Damaged beyond repair

Chapter 9

I frantically twist and turn my entire body, hoping to shake off Armand. Sadly, he is a lot stronger than I am and holds my wrists with a steel grip.

"Can't you just tie him up?" he asks Davey. He shakes his head.

"Just keep him still," he grunts. Armand grabs me by the hair and holds my head still. I can't spit out the sock they put in my mouth, not that screaming would help. No one ever came to help me. Davey holds out a peeler in front of me, one of those that kind of look like a razor blade. I panic and try to get away again, but there's no use.

"It's time to peel this little potato, don't you think?" Davey says. Armand just laughs. Davey places the peeler on my temple, and when he presses down, a sharp pain makes me forget all about my fear. I can feel my ear getting wet, but I barely register. I can feel the pain becoming too much, my stomach turning, but the sock in my mouth just causes me to choke on my own vomit. I can feel the panic growing and my lungs burning.

I shoot up straight and gasp for breath. A sharp pain makes me flinch, and my hand flies up to my temple. Only the scar remains. I'm safe in my own bed, I'm home, far away from all that misery. I'm safe. When I take a deep breath, and try to calm myself down, I notice the footsteps outside my door. Simone. She stands outside my bedroom door every night, listening to see if she has to wake me from my nightmares. I must have been screaming again. Thank god this was only a short nightmare, they usually last longer. I check my phone for the time, and see it's only 3 in the morning. I know I don't have to get up until 8, but I'm wide awake now. I sit myself down behind my painting and keep busy until I can feel my eyelids getting heavy. The painting is starting to look like something, but it's still too dark. I usually only paint with black and different grays, but those "colors" don't do her justice. It's just that I don't have many other colors. I decide to get some more colors tomorrow, I'll just stop by the paint shop. I'll just start a new painting. I stare at it for a little longer, then decide to go back to bed. I wrap myself in the blanket and fall asleep with the painting within sight.

The cold wind gives me chills. I want to wrap myself in the blanket even tighter, but there is no blanket. Only the hard bench beneath me. Tears stream down my face. I've been in this park for three days already, and I'm so hungry. I can't even move, frozen by the cold December winds. A touch makes me flinch, and I want to hide, but this time is different. Someone puts their hand on my arm, a warm hand. It doesn't hurt. I open my eyes, and stare into brown eyes.

"It'll be okay," a warm voice says. I slowly sink into a deep sleep and enjoy the warmth.

I blink my eyes slowly as I wake up from my dream. This was different. It started out as a nightmare, but it took an unexpected turn. I feel wonderful, completely rested. I stare into the same brown eyes from my dream, but they're not brown this time. They're gray. In that moment, I realize. Leilani. She touched me. My hand rushes towards the spot she touched in my dream, and my heart instantly starts pounding. She touched me. Panic tries to take over, but I don't let it. It was just a dream, it wasn't real. It was just a dream. This calms me, as it always does after one of my nightmares. It wasn't real, I am safe. My mind goes back to my dream, and I realize I didn't mind, I liked the dream. But then why do I panic as soon as I wake up? Was it that bad? I try to think about the touch again, but my heart starts pounding again. I decide to call dr. Nolan for an appointment.

When I hang up the phone, I check the time. I still have enough time until the appointment, so I decide to get those colors before I have to go. I get dressed quickly and leave for the store.