Asterism

48. a cost

***4 chapter update! Start at chapter 45 :) ***

AS soon as Marley was conscious, she flew up from her laying position, praying that everything she'd remembered wasn't some torturous dream. That she and Aiden actually-

"Woah." She breathed out, confused for a moment at how short she felt. This bed had been giant last night, even difficult to climb up on for legs as short as hers, but-right.

Marley's eyes shot over to the damaged wood piled neatly in the corner, and then down to the floor, right beneath the mattress she was laying on. No bed in between anymore. Proof it was all real.

Marley's whole face flushed with heat as a relieved sigh left her, and she fell back into the mountain of pillows, in the sweetest oblivion of happiness and peace. Her legs and arms stretched out like she was about to do a snow angel, not even close to the edges of the giant mattress, as she stared up at the mid-morning sky above her head, slightly dulled.

There must be a way to dim the lighting entering the room without fully blacking out the view, Marley realized. Like curtains, it allowed her to stay asleep even with how bright it was now.

In the distance, she heard the shower running, and allowed herself to sit up after one more moment of uninterrupted bliss, memories sliding in and out of her mind, scorching across her body in every place he'd left love behind. Gods, they should've done that a heck of a lot sooner.

But Marley's stomach was growling and her throat was parched, so she stumbled out of bed in just her boyfriend's t-shirt from the day before with plans to dance her way to the kitchen like a ballerina in love.

Before she left the room, her eyes found her reflection in the floor length mirror.  It was still the same Marley Hoover staring back at her as yesterday, with the same bruises she'd endured yesterday, but something was different now. There was a new flush to her cheeks, a new sparkle in her eyes, a new glow to her skin. Even her hair, as tangled as it was, looked bright and glossy, given new life.

Marley covered her secret giggle with her hand, floating on clouds as she wandered down the hallway, failing to notice some of the photos were no longer level against the wall-an omen of what was coming next.

Entering the main room of the house, Marley's hand stayed on her mouth in shock this time as she took in the disarray and disorder. The pillows and blankets once laid neatly on the couch were thrown wherever they could disappear the quickest. Fruit lay scattered across the kitchen, their bowl (thankfully plastic) upside down on the tile. Almost a whole shelf of books at Marley's eye level was cleared to the floor, and despite every curtain carefully closed around the room, the back window did not survive the night. It's curtain rod ripped from the ceiling, the curtain fallen over the table beneath the window. There was a haphazardly made nest of blankets in front of the fireplace-when she had gotten too cold by the window, goosebumps forming on her skin. She hadn't noticed, but Aiden did. She didn't let him work long on a spot for them by the fire, hence why it was so quickly made.

"Oh. My. Gods." Every memory came back, every reason why there wasn't an untouched room in the house. Marley scrambled over to the spare bedroom, gaping at the sight of the sheets yanked from the mattress, the duvet in a heap on the floor, more pillows thrown.

The office was in much better shape. They hadn't spent much time in there. Marley's stomach had started growling at that point, but by the state of the kitchen, and if her memory serves her right, Aiden had attempted to feed her but had gotten...distracted.

More distraction followed in the workout room, where there was a wall of mirrors...

Marley landed on her butt in the middle of the living room, stunned into silence.