Running From Him (ManxMan) ✔️

Chapter 24: The Steps Of A Breakdown

🏃‍♂️Clark's POV🏃‍♂️

I did not take the news well. Actually, saying that I was "okay" after hearing that is an over exaggeration. It underrates my mental state and saying something like that in this situation could be deadly. Maybe I am being dramatic. But with how I am acting now, it is impressive that I am even able to think.

The first thing that I did after Mason told me that, was scream. I screamed so loud for so long, that by the time they finally got me to quiet down, my throat hurt from my abuse. They had tried to hug me, shake me, pick me up off of the floor, and wipe my violent tears away.

But I had continued to scream.

The second thing that I did was bang my fists on the floor and pull my shirt. I couldn't stand the pain of my situation, or the pain that was exploding from my throat, so I tried to do something that would hurt even more, I tried to release my frustration. I did this even while my friends tried to hug me and touch me, but I didn't see them, all I could see was Kevin's smirk.

I also hoped that my fists would punch through his image.

It didn't work.

The second thing that they did was look up. It was Friday evening and Mason's parents were both home. I guess when they heard the thumping and screaming they had run up the stairs. Mason stood up to explain what had happened, and I continued to scream, continued to fuss, continued to break down.

The first thing that Mason's parents did was try to call an ambulance. But Mason hadn't let them. So, helped in trying to pin me down. To stop me from banging the floor and hurting myself.

The third thing that I did was sob. At first, my sobs accompanied my screams, and the breaks in between the screams were done to allow a hiccup to pass through. Then, slowly, the sobs started to replace the screams more and more until I was simply crying, and all five of the people around me were either hugging me or rubbing my back.

That was when I started to become more conscious of my actions, and that was the moment when I wondered which was better. Screaming, or crying. Both showed that I couldn't handle it, the news of Kevin's presence. But one showed my anger while the other showed my fear. I was scared. I didn't want anyone to know but now everyone knew.

I was scared of Kevin, and I wasn't strong enough to fight him.

The third thing that I did was fall asleep. I don't what they did when I fell asleep then, but I woke up in their guest room, with Ethan sitting on a chair next to my bed.

When Ethan saw that I was awake, he rushed to my bedside and touched my cheek.

"Are you alright?" He asked quickly, his voiced rushed and panicked. Seeing my present while being afraid of my past was too much for me at that moment. So I cried again. And Ethan hugged me the entire time.

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The following days were unlike any I had spent in Toronto. For one, it became hard to leave the house. For most of my time in the city, I was excited for every morning simply because I could go out and see more of it.

Recently, it felt like a burden to leave at all. I wanted to lock the door, fall under my covers, and only view the world from the tiny screen on my phone.

My friends only saw me from my place. I used to try to go to their houses as much as possible, but now that there was a threat of Kevin being around. I hoped to not let him get more information on where my friends lived or access to expensive neighbourhoods.

I knew that they wanted to tell me that I was going overboard, but they were scared of how unstable I was, how fragile I was, and of what would happen if I broke. The most jarring moment, was when Santiago had shown up at my house.

I hadn't cried at all that day, I was feeling quite strong and instead of sadness, felt a fear that urged me to stay strong enough to watch out for my ex-boyfriend. The doorbell had rung suddenly shortly after I got home and my heart started to pump with adrenaline. Fight or Flight, and I really wanted to run. But I was home, there was nowhere else to go.

Ethan would be home in an hour, but he wasn't home now. I was alone, and vulnerable to Kevin mental or physical attack.

I shuffled slowly to the door, my hands shaking slightly at my sides. I was close to the door when it rang again and I jumped from surprise. Finally, after a few more moments, I opened the door. There stood Santiago, preparing to leave from the way that his body was turned away. But, the taller man stopped when he saw me standing there, shaking with my eyes wide from fear.

Those same fearful eyes relaxed from relief but Santiago had already seen it, he had already seen how bothered I was. Without a seconds hesitation, he walked into the Condo, closed the door, and wrapped his long arms around me, pulling me into his chest.

If I was alright, I would have fought. I would have asked him why he was suddenly doing this and demanding that we come to an agreement before we hugged like this, but I was too shaken and too . . . needy to turn my friend away. So I clung to his shirt and cried.

After I had calmed down, Santiago forced me to tell him why I was so upset and what had all of our friends on edge. The twins and Mason were the first to know, and they probably told Daniel because he knew where I came from, so I wasn't surprised that Santiago caught wind of something. He was probably still hanging out with them and noticed that they were acting oddly.

It was a bit hard, but I told Santiago everything that day. Every big event and incident that stuck out to me and acted as the signs that I didn't notice before it was too late. Santiago had listened avidly and the only sign of him losing his composure was the tick in his jaw and clenching of his fists. Everyone that I had met in Toronto had been angry when I explained, so it wasn't new to see it. But I still appreciated the sign of him caring as if he was the first.

We never talked about us that day, never discussed Santiago's feelings or how that fell in with my relationship with Liam. Santiago just assured me that everything would be fine, even though I didn't believe him.

Now, the only person that I hadn't told was Liam. The two of us still texted every single day, it seemed as if he hadn't caught shift of a change in me despite my texts becoming shorter and less in depth. The only worrying thing was that he wanted us to hang out again, and there were a thousand things wrong with that.

But I wanted him to think that everything was normal. That I wasn't finding it hard not to stay holed up in my room and away from the world where Kevin could get me. That I wasn't breaking down into the person that I was before I left him, and my family.

So I agreed and prayed that Kevin hadn't already found me. Prayed that Kevin wouldn't follow us and find out that I was "cheating on him", as he would think. Prayed that he wouldn't try to deal with the threat like he always promised me he would. I prayed that somehow, I could keep Liam out of this.

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Hey everyone!

How are you all doing this fine Sunday morning?

I hope that this more *cough* depressing Chapter doesn't ruin your mood. It would probably sound weird to say that I enjoyed writing this Chapter but I really like that we're getting into the drama!

Anyhow,

How do you think Santiago felt as he was told everything about Kevin?

How do you feel about Clark's decision to keep it from Liam?

What do you think Kevin is planning?

Is he even planning anything?

Anywho,

Vote, Comment, Share, Follow, anything else you can do with this story and I will see you next Chapter.bye!!!👋🏾👋🏾👋🏾