One Day

Part 1

His fists land on my body again and again. Hate distorts his beautiful face, and despite everything I just want to tell him that I was sorry. I had no reason to apologise. All I wanted was for him to stop.
"Is that what you wanted?! Is it?!" He pushes me so hard that my head slams against the brick wall in my back, I whimper in pain.
"Stop- please stop. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." He's so full of rage that he doesn't hear me, only fixated on hurting me.
"You lied to me all this time." His fist slams against my jaw. "Everything was a fucking lie." As I fall forward, his knee finds it's target in my stomach. "You're a bloody whore."
I grow tired, so tired. My head hurts so bad and my eyes sting from the blood in them, maybe I should close them for a bit.
Yanking me away from the wall and throwing me to the floor, I hear his heavy breaths. I didn't know who he was anymore. Not the man I'd fallen in love with last year.
His calloused fingers wrap around my neck, his whole weight pressing down on me. I try so hard to fight him, but my fingers can't get a grip on his arms, my vision gets blurry. Was this it? It's okay, I tell myself, just close your eyes.

I don't see the door being kicked in, don't hear Dean yelling my name or feel him throw my opponent off me, but suddenly I can breathe again. Cold, harsh air floods through my lungs, and it is heaven.

"Emilia?! God, please answer me sweetheart. Please please please." My eyes are so heavy and I'm so tired, but I force myself to open them again, aimlessly trying to find a thing to focus on. And there he is, tears running down his cheeks. I've barely seen him cry before. Did something happen? I want to ask. Is Ellie okay? Nothing comes out, just a dry wheezing. "Don't speak, it's okay. I got you, I'm here, I'm here. Liam can't hurt you anymore."

With a yelp I shoot up in my bed, sheets kicked off. A thin film of sweat covered my whole body. The door opens as Dean steps in, sorrow in his green eyes. "Are you okay?" I nod with a deep sigh. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just go back to bed, okay?" For a moment he just stands there in my doorway, knowing full well that I wasn't fine. I was far from it, but he knew damn well that I wouldn't talk about it.
Closing the door as he leaves again I wait a few moments before I heard his bedroom door close, then I turn to my nightstand and open the first drawer. It holds tons of pictures, but what I'm looking for is in the far back. A single piece of paper, crumbled from all the times I'd folded it. I thought I'd never be happy, and then I met you. You are the love of my life. Just two handwritten lines, and as I read them again it brings tears to my eyes. He'd written the note a month into our relationship, but he'd been shy about giving it to me. I found it when I cleaned out my things from our shared apartment, attached to a bunch of long dried roses in the back of our wardrobe. He'd never given it to me.

Three weeks since since Liam had flipped out on me, three weeks of nights tortured by the memory. I knew that I woke Dean up with my screams of terror every night, but I didn't know how to stop it. I didn't know how to forget him.