Hers (Ruby Rose)

23| Karma?

THE SOUND OF the front door being slammed stirs me awake but I don't open my eyes until my own bedroom door opens. My body tenses and I nearly whimper.

I feel the mattress dip near my hip and a hand lays gently on the side of my face. Even that causes discomfort.

"Ellis? You awake?" Gemma squeaks. She sounds defeated. She definitely knows.

As soon as I open my eyes, my eyes water from my emotions. I see that Gemma is also crying, but she was crying way before me.

"I nearly died." I try to say but my voice is gone. All I can do is wheeze.

This makes Gemma burst out sobbing, holding her hand over her mouth.

I cry too, terrified about my lost voice and the marks across my neck. I also cannot forget the feeling of death. It had been so close. I could not breathe and I had felt like I was losing sensation in one body part at a time.

Gemma searched for her phone with shaky hands, pulling it out from the back pocket of her jeans. "I'm calling the cops-"

"No!" I screeched but it was barely audible. I coughed, cringing at the sharp pain in my throat.

Gemma's eyes widened. "Are you fucking with me? Ellis, he can't get away with this!" Gemma screamed out in frustration. I knew that now was not the right time to be stubborn.

I spoke slowly. "I forgave him." I managed to say. "I said some awful things to him."

"That's how it starts. You forgive and they they end up doing it again and again until-"

"He won't do it again because that's the last time I'll see him."

She remained silent for a few seconds, staring at me with a blank expression. She seemed to have given up.

"Promise?"

"Yes."

Gemma rolled her eyes and leaned forward, her elbows agains her knees. She held her head in her hands.

"At least let me take you to the hospital."

"IT WAS A pretty bad accident. I didn't have my seatbelt on." I croaked as the doctor gently forced my chin up to take a better look at the markings. I tried not to look at Gemma, who looked like she could burst out the truth at any moment. She was pleading with her eyes.

"I can give you something for your throat, but you will have to wait for the bruises to clear up on their own. You don't seem to have sustained any injuries anywhere else, which is lucky." She said, pulling her gloves off and turning her back to us.

Gemma knew that if she said something I would never forgive her. I had told her to mind her own business, and that she did not know the full story. I realized that I deserved what I got, especially after saying those horrible things to him. Not to mention the fact that I tried using him for sex. He was not a violent guy, he just loved me so much that I completely crushed his heart.

I was relieved to find out that the doctor believed my excuse- a car crash that resulted in me being flung forward and hitting my neck against the steering wheel. To feel less guilty about the lie, I told myself that if Rylan did anything ever again, I would confess.