+ marks the grave {Completed}

Chapter 68

•~••~•~•~•*change in POV*•~•~•~••~•
"You abandoned us."
"You killed her."
"You killed my big brother."
"He never loved you."
"He never will."
Past faces of all the ones I found important flashed menacingly into view as my mind concocted vile ordeals.
The last thing I remember was missing a step.
My guess was that I fell. Hard.
I shouldn't have gone snooping.
But in my defense, they shouldn't have left me all alone.
It was impolite.
Especially since I had no idea where I was.
Or my reason for being wherever I was.
All I really knew was that Kent and his friends were members of a gang.
I didn't want to know anything else.
I just wanted to go back to my normal life.
Even if it was everything but normal.
I didn't miss my mom.
But I missed Claire.
I could only hope that she wasn't involved in any of this.
I could only hope that she was as innocent as she seemed.
She even appeared in my nightmare, along with her wretched sister, Rachel.
The two was throwing themselves at Luke.
A sight I hoped to never see in real life.
But with Luke dead, I would never.
I was stirred conscious by the soft opening of a door.
It was probably intended to not wake me,
but it did the exact opposite.
I peeked my eyes open to see him slowly creep inside, the lamp casting his shadow along the walls.
I quickly shut them when he took a seat on the corner of the bed.
"Youre still unconscious huh?"
I tried to regulate my breathing to make my faking more believable.
"Sigh. I'm sorry about how I acted...
I just want you to wake up.
You'll never understand how much you mean to me, from ever since I saw you asleep in the basement, six years ago."
He saw me in a basement?
Six years ago... that would be around the same time that I ran away and Kent took me to what I can now assume to be his gang's base.
He knew me from since then?
"I've always been watching over you..."
Why haven't I ever seen him before Kent introduced us?
"I wanted to tell you the truth about Jack... but you needed to learn the hard way."
Jack?
My ex-boyfriend?
How could he possibly know about him?
I left him in the near past.
The wounds were still fresh.
Could that mean that he's been literally watching me for all this time?
"You could never understand...
But that's okay. I'll protect you from now on.
I'll do everything Jack and Luke couldn't do and more."
Did he have feelings for me?
How could he keep that secret for so long?
I barely knew anything about him...
He was Kent's friend. That was about it.
But he's been watching over me.
And he vowed to protect me.
I already lost Luke.
The least I could do was not let another person die without their feelings being heard.
Even if I couldn't reciprocate them.
He's been looking after me for so long.
Maybe it was just my vulnerability, but I felt as if he could be what I needed right now.
So with my eyes closed, I reached out and pulled him to lay down.
He moved stiffly, like a granite statue.
Nevertheless I laid my head on his chest and let myself be engulfed by his scent.
He smelt like citrus.
I wasn't sure which. Maybe it was somewhere between margarine or tangerine and lime or perhaps lemon.
But definitely not orange.
That was the devil of citrus.
An abomination.
He passed his hands softly through my hair.
He moved in to massage my scalp but stopped abruptly when I groaned in pain.
I couldn't fake sleep anymore.
My cover was blown.
He jumped off the bed and backed up against the wall in horror.
"Oh no! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. I shouldn't ha-"
"Its okay!"
I rose up and fixed myself in a sitting position.
I realized that I wasn't wearing the top and pants that I was rescued in.
I was wearing an oversized t-shirt that most likely belonged to Drew.
Did he change me?
My wounds also had bandages.
He treated my injuries.
The least I could do was not made a scene about him changing me.
I pulled the coverlet a bit to me, just enough to cover my exposed thighs.
Then I patted the spot next to me.
"Its okay. It didn't hurt much. It's just a bit swollen from the reopening of my head wound."
I neglected to mention exactly how I got that head wound.
He slowly nodded but still looked hesitant.
I took his hands in mines.
"Its really okay. I feel much better."
My stomach begged to differ as it announced its emptiness.
A small smile appeared on his face.
"Anything you want in particular?"
I stroked my nonexistent beard.
"Soup?"
It was his turn to stroke his beard.
The only difference was that I could see a few charming stumbles on his chin being illuminated by the lamp light.
"Corn or no corn?"
"Corn,"
He nodded before walking towards the door.
But he didn't just leave.
It felt as if he had is guard dropped.
And as he exited, it rose.
The smile fell off his face faster than it had come.
For the first time I heard myself call out his name.
He looked back in astonishment.
He looked as if the air was knocked right out of him.
He looked vulnerable.
"Yes?"
"Can you turn on the light please,"
I would on my own but I knew better than to trust my body in its beaten up condition.
Plus I had no idea where the switch was.
He effortlessly reached out to the west of the doorway and hit what sounded like the light switch.
Led lights shone brightly from the light panel above.
He stood in the doorway, attentively watching as I reached to pull the string to turn the lamp on the dresser off.
I stretched out my left hand, my fingers slightly twitching.
My elbow felt broken, I could feel the discoloration and swelling.
But my right hand was my support to push me towards the dresser.
I inched closer and closer until I felt my index finger brush past the cotton string.
I gripped it but as I moved to pull it, my right hand slipped on the velvet covers and left me unbalanced.
I could only look wide eyed as I fell to the floor.
I heard four heavy footsteps where I expected to here a thump.
Turns out I hadn't hit the ground.
Drew cradled me to his chest and rocked me slowly back and forth.
I didn't complain. I tried to get my heart beat back to its regular speed.
After some time had passed, he placed me back onto to bed as if I was the cherry on top his favorite cake.
He walked over to the door, and once again the smile fell right off.
While he was gone, I observed my surroundings.
The room itself wasn't that spacious.
There was an open wardrobe, a piano, a door to the left, a book shelf against the base wall to the right, a window to the left and the bed in the centre, cushioned by two small dressers.
On one dresser had a lamp and on the other had a mini-refrigerator.
There was also a tv mounted onto the front wall.
The walls, bedspread and furniture was dark grey and the carpet, pillows curtains and doors was light grey.
Nothing too flashy. I respected that.
I sat patiently and waited for him.
There was so much I didn't know about him.
I never expected him to be so considerate and...pure.
He reacted so innocent and pure when he thought that he caused me pain.
It's like he revealed a part of him that nobody else knew away.
And a part of me hoped that that was true.
What was becoming of me...