Seven: wake up screaming

Temperance

"Mommy, where are you?" I call around for her. The car is flipped over, and I am hanging upside down. The only thing holding me in is my seatbelt—the seatbelt cuts into my legs and shoulders.

There is fire all around me, and I am sobbing. "MAMMA!!" I shriek again as I hear sirens coming closer with each second. Still no answer.

"There's a woman and a little girl in there!" I hear people frantically shouting.

Strangers in suits are desperately digging in the car. One man pulls me out leaving my mom in there. "Get momma out! Get momma! What about mom?" Snot runs down my face as I scream and hit the man carrying me away.

"MOM!!" I sobbed. I don't know why she isn't out of the car. Until I spot it. There is a piece of glass from the window shield stuck in her neck. She is bleeding out everywhere. Even my young mind can comprehend that she’s dead.



I wake up to Alec shaking me. My body is covered in cold, sticky sweat. My body violently shakes as my stomach churns. Tears run down my face as it does all the time. Night terrors. I have them almost every night. I look around the room. Zander and Ethan stand at the doorway with guns in their hands. Zander walks to the closet, opening it to make sure no one is stowed away. 

"I... I-I'm sorry." I wipe my tears from my face, and Alec pulls me to his chest.

"Leave us." He demands Zander and Ethan to leave. Within seconds they leave the room, closing the door behind them. I feel safe in his embrace, which is strange that I would feel this way with anyone. I feel warm and comfortable being held by him. I've only felt this way with my mom.

"What was that?" He asks me, pulling away to look at me. I bite my lip and look down.

"I have them sometimes. Ever since... ever since my mom died I've had them." Which is true in a way. I actually only started to get them when the abuse started.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." He gently puts his hand on my arm for comfort.

"Why did they come in here with guns?" I ask. Alec gives me an awkward smile. "Well, we thought someone was hurting you. Like someone came in here and was going to use you against us."

I smile at him and shake my head, glad that he actually cares. "What time is it..?"

"4:00 am." He answers. I sigh and gently lay myself back down. "I'm going to go back to sleep." I close my eyes, putting my hand up to shoo him away.

I hear him laugh as he stands up. "Oh today a few members from the deal are gonna come over. I need to work with them on some stuff, so you might not see any of us." He warns.

My eyes flick back open. "Will Emaline be here?" I question. He nods, surprised I asked.

"Found yourself a friend?"

"Yeah. I have." I smile at him, and he gives me one back.

I instantly thought of Lidia how she looked at me at the table. "Why doesn't Lidia like me?" Before slapping my hands on my mouth in embarrassment. Why would I blurt out such a stupid question?

Alec stays silent for a moment.

"We hooked up a few times. She got attached. So seeing me with you upset her."

It's my turn to go silent now. I knew he hooked up with people. Well actually I didn't. But it doesn’t surprise me to find that out.

At the same time, it makes me jealous or... insecure. I didn't even think I could get any more insecure.

"Well she's pretty." I don't know what else to say to his answer. He shrugs and looks at me, studying me. "Well I stopped hooking up with her when I met you." He adds. He only met me a few days ago, so why would that make a difference? This isn't one of those cheesy romance movies.

I look at him and roll my eyes. "Why are you telling me this?" I sound a little ruder than I had meant to sound. But I don't exactly want to hear about his sex life.

His expression changes to upset as he turns around and walks out, saying nothing more. But I don't seem to care. He can have her if he wants to. He isn't mine. He doesn't even like me.

I don't need a man. Never have and never will.


9:27 am**


I wake up with the harsh sun in my eyes. Blinding my tired eyes. "It's. So. Bright."

I roll over and cover myself more. I feel like my body is on fire. Aside from the pain I always feel and the dizziness. Something is wrong here.

My wounds hurt more than they usually do. And I know what pain feels like, and this is excruciating.

I stand up and wobble my way to the door. I wearily put my hand on the doorknob and open the door, almost falling forward in the process. Tears of pain threaten to stream down my cheeks.

Something is off.

I walk down the hall and collapse at the top of the steps. Something is REALLY wrong.

I try to stand up. I hold myself on the rails, putting most of my weight on them, and start walking down the stairs.

Then I collapse again. Falling halfway down the stairs before catching myself.

I lay back, staying on the stairs, trying to control my breathing, trying to control the tears that escaped my eyes. My body hurt even worse now.

I bite my lip, trying to stay silent to not cause any trouble.

Ella steps out from another room and stands at the bottom of the steps. "Oh my God what happened?!" She runs up to me in shock.

"I-I don't know. I just hurt so bad." I whimper as she gently takes my arm to help me up.

"Do you want me to get Alec?" She asks. "No. Please get me some pain killers though. And water."

I start walking the rest of the way down the stairs as Ella hurries off ahead of me to get the medicine.

I make my way to the kitchen and sit down at the table, laying my sweaty forehead on the cold table. "Here you go." She places a cup of water and medicine in front of me. I lift my dizzy head back up. I pop the pills into my mouth and gulp down the water, the pills vanishing down my throat.

She places her hand on my forehead. "You're not running a fever." She looks puzzled.

"I might need to call our doctor." She states.

Do they have a DOCTOR?

"N-no no. That won't be necessary." I frantically reply. I don't like doctors. Especially the "doctor" that used to come over and touch me.

"Are you sure?" She asks. "Yes I'm sure." I groan.

I lay my head down on the table as Ella gets up, trying to find something to distract her from worrying. I feel something run out of my nose. Snot. Disgusting.

I get up and grab a napkin, and put it to my nose. I pull it away, crumbling the red substance into the napkin. Red? I look back down at the napkin, realizing that it’s blood and not snot.

I start coughing, bringing the napkin back up to my mouth. I pull it back and find more blood on the napkin. My heart starts to pound as I realize blood is coming out of my mouth.

I throw the napkin away and get a new one. Holding it to my mouth and nose.

"Miss Temperance-" something catches in her throat as she walks back into the kitchen, looking at me in shock. I look at her with the bloody napkin still on my face.

"Oh my God!" She runs towards me and takes the napkin off of my face, examining it. "There's blood everywhere." She looks at me with a worried expression.

"Come on we are going to see Alec." She pulls me along. I don't want to go, but I don't have the strength to argue.

I cover my mouth and nose with my hand letting the blood seep through my fingers. She knocks softly on the door, and Damien opens it and gasps at the sight of me. I give him an awkward wave with my bloody hand before placing it back over my nose.

"Sir we need to call the doctor." She explained bringing me in for everyone to view.

I see everyone gasp. Alec's face holds an expression of shock. "Temperance, what happened?” Emaline asks frantically. I shrug and take my hand away from my mouth.

"She's bleeding from her nose and mouth," Ella states the obvious. Alec walks around the big table and towards me.

"God, Flower, what did you do?" He examines my mouth and nose as I hold back the eye-rolling from the nickname.

"Call the doctor. I'll be down later. Emaline you can go with her." Alec rubs some blood off my chin. I smile at him, knowing that he knows I have a friend now, other than the two I already have.

Emaline happily stands up and hurries Ella and I out of the room.


I lay in bed with Ella and Emaline sitting in chairs beside me as the doctor examines me.

Now we wait for the results.

He walks back in with a clipboard and looks at me. He looks empty. No expression on his face. It scares me.

"Well it seems you have internal bleeding."

No shit. That's where the blood is supposed to be, inside of me. Idiot.