Message in a Bottle

Arrival (25)

Chapter 25

*Ciara's POV*

Around 4 o'clock, I was sitting by the window. I'm listening to the rain splatter down on the cement. It made me feel better knowing the rain was there; because it means I'm not the only one crying. I wasn't crying about missing Mike, I was crying over my fear of Mike. My life is slowly disintegrating, and the only thing I could do is simply sit back and watch.

I thought about calling my family and apologizing for everything I have put them through these last couple of years. I had the phone in my fists, the number dialed on the screen but then the feeling vanished. I sat there, wondering how in the hell I was considering to call my parents after all they've put me through. If anything, they should be apologizing to me. I'm the one who was scarred the most from their reckless fights.

I can still feel the sinking of my stomach when I first saw my mother get hit by my father. I was eleven, and I recall having a "boyfriend". Obviously at that age, it was nothing serious, but I remember really liking this kid, his name was Cameron.

I remember that day, clear as can be. The sun was shining through the windows, creating rays of color onto my legs. I traced over them with my fingertip, silently as I heard my parents going off on one another. The words they used towards each other was all new vocabulary to me, maybe that's why when I grew older I knew much more "bad" words than my friends.

I could hear the tension growing between them two through the thick walls. I crept down the hallway, and sat on the edge of the balcony, watching them fight. "You are such a disgrace, you know that?" My mom spat to my father as she stared at him in disgust.

"Don't you dare turn this problem around on me! It's not my fault our fucking daughter is an idiot!" He screamed, like he purposely wanted me to hear.

"Maybe she gets such terrible grades because we fight all the time!" She leaned in and pushed him, knocking his firm body against the table top.

The look on my father's face was almost identical to the one I saw on Mike's when we were last together. Satisfaction. It's almost as if for my mother pushing him, he was granted the access to hit her. Which he did without hesitation.

My mom just sat there, taking the hit like she was a slave. I covered my eyes with my sleeve, running back into my room. I was mortified. My father had a sick, happy, look on his face the whole time as he wound his arm back, hurting his wife, hurting my mother.

The next day at school I asked Jordan to break up with Cameron for me. I didn't want a boyfriend, not if they were only born to injure their spouse. Which is what I thought at that age.

"Hey," I hear Jordan say from behind me. My eyes follow the droplets that streak down the window, I'm hoping she wouldn't notice me crying.

"Hey," I said back, the tone in my voice light and friendly. I rub my face against my shirt, quietly sniffling.

"The boys are great, I can see why you wanted to stay with them for so long," she takes a deep breath and sits next to me on the carpet. "I don't think they want you guys to go."

"We have to," I lower my voice.

"Ready to go soon? I got the bags in the car." Harry enters the room, soaked from the rain. A glum look on his face.

"Yeah," I answer, trying to smile at Mason who was connected to Harry's leg but I just couldn't get the muscles in my lips to move. I couldn't deal with all of this, I was still only a kid myself. "Where's Louis?"

"Getting things situated at our bodyguard's house. We decided to stay with him." He answers.

"Good."