Sweet Creature h.s au

Seven

Warning: Speaks about Sexual Assault

"Maybe we could be the start of something
Be together at the start of time"

Start of Time, Gabrielle Aplin

Ella

"I met Dom when I was sixteen, met him through this crowd I'd come to hang round'– stoner crowd if we're being specific. Everyone was a bit older, you know? And I was at that phase in my life where nothing mattered except defying my parents and just.. getting high," I fiddle with my fingers resting between our bodies nervously.

"Dom and I clicked– or so I thought, from like the first time we saw each other. Something drew me to him, had the whole bad boy persona, parents didn't like him– and for good reason, you know? What sane parent would allow their fifteen year old to roam free with a washed up, older, possible drug addict? But he-  the more I was with him, the more attached I was getting and he seemed to be reciprocating the feelings. Things were okay, though you know? He'd sometimes sneak in and I'd sneak out to see him, until one day I'd overestimated my mum's working hours and suddenly she was home and Dom was in my bedroom and it was all downhill from there," I take a deep breath, not even having reached half the story but already drained.

"Go on, baby, take your time," Harry soothes, pressing another kiss to the side of my head as he had been doing the entire time I'd been talking.

"They were angry, so angry, I had never seen them so disappointed in me. I was under constant supervision after that, made sure I was never home alone and came straight home from school. But it didn't stop us from seeing each other when everyone would go to sleep every night though. And one night, he climbed up my balcony and he had a duffle bag and next thing I know, I was packing my own. Was done with school, you know? Didn't have much to lose.. and he was- he was in such a rush, like he was running from something and I couldn't bare the thought of being away from him back then and so I ran.. with him,"  It wasn't easy reliving all these memories I'd kept buried in the back of my head, but something compelled me to tell him, something compelled me to trust him.

"We stayed at some crappy motel that night- fucking cliche was what it was. Before we'd left.. he- he made me break into my parents safe, told me to get some money to last on for a few and that he'd figure something out so I took a couple hundred dollars. Was willing to do anything for him. We struggled, I struggled but somehow he was bringing in money, told me he'd gotten a job and a few days later we were moving into some dingy apartment downtown with a couple of his friends,"

"It was still going okay considering the circumstances, we still had each other, I thought, you know? I missed my parents and my friends quite a bit but I was coping. He was there and I was coping. But one night, he comes home and he's high out of his fucking mind and it wasn't like I hadn't seen him high before but it was different this time. He was being a downright asshole, was calling me derogatory names and that night, he laid his hands on me for the first time," I shudder at the memory choking back a sob at how I could still feel his hands on me, hands curled into fists, reeking of cheap alcohol. I feel Harry's body go stiff at my words, nonetheless, still pulling my body closer to his as he wraps his arms around me in a tight hold as if he was shielding me from anything bad that would come my way.

"Fuck, you don't have to continue if you don't want to, yeah? I'd understand.." He whispers. I shake my head no before continuing, wanting to get this over with.

"It became a regular thing, I'd stay cooped up at the apartment all day while his friends would get high and smoke up, and he'd be out somewhere doing god knows what before he came home and the same thing would go down. But I stayed, I stayed because I had no where to go. Who's to say my parents wouldn't turn me away after what I'd done? So I stayed despite having to go to bed every night with bruises on my body,"