Her Escape, His Safe Haven

Chapter 52- I Was Starting To Think You Were Inhuman

AN: I think I want a new cover. The one I have now is actually a photo of myself from high school. I would love it if you guys could create a cover. I'd like to post all the options (and of course give everyone their due credit) If you feel you'd like to create a cover feel free to message me and I can either send you my insta or something so you can DM it to me. 

Athena's POV

He's dead.

Kyle Marsden is dead.

The man that has tortured me my entire life is gone. 

And he stabbed my boyfriend. 

Eli is in surgery right now. The knife severed some of the nerves in his arm so he's heaving that repaired right now. The doctor assured me he'd be fine, so I'm doing my best not to have a panic attack right now. Especially because Eli seems to be the only one that can calm me down during one.

Holy shit. It's over. It's dones. He's gone. I can breathe. 

I'm free. 

I felt myself smile involuntarily. I should probably feel bad, I mean the guy died, but I can't force myself to feel even the tiniest bit guilty or upset.

"Athena!" Charlie shouted coming into the waiting room. "What happened?" He asked frantically.

"Kyle. He broke into the house. I don't know how.  I called the police while Eli went to see what was happening. He I guess broke into Eli's room. I heard yelling and then the next thing I knew he was there in my room with me. He had a knife. He wanted me to be afraid, but I don't know.. I wasn't. I didn't know Eli came back into the room until he was jumping between Kyle and me. He was able to knock him down, but he got back up and tried again. The cops showed up and Kyle attacked one last time, before he was shot. He managed to stab clear through Eli's arm. I don't know. It all happened so fast." I told him recalling the night's events. "He's okay though. I think he was in shock or something though. He didn't even know." I tried to reassure.

"Are you okay?" He asked looking at me with wild eyes. 

"Oh yeah. I'm fine. He didn't touch me." I told him with a shrug of my shoulders.

"That's not what I meant Athena." He said giving me a strange look.

I looked at him for a moment trying to decipher how I'm actually feeling. I'm searching for the smallest sign within myself that I'm not okay. "As long as Eli is okay, then I'm fine. I'm glad he's gone to be honest. It feels, final you know?" 

"I probably shouldn't be, but I'm glad he's gone too." Charlie said finally plopping down in the chair beside me. "I'm sure Eli will be fine." 

"I hope so. They said the knife tore up some of his nerves so they're back there fixing him up. He has bruised ribs and a small cut on his shoulder too. He only needed two stitches for that. So that's good..." I trailed off awkwardly. "I'm sorry I got your son hurt Charlie. I'd give anything to undo it and switch places with Eli."

"First of all, sweetheart, you did not hurt Eli, this is not your fault. Second of al even if you were able to go back in time do you really think Eli would have let you trade places with him? I don't think you understand what it does to him when he sees you in pain." 

"Oh believe me, I know. I am freaking out a bit up here." I pointed to my head "Remember the homecoming game? And he was knocked out by that idiot?" I asked and he nodded with a questioning look on his face. "When was lying there unmoving on the field I felt like like my heart stopped. I couldn't breathe, and it wasn't like when I have panic attacks. It was like I didn't want to breathe until I knew he was okay. I think I ran faster that day than I ever had in my life. I don't know what I thought I was gonna do, I just knew I had to get to him."