to reality when roger stopped shouting. she looked up at him and met his eyes.

he was furious. you could see it in his eyes especially. his features sharpened when he was angry, it made him look ten times scarier.

"im not afraid of you now." she said, her voice breaking at every word.

those words would cost her alot.

at first, he didn't know what to say. he stared at her silently, trying to take in what she said. deep inside him he knew this wasn't true, but part of him was second guessing himself.

eventually, the words escaped him.

"you should be." was all he said.

and then, his real reaction hit.

he also hit her,
many times.

he punched her
he scratched her
he beat her
he threw things at her

then finally his anger was over. he started at her limp body, watching as she sobbed, trying to wipe away the blood from her arm. it was seeping into her white blouse.

atleast now he knew she was scared.

as she cried in a heap on the floor, he packed his work bag and poured a glass of whiskey before getting into his car and leaving for the office.

but siobhan couldn't get up. she was simply too sore. her bones were aching and there was blood everywhere. the only thing she could do was call someone.

but who?

her hands shook as she reached for her phone, scrolling through her contacts list, praying that someone will answer.

siobhan's contact list was short. there was her dentist, her hairdresser, and her doctor, then roger and his assistant.

she reached the end of her contacts with nobody to call.

siobhan begun to panic, quickly scrolling back to the top of the list, when all of a sudden her eyes stopped moving, and she became focused on a name near the beginning of her list.

Autumn Knight.

siobhan considered her choices. she could potentially bleed to death on the floor of roger's kitchen, or get help from her stepdaughter.

the latter seemed much more bearable.

she hesitated before pressing call, not knowing how autumn would react if she saw her calling. but the options were minimal, so siobhan pressed call.

"hello?" autumn asked, sounding preoccupied.

"autumn this is siobhan, i need you to come to your father's house immediately." siobhan begged, sounding so weak and tired compared to her usual sly and smug voice.

as soon as autumn heard siobahn speak, she was shocked.

"siobhan? are you alright?" autumn questioned, sounding slightly worried.

"no, there's lots of blood, you need to get here right now." siobhan demanded urgently.

autumn gasped silently and nodded.

"il be right there."