Miracle

Chapter 12: Damaged

Elizabeth's pov:

I wake up that morning screaming into my pillow.

Flashbacks from my encounter with the strange man keep appearing to me. I had an awful nightmare about him last night where he succeeded in killing me, he didn't just cut my side. It's like, every time that I close my eyes, I see his face. His mad, crazy, scarred face.
It's terrifying.

I wipe off the sweat beaded onto my forehead and take a huge deep breath. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm safe, and that he can't hurt me anymore, but sometimes.. I just want to crawl into a hole and hide there until I know that this manic is behind bars again.

I slowly stumble out of my bed, put on my slippers and then zombie walk to the bathroom.

I look at the clock to see that it's already past noon. I guess I was really tired. I brush my teeth and decide to take a look in the mirror.

My hair is all knotted into tangles from pulling at it while screaming in my nightmares last night. My eyes carry large bags underneath them due to my lack of restful sleep, and don't even get me started on how messed up my eyebrows look.

I turn on the cold water for a shower and pull my sweaty, stinky, clothes off of my body. I begin to quickly shampoo and condition my hair because the water is oddly freezing this morning, well afternoon. I turn the faucet off and dry myself with a towel. I wrap it around my torso and walk back into my room.

I slip on a pair of flannel pants with some fuzzy socks and an old ratty t-shirt. I mush my hair up into a messy bun and call it a day.

I know I shouldn't let this guy have that much control over me, but I just can't help it. He's haunting me, every where I look.. I see him, I hear him, I smell him.

He has officially become the monster living inside my head.

I jump back into my bed and take my phone off of the nightstand. I only have one notification, a text, from Zack. He must've put his number into my phone when I wasn't looking. I smile at the contact name he gave himself.

Pimp Master Zack😏💜: Hey Lizzie, how are you feeling today? Is everything okay?

It's sweet how he asks, but I know that it's all just curiosity, it's not like he cares or anything.

I type a quick reply.

Me: I'm alright Zack, thanks😌

I shut off my phone and walk downstairs for some lunch, well breakfast for me. I find James in the living room, reading the newspaper like an old man.

"Hey Jamie, why didn't you wake me?" I ask, sitting down next to him on the couch and smiling at the fact that I actually called him 'Jamie.' It was the nickname I gave him when I was 5 years old. I couldn't pronounce 'James' so I would call him 'Jamie' instead. That's the first time I've called him that since the accident.

"C'mon Liz, you've had a rough past couple of days, I wasn't going to steal away some shut eye from you too." He acts like I just asked the dumbest question in the world.

"But.. you didn't.. you didn't hear me screaming last night?" I turn my head to the floor and hesitatingly await his response.