Love Thy Neighbour *editing*

"And I'll never leave you."

Declan was a murderer. And Auntie Francis still wanted to be with him. Would that mean, when I told Niall about Denny, he would still want to be with me? I mean, I was damaged goods. I had let Denny walk all over me and I still had all of the scars to prove it. But there was small part that hoped that Niall wouldn't care. And then there was another part which could only imagine his reaction. What if he just decided that it was too much baggage? And now that Denny was back in the picture, would he be so willing to get involved with me, even if it was for the baby's sake.

We were lying in my bed. The room was dark and the rest of the house was silent. Cars raced nosily up and down the road outside, and I could hear the jeers of drunken chavs from the street corner. I had my back to Niall, staring at the moon out of my window. He was breathing against the back of my neck, slow and steady. I hadn't been sleeping well recently; it was funny how it went from one extreme to the other. There seemed to be too many things going through my head at the same time, creating a mind block. It was okay for Niall; he slept so peacefully. I was jealous of him. Not just for the extra sleep he seemed to get.

All of a sudden, Niall took a deep sigh and I knew that he was awake. We lay in silence for a moment before he slipped his hand up the back of my top and ran his fingers over my back. I shivered and, for a second, I thought that he knew that I was awake. But he just kept stroking my back, over the scars I had done so well to hide. He must have seen them countless times but he'd kept his mouth shut, waiting for me to bring them into the conversation. He kissed my head, breathing into my hair.

"I won't let this happen to you again," he whispered. I didn't know if he had meant for me to hear it but now that I had, I felt an even bigger obligation to let him know about my past. But how to go about it? This wasn't like telling him I thought I was pregnant, where I could so easily have walked away. Now, there were bigger stakes. I didn't mean to be melodramatic, truly I didn't, but Denny was messed up. How he had got out of prison was beyond me because he still had several screws loose from the looks of it.

Seeing him in the alley had brought it all back; the lying, the hurt, the covering up marks. I remember Sian noticing the bruises around my neck from when he tried to strangle me. I told her that Tommy had done it. For weeks after, she had refused to come over in case Tommy was still going through his neck phase. And, what it had brought back, stronger than ever, was the pure hate that I felt for him. It was just pure undiluted loathing. No love. I don't think that I had ever loved him; it was just...schoolgirl infatuation that got out of hand. There had been no love involved. You don't beat the person you love senseless, just because they came to your house ten minutes late. I wasn't actually sure that Denny was capable of love. Mind you; what was love? That was age old question that I sure wanted to know the answer to. To me, love was being there not matter what. Love was...kind and calm; no violence or anger. Love was something much coveted by people who didn't want to live in the real world. But the harsh reality was that love, unfortunately, was cruel. It chewed you up inside and then spat you back out without so much as a second glance. It was almost as if, love didn't really exist unless you were prepared to fight for it.

And I was fed up with fighting.

After a while, I fell into fitful sleep, where demons and Denny danced together in flames, shouting and screaming at me. They clawed at my skin and they spat on my face, screeching at me. I tried to run but they chased me into the darkness. Trees snagged at my clothes, ripping material and skin. I was shouting for help but none would come.

I was completely alone in a world where I was hated.

"Evie!" I opened my eyes so fast that it was a wonder that they didn't roll right back into my head. Niall was sitting up next to me, a fearful expression on his face. Light streamed in through the window, indicating that I had slept until morning at least. I turned to looked at Niall, panting.