Breaking the Chains

Chapter Ten

The next morning felt awful for Riley. Her bruises were throbbing individually and all of her adrenaline was gone. She was feeling all of the pain full on and she couldn't help but wince whenever she moved. Her head was against Eli's chest and though he was sleeping, he had his arms around her. She let out a breath and felt exhausted and sore. And maybe there was some guilt there that she didn't want to look to.

She shifted a little bit and saw the older woman standing by the door with a worried look on her face. "Oh, you're awake." She whispered quietly and offered one of the kindest smiles Riley had seen in years. Riley sunk against Eli as she tried to smile back but felt the bruises on her face sting. "How are you feeling?" She asked, walking closer toward the two of them, even though one of them was fast asleep. She pulled up a leather chair in between Eli's bed and one of the others and sat on it to face Riley. The woman had closed the door to keep the others out of the room.

"Fine," Riley lied, feeling like she needed to. She felt shaky as well, and incredibly sore, but she didn't want to admit it. Riley secretly wanted Eli to wake up so she wasn't all alone but she knew he needed rest. She needed it too but she couldn't fall back to sleep even if she tried.

"You don't need to lie to me, you know," Nona said, a sad smile curling on her wise lips. "We're all honest here. I want you to know you can trust me." Riley nodded. It was the only thing she could do. What would she even tell the woman? That she'd rather be dead than dealing with all of this? If only Alison had killed her when she was given the chance. The woman let out a gentle breath, knowing all too well that the girl wasn't going to speak. "I'll go make you some soup. Try to lie down and relax, okay dear?" Riley nodded and tried to smile at the woman as she walked out of the room. When the door closed behind her with a slight click, Eli's eyes popped open and he quickly looked around.

"Ri-" He saw her last second and rested his head gently on his pillow, relaxing a bit. He looked at her face and saw just how bad the bruises had gotten. He let out a breath and felt his own body sting. He closed his eyes tightly but he knew it couldn't be worse than what Riley was feeling. He looked back toward her and sat up slowly, holding her close to him. "We should probably clean you up."

"W-what?" Riley asked, shocked. She shook her head, feeling shy about the idea and scared. No one had purposely tired to help her for several years and it felt like a foreign thing to her. "No. I'm fine," she said after a moment, curling the blanket around her tightly, even though it made her wince from the movements.

Eli frowned and shook his head. "Come on. There's a bathroom just around the corner." He smiled hopefully but Riley just shook her head, looking down. "I don't want you to get infected cuts," Eli added, standing now. Riley looked up to him for two seconds before reluctantly nodding, though she was terrified to be touched. Eli gently picked her up the way he did before and cradled her as he brought her to the bathroom. People were all walking around and to Eli's luck, the bathroom was empty. He went inside, sat Riley on the closed toilet and closed the door behind them and locked it to make sure no one would just barge in.

"Mm," Riley hummed, looking around and though she was with Eli and only Eli, she felt nervous. She felt as though he was going to hurt her just like Alison did. She was scared that he was going to punish her. When Eli took a small step toward her, she jumped and curled slightly, scared for the impact of his fist.

"Riley," he whispered gently and knelt beside her. "It's okay. You're safe. Nothing is going to hurt you anymore. Just trust me." Riley hummed as she very slowly uncurled herself and looked at Eli. He smiled before walking to the sink beside her. "Now I'm just going to get a cloth and soak it so we can get you cleaned up." Riley nodded reluctantly and pressed her hands against her closed eyes. She felt the little burn it caused and shut her eyes tighter. She hadn't gotten much sleep.

Eli yawned as he soaked the old grey cloth in his hands. It had gotten older over the years and though it was grey, it was once a pearly white. Eli glanced toward Riley with worried eyes before he turned off the faucet and brought the cloth closer to her. "Pass me your arm," he said gently, almost too quiet for himself to hear. She slowly brought her arm toward him and he dripped some of the water on her. Riley tensed before he touched the cloth on her forearm. "It's okay. We just need to get you cleaned up." He looked up toward her face and gave her a soothing smile.

She was wearing a filthy tank top and her arms were covered with scars. Eli knew that there were bruises all over her body and knew that she'd need to take off her shirt just for him to get to them, but he started off easy with the arms and her neck, which had thick nail indents and dried blood and scars.

He touched her elbow with the cloth and she squinted her eyes tightly and bit her tongue. Eli frowned and kissed her shoulder gently as he brought the cloth away and dripped some water on her elbow to get it soothed before dabbing the cloth on it again. Her elbow was raw and dirty with grime. He frowned when her fingers began to twitch into fists. "It's okay," he said gently, trying to calm her as best as he could. "I know it hurts but we need to clean it up."

"It would've been fine," Riley said through gridded teeth as Eli took the cloth away. Her eyes opened just a bit before the cloth began to drip on her cuts all over her arm. She shut her eyes again and tried not to make any sound.

"They would have gotten infected," Eli said gently as he continued to clean her right arm.

Riley was closing her eyes as tightly as she could, feeling the sizzle like feeling the cloth brought to her raw and beaten skin. Eli continued to keep wetting her arm before dabbing it with the cloth. She felt like she had just gotten out of a shower before she felt the sting. When that arm was done, he wrapped in in a white fabric bandage.

But the pain continued when he moved on to her other arm. There were deeper cuts and scars on it and when the water ran down her shoulder and the cloth pressed on her elbow, she winced and held in a whimper. Eli pressed lighter on the elbow after she moved but he didn't pull away.

"Other arm will be done soon," he whispered gently in her ear as he continued. Riley was trying hard not to shake, remembering how she would react when Alison came to beat her. Riley had tried to seem like she couldn't feel pain, but somehow everything got worse until she couldn't hide it anymore. A tear gently fell from her right eye and she felt the drop travel down until it fell from her chin.

Nearly immediately Eli stopped. He took the cloth away from her elbow and plopped it into the water filled sink. He knelt down in front of Riley and wiped the tears off of her cheeks. Riley slowly opened her eyes and then closed them again. Eli saw the storm full of tears in her eyes before she closed them and let it rip. Eli frowned deeply as he gently pulled her into him.

"Shh," he breathed out as she pressed against him. "I know it hurts." He said again as he felt her tears soak his filthy black shirt covered chest. Eli closed his eyes tightly as he felt just how badly she was shaking. "We need to clean you up though." Riley just shook her head as she began to sob harder. She was hardly making any noise, however. Eli assumed it was because of the countless years of being locked away but he wasn't sure. "Riley," Eli whispered softly, feeling her name roll off of his tongue. He would have grinned if it wasn't an emotional moment. "Look at me."

Riley sniffed and shook her head until he said it again. "Look at me," he said a bit more gentle than he did previously. She let out a careful breath before she looked up toward him. The first thing she saw was his eyes. The same eyes she stared into back in the cell. Her tears continued to fall down her cheeks but the smallest of smiles curled on her lips as she stared at them, looking toward his left after a few seconds at the right.

"You're strong," he spoke so soft that she almost didn't hear him. "You've dealt with this for too long and I want to help you." Eli looked into her eyes with care and strength. His eyebrows were more narrow than before. "It hurts to see you cry," his voice broke from the nearly silent whisper. "It hurts to see you in pain." Riley still had tears coming down her face, and Eli began to feel his eyes fill with the salty water. "It's going to be okay." Riley nodded very slowly before Eli looked down to her lips for the quickest second before going back up to her eyes. "Do you trust me?" He asked quietly after several moments of comfortable silence. Riley made the slightest up and down movement with her head before Eli leaned in to crush the few inches of space between them.