How Are You? (Delena Fanfiction)

Chapter 18: The Dying Swan

"Stop crying!" "Shut up!" "Do you want the belt?" "Then shut up!" "If you slap me, I'll slap ten times harder!" "Fine!" "Take this!" He hit me. And before I knew, he had already ripped his belt from his jeans. He used it as a whip. He expected me to stop crying or screaming. He only made it worse. "SHUT UP!" "STOP SCREAMING!" "STOP CRYING!" "STOP!" "GODDAMNIT!" "YOU'RE A PAIN IN THE ASS" "SHUT UP!" "STOP SCREAMING!" "SHUT UP DEMI!" "DEMI!" "Demi!" "Demi?" "Demi are you okay? "Wake up"

She finally opened her eyes wide and shot upright. Sounds of pure panic left her throat. It scared me. She looked around, fully disorientated. She felt around, searching for something to hold onto. She looked right into my eyes. Those same traumatized eyes I saw when I met her for the first time. Yet now they were filled with tears and they were widened. Again, it dug right into my soul. I placed my hands on the sides of her upper arms and she immediately held onto my arms. Like a cat placing his nails in a pillow. Tears started to form in her eyes. I saw them rolling down her cheek slowly. I wrapped my arms around her and tried to hug her, but she sat stiffened. The only sign of life was her sobbing breath.

"Demi?" I started. She sniffed and wiped her tears away, yet they kept coming. "Was it your father again?" I pulled away from her since I knew she wasn't going to hug back. She looked at me. She nodded softly as if it was her fault. I got out of bed and grabbed a glass of water. Only now I noticed, after handing it to her, how much she shook. The surface of the water looked like a sea storm. She stared into the distance, not taking a sip whatsoever.

"Drink, Demi." She now carefully took a sip from the water, luckily it seemed to calm her down. I looked at the clock, it was 3:30 AM. After a short while, we both crawled underneath the blankets again. Demi's puffy eyes broke my heart.

"Can I do anything for you before you go back to sleep, honey?" I offered. She shrugged her shoulders. I stroked the hair behind her ear repeatedly. I hated to see her so sad. Still, all because of the past. When will it ever stop? I kissed her forehead. To my surprise, she leaned in and kissed me. Her lips were still salty from her tears. It literally left a bad taste in my mouth. I pulled away.

"Let's just try to sleep again shall we?" I suggested. She nodded softly and cuddled up to me again.

"I love you." She said.

"I love you too."

I woke up the next morning, greeted by the sunlight sneaking through the pink curtains. I turned around to snuggle up to Demi, but once I noticed that there was no presence sleeping next to me I stood next to her bed in a split second.

"Demi?" I looked around, in the bathroom, she was nowhere to be seen. I quickly checked the time. It was only 7.30 AM. My purse was gone as well, including my wallet and my cell phone. Did she steal my money and run away? Did she get kidnapped and did the criminal take my purse with him? I rapidly ran out of the room. She wasn't in the cafeteria, nor in Tania's room. She was nowhere to be seen. I felt massive and immense panic blooming in my chest. She's gone. She's gone! I lost her. I ran back to her old hut, maybe she made up a – which would, in the end, be logical – reason to go back there. I ran to her hut and checked the window of the door, but the hut seemed to have been taken by someone new. I quickly ran back, but before I opened the door out of the primary department, I heard a classical song coming from the yoga room. I quickly ran to the door and peeked through the window.

*
And there she was... Alive and well, in trance by the beautiful piece of music playing loudly in the room. The Dying Swan by Tchaikovsky filled the room up with images and colors. Melodies and peace. You could see it happening, for the girl was entranced by the sphere. She moved her arms and legs as if she was an actual ballerina. She managed to make it look amazing. Her face was without facial expression, yet it wasn't blank. Her eyes betrayed how deeply she was sunk in her own little world. Her own fantasy. Her face and the way her perfect body moved made me relax. I had seen the dance of The Dying Swan multiple times. And I knew, that she kneeled down just on the right moment, moved one leg to her back and lifted her arms like the wings of an actual swan. She nailed it, it looked amazing. I looked around and found my purse politely sitting on a chair near the audio mixer, with my phone resting on top of it, plugged into the boxes. She stole my stuff to enter her little world, how adorable. I watched the small woman softly dancing for another few minutes until, unfortunately, I had to break the magic.