Let Yourself Fall // sequel to My Ethan Karpathy

Chapter 6.

ETHANS POV:

Paisley blacks out in my arms as I carry her home. I try and sneak my way quietly down the road, trying to stay out of sight. I take a quick glance down at Paisley and see how hurt she really is. It's not pretty, but she's still beautiful. She's still beautiful with a bloody and bruised face. When I eventually make my way back to the house, sneak around the back and unlock the back door carefully, carrying Paisley inside. I'm just inside the back door and about to head up the stairs when I hear a voice.

"Why didn't you do what I said!?" Holly yells from the lounge room. She's been really grumpy lately.

"Shhhh," I warn her, trying not to wake Paisley.

"No! I asked you to stay!" Holly argues.

"Well, if I stayed, Paisley would've been raped and kidnaped by now!" I tell her. This shuts her up.

"Wait..what?" Holly asks, Her time softening. She's still in the lounge room but I'm now in the doorway. She looks up to see Paisley's limp figure in my arms.

"Is she wearing your shirt?" Holly asks, noticing I'm shirtless.

"Yeah." I reply.

"Where's her clothes?" Holly asks.

"The man tore them off." I reply. I'm still a little shaken. Actually, a little!? I'm a lot shaken.

"Oh my god," Holly says, starting to cry as she takes Paisley from my arms.

"Oh my god, oh my god." Holly repeats over and over again as she lays Paisley down on the floor, brushing her hair out of her face.

"Ethan, can you please get me a warm, damp towel?"

"Sure," I say, walking to the bathroom and wetting the hand towel with warm water.

I take it out to Holly. She has this little blue plastic bottle and is dabbing the towel on it. She then begins to clean up Paisley's face of blood.

"All the years of removing make up has come in handy." She explains.

After an hour, and three new towels, we manage to clean Paisley up enough without waking her. I scoop her still sleeping body up and cradle her close to me, like I don't want to be apart from her ever again. I carry her up to her room and turn on her lamp, lay her down and study her closer in the lamplight. Now the blood is gone, I can see the bruises on her face, arms and the back of her thighs. My shirt goes just past her ass but she's wearing bike shorts. My shirt looks pretty good on her to be honest. I can see the still trickling red cut lines made by nails and the knife the man was holding. One particular one catches my attention. It goes right from the back of her knee, up the back of her thigh and keeps going up past the line of the tshirt. It seems like he scratched her while trying to get her skirt off. I kiss her forehead gently and turn off her lamp. As I go to leave the room, she lets out a small whimper in her sleep. I turn around to look at her and see she's crying. All of a sudden she bolts upright, like She remembered something horrible. I guess I know what. She's breathing heavily and bawling her eyes out, not even quietly. It's loud, painful sobbing.

"Ethan..-help" Paisley bawls.

"Baby, baby, please. Shhh, it's going to be okay. I promise." I tell her, literally sprinting, jumping next to her and pulling her into me from behind. She turns around so she's sobbing into my bare chest.

"I can't stop remembering." she cries.

"I know Paisley, but it will be okay. I'm here." I assure her, stroking her hair and holding her head close to my chest.

We lay there for a long time, Paisley just sobbing the entire time, never stopping. I just hug, kiss and hold her close. That's all she wants right now. She doesn't want to talk. I didn't even realise how late- or early it was until I saw the faint Orange glow of sunrise through the gap in the curtains. Paisley's sobbing has almost stopped, and I know she's crying herself to sleep. I can tell because every now and again her arms loosen her incredibly tight grip around my waist. When I'm sure she's asleep, I snuggle down into the covers, hold her close, and fall asleep myself. I guess there's no school today for me or her, this is going to be a stressful, painful, hectic few weeks.