Demi Lovato Imagines

Truth pt.3

TW

"He did this to you?"

Your sister nods her head up and down mechanically. As if she's accepted the fact that she has lost her secret. 

"Wha-..." you don't know what to say next. All your thoughts are jumbled and you can't get a proper hold on a single one of them. Eventually, you say the only thing that makes sense. 

"Tell me what happened."

It wasn't a request or a question. It was a demand. You weren't playing around - Why. The fuck. Are you going back to him then, huh? Answer me that, Demetria! Because it doesn't seem like the smart thing to do from my perspective!

You didn't say any of this though. You just watched as Demi's eyes glaze over and she begins to stare into space.

"Demi?" you snap, maybe a bit too forcefully, giving her a jab to the side with your elbow. 

As soon as you do, you can hear her breathing pick up and see her body start to squirm uncontrollably.

"Demi!" you whisper-shout, immediately suffering from the rush of guilt that washes over you. Your sister has been beaten up! And all you can do is incriminate her for it?!

Crouching down in front of her, you take both her resisting hands in yours, rubbing soft circles in her clammy palms. You remember watching your mom do this years ago when Demi was in the grips of her anxiety. You remember being at the top of the stairs, peering through the spindles at the scene so as to not get blamed for upsetting your sister. Again. 

"It's alright. It's alright," you repeat as a sort of mantra. But she doesn't seem to hear. Or if she does, she doesn't believe it, because soon enough, the sound of her harsh choking fills the closed room. 

"Oh my God - okay, okay - let's get you into the bathroom, okay? Come on..."

Wrapping your arms around her shoulders, you haul her uncoordinated form up from the bed and pull her through to her en-suite. At first, you were just wanting another door to block the noise between you and your parents - but only after stepping into the linoleum-clad room, do you recognise the deja vu. This is the room Demi brought you after Wilmer raped you the second time. This is where she told you everything was going to be alright after you were ripped to shreds by that man. It could almost be comical how similar the situation now is.

"That's it...good girl," you soothe as she hobbles into the bathroom. You just need to calm her down, then you can concentrate on interrogating her. You can't do that if she passes out right here on the floor!

"Shhh...just sit down," you say, pressing down on her shoulders and getting her to buckle down onto the tiles. You can tell she's trying to keep quiet as well by the way her sobs are getting caught in her own throat. You know she is trying to keep it together. Maybe she's doing it for your sake? 

Sitting down behind her, you position her between your outstretched legs, letting her lean back against you. Stroking back the damp hair that had fallen on her face, you sway back and forth, hoping it would get her breathing back on track. 

"Shhh...just relax, Dems, I've got you...you're safe..."

After several minutes, you notice her inhaling and exhaling in time with you, your bodies moving in sync on the ground. 

"There we go," you whisper, "just keep breathing, alright? I'm going to get a cloth..."

Getting up from behind her, you lean her against the side of the bathtub before reaching up to one of the cupboards to grab a small towel. Soaking it in cool water under the tap, you kneel down in front of her again, dabbing gently at her face. Apologising softly as she winces, you try to clean up the streaks of blood that have dried on her skin. Her eyes droop every so often as her head lolls against the white tub.