Bound to you

Chapter Six

Clara's pov

Pain.
That's what she felt. Her whole body was aching. She tried to open  her eyes but her eyelids were too heavy.

It was her parent's doing. She had come home late. And the punishment... Well this was the punishment,getting whipped mercilessly. She tried to get them to stop,she begged them,she pleaded with them but they wouldn't listen.

She kept crying in pain as the whip landed on her sides making it hard to breathe. She felt her vision become blurry and she screamed. She screamed loudly..

"

wake up Clara " She heard someone say as she continued to scream.

Suddenly  she shot up from the bed. Panting. It was a nightmare. No it was a memory. A memory of the day she had been punished for staying out late.

Her parents had beaten her douche she hadn't been able to walk for a week. She had also been denied food for  a week. At the end of the week she was so weak,she nearly died.

But why now? Why was she getting the nightmares again? She had started being happy. She had people who cared about her.

"Are you okay?"Mark's voice snapped her out of her trance.

No. She wasn't okay. She was scared,broken, she was simply.... lost. She needed him.To show her that it was all in the past. That she was safe and loved. That she wasn't useless .

She simply needed him.

She wrapped her arms around him and cried. She cried for her dead parents, she cried for the pain and heartache she had gone through. She cried for her childhood that was snatched from her. She let it all out.

"Shh  don't cry baby it's okay, I'm here,",Mark cooed rocking their bodies back and  forth trying to calm her down.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She simply shook her head no.

She was in pain he could see it. He wondered what had caused her so much pain. He blamed himself for not seeing before how broken she was. He had to try and help her, and for that he had to find out who hurt her.

"I n-need to  hiccup use the hiccup bathroom. "Clara said moving out of Mark's embrace.

Once in the bathroom she washed her face and stared at herself in the mirror. She raised up her shirt a little as she traced the scars . She remembered each and every one of them. She felt weak.

She had no strength left to continue, she fell to the floor and broke down again. She had always been strong. She had never showed anyone her weak side, but today was different. She was simply tired of it all.

Mark heard her sniffles and rushed to the bathroom to check
on her. He found her crying on the floor. He went up to her and held her close. After a while her breathing became even and he knew that she was asleep.

He carefully picked her up and placed her on the bed. In the process, her shirt moved up a bit and he saw them. He saw the  scars covering her thighs. Someone had hurt her,and from the looks of it, it wasn't once since some scars had nearly disappeared while others hadn't properly healed yet.

He didn't know how but he had to help her. He had to find out about her past and who hurt her .

He picked up his phone and dialed a number.
"Hi John could you meet me in my office first thing tomorrow morning?"

"Sure"John's voice came from the other side of the call.

He moved closer to Clara wrapping his arms around her waist before he fell asleep.