broken strings. ➳ payne. [slow updates]

Chapter Two. - Broken Home and Confused Minds

Aurora’s POV

I sat at the edge of the bed, my feet rested on the slightly rough carpet. I anxiously played the ends of my fingers and my nails that were finally growing in. I couldn’t bear to look at the upset, and slightly angry male pacing back and forth in front of me. This happened every time he caught me thinking about him. It was not like I was trying to think of him, but it just happened at times. I could not turn off the memories that flooded back to me, even though I wanted to. The pain these memories caused were enough to leave scars, luckily never seen by the public.

I heard him stop pacing and making his way over to where I was sat. I still didn’t look up, but I never could. Two years with him and I still didn’t comply with his powering demands. He still stood before me, his arms crossed over his chest. Whenever this happened, I felt like I was a little kid, and he was the parent, waiting for the reason why I had caused mischief.

“Are you going to tell me?” His voice finally boomed, bouncing off the boring colored walls.

I nodded my head ‘no’ and kept my eyes locked on my fingers that were still dancing with each other. I knew he hated when I denied him an explanation, but I could never bring myself to tell him, not right away.

I heard him sigh, almost in defeat, but that feeling was no longer visible as his right hand grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back, forcing me to stare at his hazel eyes. The green was more prominent, as always when he was angry.

“Now, I will ask you again. Why did you think about him?” He said, his voice held no emotion, while his fist made sure to tighten its grip on the hair it held captive.

I whimpered at the roughness. You would think that as the human body received more pain, it would become numb to it. Unfortunately, it was not the case for mine. My body would feel the current pain, and all the pain it felt before. I knew my defiant nature would allow me to always feel this pain, but I always prayed my body would become accustomed it.

When I refused to speak, his left hand made forceful contact with my right cheek. As the force caused me to be knocked from the corner of the bed, his hand found a way to easily untangle itself from my hair. As I fell to the ground, I could feel my temple hitting the edge of the chest we have seated at the end of the bed. It was the last thing I remembered before I blacked out.

**

When my body finally gained consciousness, I could tell I was still lying on the rough and scratchy carpet. I did not want to open my eyes because it would mean having to face him and explain everything. I didn't have the energy to deal with him right now. He had been this rough with me before and I should have known it was coming. It was nothing new to me.

I knew I could not pretend to be unconscious forever, and slowly allowed my eyes to open, to take in the artificial light that had filled the room. I could see his figure off to my left, and he was sitting with his knees to his chest. When he saw me stir, he immediately fled to my side, gushing false sweet nothings into my ear.

He explained why I was still on the carpet, saying he did not want to tear open my cut. Apparently, when I hit my head on the edge of the chest, a small cut appeared, allowing blood to trickle down the side of my face and onto the carpet. He had bandaged me up and informed me the cut would disappear within a few days. I internally rolled my eyes at his sudden care and knowledge on head wounds.

I gently pushed myself up off the floor, and got to a standing position, but not without his help. I told him I felt dizzy and I was just going to sleep, seeing as though it was almost nine o’clock. He stuttered out an “Alright” and left the room with nothing else to say. I sighed to myself and wondered how I let my life get like this. But I knew the reason and I had myself to blame for it. But I also blamed the one who left me all alone; I blamed Liam Payne.

Austin’s POV

I knew she thought about him, more than I would ever care to know. Even with all the pain he caused her, she still thought about him. She would never go into detail about what she was thinking, and that always struck a nerve with me. All I wanted to do was help, but I could see her reluctance with my offer. My way of trapping her into my life was not very ethical, nor proper any way you tried to word it.

Many people would ask about how we came to be a couple, and we always shrugged it off with a different excuse. I knew she wanted to leave, but there was something about me that made her stay. I gave her plenty of opportunities to flee, but she never did. She never even left and came back; she just always stayed.

I would constantly wonder what aspect about me kept her bound, but came up with nothing. I was nothing but a monster, if to no one else but Aurora. But she never lashed out against me, never raised her voice or fought back. I thought she would have put up a fight, taking her anger on a surrogate to the boy who left her with nothing in this world, but she didn’t. I think she took it out on herself more, blaming herself for his disappearance.

I often wondered if she honestly did blame herself with his sudden departure. I thought about all the self-hate she must have built up towards herself, pushing her only friend to leave without a trace. If nothing else, I was certain about the fact that she wondered if he thought about her at all; if he ever thought about her when he came home.

And then something snapped within me. I knew why she was thinking of him, more often in these past couple days, and that was because he was scheduled to return home. She probably feared running into him at some place, maybe one they would frequent when they were still friends. I knew she still had a liking for a café they would always go to when they would do homework together. No matter how much she wanted to avoid that coffee shop, she never could. That place would always fill her with happiness and sadness, and I often wondered how it could do that.

As you can see, I did a lot of wondering about Aurora. Well that was because as much as I tried to get her to open up, she barely would. I knew enough about her past, but I was positive I was just scrapping the surface. She kept to herself, sinking farther into the dark oblivion her mind created.

It was one of the most obvious changes that occurred with her. When Liam was still around, she made sure to say “Hi” to a majority of people, but she mostly chatted up with the “freaks” of the school; the students that the rest of the world could care less about. I thought it was easier for her to make the connection because Liam was so much of an outcast.

But as soon as he left, she had withdrawn from the world. She would no longer say “Hi” to anyone, and only spoke when the teachers instructed her too. Eventually, they just allowed her to stay quiet all throughout class, making up excuses why she did not have to give presentations.

Teachers understood a lot more than what most students gave them credit for. Most of the time, they would allow students to get over whatever petty problem they were facing with, and move on. But they knew that something dark had to happen for Aurora to just disassociate from everything. They were concerned, but never asked a question. They still adored her because she maintained the smart demeanor she carried on before Liam fled. And because her grades never faltered, they just assumed it was something internal.

And the teachers were not far off from their assumptions. Many people will argue that it was something internal, deep down inside her. But what many people didn’t understand was who caused her to become so withdrawn. No one understood that Liam Payne broke his best friend.

Hello (: Here's the second chapter. A little insight on Aurora's current life. Don't hate me too much, please. Feedback is still appreciated. Thanks lovies.

Stay Sparkling (: xox.