Naomi wasn't sure how it got to this point. Heck, she didn't even remember what she and Declan had been fighting about. It was probably something trivial, something not worth the hurtful insults and loud yelling that had been coming from both of them. But none of that mattered, because it happened anyways, and now they were here, both of them as agitated and frustrated as the other.
Despite his dangerous appearance and slightly impulsive tendencies, Declan was the most patient person in the world when it came to Naomi. He knew about her history with... well, people in general. And not just her bullies.
He knew that she had been mistreated and hurt by all the people who were supposed to love her.
He knew about her parents, how she would come to school in the morning, tired, upset, and despite her bullying, afraid to go home after crying herself to sleep the night before during one of their angry episodes. "Nobody should be afraid in their own home," he thought to himself. But Naomi was. She'd go home hoping her parents would be in a good mood that day so she could avoid the yelling, the thrown objects, the harsh insults, and much too frequent slaps or hair pulling. She hated it. She hoped, even prayed for her parents to just ignore her. She hated how she was a prisoner, a victim in her own home. She hated how her parents could hurt her, taunt her, drive her absolutely crazy until she was pulling at her own hair and screaming into her pillow in frustration as tears streamed down her cheeks, and she can't do anything about it or else she's always accused of being in the wrong.
He knew about her past boyfriend, Bryce, and how he had almost completely destroyed her. He knew about how he'd threatened her life were she ever to leave him. He knew about how Bryce had manipulated and brainwashed her until she wasn't even herself anymore, until she was just a servant in her own home, only there to do what he wants. He knew about how he would leave her on the floor, bleeding, tired, and unable to get up as she both yearned and feared with a tear stained face for a presence that was all too familiar. He knew about how he had taken advantage of her and forced her, with threats and fear, to do so many despicable things while she cried and begged him to stop. He knew about the time he had been drunk enough to aim a gun at her head when she had tried to call somebody for help after one too many times of whipping her with the metal part of his belt.
It always killed him inside, the knowledge that he and his friends had shut Naomi out, thinking that she was ignoring them and instead spending all her time with her boyfriend, when all she needed was somebody to realize that her tired eyes weren't from a lack of sleep, her small voice wasn't from a sore throat, and her hands weren't shaking from the cold. He'd forced her to retreat from the world, to become a shell of herself, to allow him to take over every inch of her life until there was barely even any room for herself. Maybe, had Declan just stopped to ask himself why she was changing so much, had he just stopped to ask himself why she's suddenly so sad all the time, why she's always tired, why she never eats anymore despite her stomach's low rumbles saying otherwise, why she always seems to be waiting for something bad to happen, he would have been able to help her sooner. Maybe, had he just given her a second of consideration instead of ignoring her thinking she had started ignoring him first, there would be one less scar on her back, she would have cried a few less tears, he would have never gotten the chance to aim that gun at her. But he never thought about it. Instead, he let his bitter ideas consume his mind, and he dismissed it as her simply choosing her boyfriend over her best friends.
After a year of living like that, she did it. She finally left him. No more dismissing the idea as crazy. No more saying she's going to leave, then feeling quitting with the biggest feeling of guilt when she sees him crying as he makes her out to be the bad guy. She finally left him, ignoring the punch to the gut she felt when she saw him crying over her, because God knows that he had left her crying on the floor more than a few times. Despite having nobody to support her, nobody to go to, and nowhere to go, she gathered the courage to leave. She was fearing for her life, not knowing whether he would come for her and make her pay, she was nearly broke, save for a few dollars that she had saved and kept hidden so he wouldn't take them from her, too, with the excuse that "he can already pay for everything she needs himself," and she was tired, but she did it. While other people thought it was inspiring, Declan only felt sickened by the fact that, because of him and his friends, she had to go through it like that. There's nothing inspiring about fearing for your life and feeling like the bad guy as you walked to your used-to-be friends house because, despite the hatred they now held for you, they were still the best person to go to because you're pretty sure everybody else hates you more. In her own mind, she deserved everything that happened to her. In her own mind, she was completely alone.
