Everglow | Liam O'Donovan - TDG

Chapter 2 - Emerging

Ophelia woke with a scream caught in her throat. Her eyes forced themselves open and her body jolted forwards into a sitting position, she slammed her hand over her mouth and muffled her whimpers.

After a few minutes of harsh breathing, her surroundings returned into focus and her eyes unblurred. The panic which gripped her mind let go swiftly when she remembered where she was, safe in her room at Elm Tree House. It had been two weeks since she arrived at the house and she was slowly coming out of her shell, however, old habits die hard and she struggled to acclimatise to the loud environment as opposed to her old quiet one.

She drank all the water in her bottle but found that it did little to quench her thirst and it still left her throat dry, so, she slipped her dressing gown on and opened her door. She glanced down the corridor and started walking towards the landing, there were no other lights on as it was gone three in the morning.

As she descended the stairs and avoided all of the creaky floorboards which she had memorised in the past week, she thought about all that she had done since she came here. She had become good friends with all of the other kids in the home, although she kept a safe distance away from Elektra as she had a bad temper and was known to explode if irritated.

Ophelia and Liam had become quite close, they would spend time playing football in the back garden and playing pool when it was raining. Liam, she had learned, was more of a prankster and troublemaker, and had ran into Ophelia's room to hide from Gina more than once.

Liam and the others seemed set to start taking Ophelia out of her shell and she found herself not minding, her personality before everything started to peak out slightly. The extroverted girl that had hidden away inside of her started to emerge ever so slightly, and Ophelia couldn't wait to be back to some semblance of normal.

She drew herself away from her thoughts as she entered the kitchen, she took a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water. Ophelia gulped it down and refilled it again and repeated.

Eventually, her heart slowed down a little and she placed her glass into the sink before she leant back against the counter for a moment before she decided to head to the lounge to try and become tired enough to head back to sleep without getting caught up in a tangle of nightmares.

The lounge's sofa engulfed her as she lay down onto it, the silence wasn't suffocating, not anymore, and she felt comfortable enough to breath it in for a while. It wasn't until she heard movement on the landing did, she feel the walls constrict slightly, the footsteps got closer and the room got smaller and smaller.

When Liam poked his head into the lounge, Ophelia's breath left her lungs quickly and the room receded away from her.

"What you doin' awake?" Liam grumbled as he rubbed his eyes, his northern accent stuck out even more when he was sleepy.

Ophelia answered as she watched Liam launch himself onto the other sofa, "had a nightmare and I needed a drink."

The lounge's atmosphere was even more comfortable with someone else in the room and Ophelia lay down across her sofa opposite Liam. The pillow under her head was a little too small but she shifted around a little.

"Wanna talk about it?" Liam broke the silence as he turned to face Ophelia.

Her throat closed slightly, "no."

"Alright. Want to stay down here for the night?" Liam asked as he looked around the room for the blankets that were kept in the lounge.

She said yes and watched as Liam got up and found the blankets. He threw one to her and she put it over herself and got comfy enough to sleep, Liam did the same.