Breaking the Chains

Chapter Eleven

Eli slowly brought his lips away from her's after a few seconds. He took in a slow breath and look at Riley's eyes as she opened them. She gave him a little smile as she looked down shyly, playing the her hands that rested in front of her. Eli smiled at her, watching her movements with care before he gently picked her up and plopped her on the marble counter.

"Let's finish this up," he whispered gently as he pulled the cloth out of the water and looked at Riley. She gave a nod, indicating that she was ready as her face slowly went pale. Eli immediately felt guilty but he knew he had to do it. He went back to the unfinished arm and dripped the water on all of the cuts gently. "Does it feel nice?" He asked, looking at her with a careful concern. She nodded even though her eyes were locked shut. He gave her a moment before dabbing all of the cuts with the cloth. He watched her wince and knew that he couldn't stop her from feeling the pain. Eli breathed out before grabbing another roll of the white fabric bandage and wrapping her arm up. "Another arm done. Now for the back and stomach." Riley opened her eyes hesitantly. Fear was locked in them.

"They will be fine," she said shyly, looking away from him almost immediately.

"Riley," he said quietly, gently bringing one of his hands toward her face. He gently ran his fingers down her cheek. "I can get Nona to help if you want." Riley immediately shook her head and snapped her head back to Eli.

"No," she said quickly, not caring that she said with in a normal voice. "I," she started and looked down. "I trust you," she whispered gently and kept her head down.  Eli frowned and brought her head up gently with his two main fingers.

"Okay," he said gently. "Take off your shirt," he said quietly. Riley looked at him for a moment, studying his face before she nodded. She grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head. Eli frowned and the only colour he saw on her delicate skin was purples, blues and dark greens. There were gashes and nail prints all over her stomach and Eli sucked in a breath. He looked up to Riley's face and frowned deeply, but when she saw his frown, she looked down and sighed. "I-I'm going to kill her," Eli said through gridded teeth. He looked back to the sink and grabbed the cloth again.  He looked at Riley and he knew she was preparing for the pain. She was gripping the edge of the counter to the point where we're raw knuckles turned as white as an animated ghost.

He gulped and clenched his jaw before he pressed the cloth gently on her stomach. She sucked in a deep breath quickly and Eli nearly took the cloth away but knew he had to keep on. He squeezed the cloth to let the water drip into the cut and down to get to the other's.  He watched Riley struggle to breath as she gripped the counter as hard as she could. He moved to another part and then moved to all the others until he needed her to turn around. She carefully jumped from the counter and turned so that he was facing her back. He had to close his eyes for the quickest of moments.

Her back was full of long, thick scars and bruises of all colours decorated every inch. Dark dried blood was covering most of it but Eli knew that underneath it was just cuts. He moved it gaze up to her back neck and saw hand prints and nail prints. He took a gentle breath out as he dripped some water down from her neck to her back. She fidgeted as she gripped the counter. She was in horrible pain, and all Eli could do was try to finish it quickly.

He very gently dabbed all the dried blood away but when some of it didn't want to come off, he had to lightly scrub it. That was probably the worst moment for Riley. She grunted and he felt her tremble though she was gripping the counter as hard as she could. He felt like a kid who was witnessing a person getting tortured. "I'm so sorry," he whispered so quiet he could hardly hear himself.

Riley felt like she was being skinned. She tried her best not to scream out or fight, but occasional a little weep or cry escaped her throat. The cloth felt like daggers going into the countless cuts. She wanted to turn around and make it stop but she knew she couldn't. She knew she shouldn't. Instead, she kept as still as possible as she felt like she was going to pass out.

He dropped the cloth back into the sink and simply said "Done. I'm going to go get you a new shirt." Riley could only nod as she exhausted all of the air in her lungs into the air. The worst part was over. Now he had to clean her legs, which were bad but not the worst. She reached her hand to her other wrist and felt the cuff indents that were once there gone, though there was still scars for proof that it happened. Her breath was ragid and she couldn't come herself down no matter what she did.

After seconds of being in near silence, Eli was back and shut the door behind him. "Put this on," he said gently and handed her a black t-shirt. Riley nodded and slowly reached her arms up and let the shirt fall over her nearly naked torso. A strong whiff of Eli came into her nose and she couldn't help but breath it in deeper before she looked at him. He smiled and dropped the baggy grey sweats on the counter. "Let's do your legs," he said softly but guilt crossed his face. She nodded and hesitantly rolled down her pants.

The pants she was forced to wear for months were nearly glued to her legs. She clenched her jaw as she peeled it off of her thighs and calves. She nearly teared up before it fell down to her feet. The only thing left to do was kick it away, and that was what she did. She looked up and saw Eli take a breath out. She followed his eyes and looked down to her legs. It was a mess.

Her legs were so thin. Eli frowned so deep that he had to cover it with a hand. They were filled with bruises and cuts, just like the rest of her body. He kept on the frown as he grabbed the cloth and gently lowered on his knees to wash them. He dripped the water on both of her thighs so the water could slowly drip to her feet and get her legs fully wet. It didn't take long before Eli had to dab with his cloth.

Riley was reacting fine to her legs being lightly scrubbed from grime. Eli knew to keep her knees last, seeing how raw they were. He knew she was going to have troubles. He tried to take as much time to clean the rest of her legs but eventually he had no other choice but to do her knees.

"Take a deep breath," Eli ordered before dripping water on both of her knees. Her leg muscles tensed and he knew just that hurt. He closed his eyes tightly before gently pushing the cloth onto one of her knees. She winced but kept herself up. He took the cloth away and did the other for the same amount of time before he threw the cloth at the sink and handed her the sweats. "Put these on," he said quietly and leaned against the wall. She did as she was told and then Eli had only one other thing left to do. "Let's wash your hair."

The first colours that came out of her hair was red and black, the colours of dirt and blood. Eli gently ran his fingers through her hair before scrubbing in some of the conditioner that was left in the bathroom by the tub. Riley felt like this was the best part since she hardly felt much pain. She had to kneel on the floor with her head in the tub so the water could get only into her hair. It felt nice to have someone do it for her after years of not being able to have a shower at all.

"Does it feel nice?" He asked as he scrubbed her hair and rinsed. 

"Yeah," she said calmly as the water began to soak her face. She couldn't help but smile as she felt her hair get lighter. She could even smell the flower scent the conditioner had. "It smells good."

"I know," Eli said softly. "I'll be smelling it for the rest of the day." Riley giggled and that made Eli give a laugh. 

And then the only thing left to do was let her hair dry so he could brush it.