Secrets » Luke Hemmings

Chapter 4

S E C R E T S

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ELENA'S POV — trigger warning.

I wake up in the middle of the night and slowly shift, trying not to wake up Iris, who's arms are wrapped around me loosely. I sit up, my breathing heavy. I find myself covered in sweat. I dreamt about one of the few times my father almost killed me, literally. But in the dream, he actually did.

Beside me, Iris shifts and raises her head from the pillow. "El?" She asks softly, her eyes slowly blinking open. I look over at her and wipe my forehead, a bit of sweat built up on it.

"Yeah, Iris?" I ask, my voice quivering. Unfortunately, Iris always knows when I'm upset, so she shoots up and engulfs me into another hug. I bury my head into her neck and slowly let the tears slip from my eyes. I've never told Iris about all those times he tried to kill me, or almost did, but she's the only person in the world who knows a lot about my family besides my own family.

She lets out a short sigh, her hand moving in small circles on my back. "I love you," She tells me, "it'll all be okay. Hang in there, it was just a dream." I don't know how Iris always does this, but she somehow always knows when I'm upset about a dream and when I'm upset about reality. I'm convinced she has some sort of mind-reading super power that she can't tell anyone about because she'll be taken by the government. That would make a good movie, if it isn't already.

"I love you too. Can we go get some water?" I ask, stuttering over my words as I remove my head from my neck and face her.

"Yes, of course. Come on." She grabs my hand and helps me get off the bed so I don't fall or anything. When I'm standing up on my own without trouble she releases my hand and opens the bedroom door. I follow behind her down the hall and back down to the main level of the cabin. No one else is awake, but Miles and Luke lay asleep on the couch, the television still playing some show.

We pass through the living room and head to the kitchen, Iris being the first there. She grabs two glasses and fills them up. Once one is filled up, she hands it to me and takes the other one for herself. She glances over the bar to look at Miles curled up in a ball on the couch. I frown and pull her towards the door. "I need to talk about it," I tell her in a quiet voice, even though I don't want to I know I have to get her to stop staring at Miles. Now is not the time to be swooning.

I open the door to the patio and lead Iris out of the cabin. The air outside is fairly chilly and I stressfully run my hands through my thick locks of hair. "What do you need to talk about?" Iris asks, leaning against the side of the cabin and sipping her water.

"I'm just afraid of being rejected by Luke like how I was with my family. The only reason I could tolerate being rejected by my family was because I really didn't care for them or anything like that. They were dicks anyway. My sister, she was always at a friend's. My mom just chose to look away when my dad hit me. My dad, well you know what was wrong with him. But I actually care about Luke. What if he rejects me? How am I supposed to handle that?" Apparently I'm sounding distressed because Iris is looking at me with so much concern written on her face.

Iris thinks for a moment, looking out on the yard and then back at me. "Well the only thing I can think of to do is take a risk. Let him know how you feel, but not too soon. I mean, you could've misinterpreted the context. Friends can call each other babe sometimes. Oh, and besides, rejection happens. There's no way to avoid it, El. You have to remember that. This isn't the first time and it won't be the last."