Nightmares ➳ Connor McDonough/ Before You Exit Fanfic { edited }

Ten

Gwen's POV

"A-are you sure. I understand if you don't want to tell me," he said, sounding very unsure and a little scared.

I really didn't want to tell him what happened, but something inside me is telling me to just do it. 

You have to let it out. It's going to make you feel better.

"Only if you tell me what had caused yours," I added and he started blinking rapidly. As if he was trying to blink back tears.

"Deal," he replied.

"Okay. Come one," I said, motioning for him to follow me to the elevator, but he just stood there looking confused.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Just trust me, okay?"

"Okay."

We both got in the elevator and once again it took forever until we arrived to the desired floor.

I got my car keys out of my pocket and started looking for my car.

I noticed Connor behind me shifting uneasily.

"How far is it?" he asked.

"About four blocks away."

"Can we just walk, I'm not really fond of riding cars," he said and I nodded slowly.

I put my keys back in my pocket and we started walking right in the middle of the deserted street.

I didn't quite understand why it was this empty and quiet, considering this is the busiest part of town.

Connor was walking beside me, his hands in his pockets and his eyes on his feet. His blonde bangs were covering one of his eyes, but he didn't bother brushing it away.

"Why didn't you want to drive to where we're going?" I asked, trying to break the silence.

"I'll tell you when we get to wherever we're going."

The silence was slowly suffocating me. All you could hear was some rubble that made crackling sounds as we walked.

I finally reached the familiar fence that separated me from the missing pieces in my family and I took a deep breath.

"We're here," I sighed and he looked up, reading the sign above his head.

"But this is a cemetery."

"Exactly."

I gently slipped my hand into his and I felt a cold breeze tickle my skin, but when I looked up the trees were completely still.

He didn't pull his hand back though. In fact, he held mine tighter.

I slowly led him through the maze of headstones until I reached the far end of the cemetery that no one ever really visits. No one but me

"I have a feeling that you've been here many times before," he said from beside me, our fingers still intertwined.

"More than you'll ever know."

I sat down cross-legged on the dead grass and he did the same.

"Connor, meet my parents," I said with a sad smile as I glanced at both of their names engraved in marble.

His jaw dropped and he gave me the most pitiful look that you could ever imagine.

"Please don't give me that look," I begged and at the same time I let go of his hand and placed both of mine in the pockets of my jacket.

"What look?"

"That pity look everyone gives me when I tell them my story. Just please stop it".

He looked at his hands and then placed his left one on my knee.

"So who goes first?" I asked.

"Lady's first."

I didn't understand how someone could still have a sense of humor in a place like this, but Connor was definitely different. He was something else.

He's practically everything you could ever want in a guy, but at the same time he's everything you'll ever hate in your entire lifetime.

"Well, I was about fifteen years old and it was around 10 pm. I was bringing Avery to her room because she didn't want to go to sleep. My parents were downstairs, watching a movie, and I was supposed to join them once I tucked in my sisters. That took longer than it should have, since they were being really stubborn that day. I was about halfway down the stairs when I heard a shriek."

I looked up from the grass to gaze at Connor. I just needed a sign of assurance, something that would help me continue my story. Then his eyes looked deep into my grey ones and I could feel an unfamiliar sensation in my stomach. I've read about this type of feeling in books, but I've always doubted that it existed, until now.

"I ran down the stairs and I saw a man in a black jacket, with the hood pulled over his head, holding a knife covered in blood and, at the same time, I noticed my dad lying down on the floor, motionless, surrounded by a pool of red liquid. Later, I discovered that it was a pool of his own blood. My mom's neck was in the man's grip. I looked into her eyes and they told me to hide so I ducked behind the sofa, but I was still watching. I watched as he suffocated her until she turned blue, and, once he let go she fell to the floor, completely motionless. Then the guy stabbed her right in the heart just to make sure she was really dead. While he wasn't looking, I reached out to grab the phone and I called 911 and I told them that there was a psycho in my house that had just killed both my mom and my dad, and within minutes I could hear sirens from outside. Weeks later they sentenced the guy to the death penalty and my sisters and I were declared orphans."

I didn't realize I was crying until Connor brought his hand up to my face and gently wiped a tear away with his thumb.

I just needed some comfort, so I hugged Connor and buried my face into the soft material of his jacket.

"My story isn't nearly as bad as yours, but here it goes," he said as I continued crying and he started rubbing small circles onto my back.

He told me his story and I honestly felt so sorry for him, but the last thing he would ever want me to respond with was pity.

"We have more in common than I thought," I said, once he was done, my voice barely a whisper.

"Yeah. Who knew?" he replied as he looked at me with his blue eyes. Just his stare alone could make me have that fluttery feeling and I could already tell what that meant.

I was starting to like Connor more than I ever should. I've had tons of experiences with my past relationships and all of them weren't even actual relationships. I never really loved them and they never really loved me, but here I was with Connor, in an old cemetery, talking about our most traumatic experience without the least bit of discomfort towards each other. We're barely even friends and yet we trusted each other.

I can't believe I'm letting myself fall, but the worst part is that I'm expecting him to catch me.

~

a/n: Forget what I said in the last chapter. You guys deserve an update right now, so here it is. I just seriously started writing this chapter half an hour ago. I don't know how I did it, but I did it.