[COMPLETED]
"Life doesn't get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient."
― Steve Maraboli
She has experienced more pain in her 15 years of life than many people do in their lifetimes. Her life has always been filled with pain, em...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
ARABELLA'S POV
We've been up on the roof for nearly 15 minutes.
The moment we came here, the guy yanked his hand away from mine and tried to ease his laboured breathing, as he dragged in deep breaths and forced them out.
After about 5 minutes of not calming down, he began punching the wall and I attempted to tell him to stop, but it was as if my appeals fell on deaf ears.
His knuckles were swollen and bleeding and had both his fists clenched tightly in a painful grip.
After what seemed like hours his shaking began to subside, but he was still not at ease.
He had stopped striking by now and was leaning against the wall for support, slowly sliding down as he sat there with his feet planted to the ground and his legs open, he brought his arms on his knees and hung his head low.
His breathing was still raspy, and his shoulders were still shaky. He'd only managed to calm down a little and I had to be careful so as to not trigger or alarm him any further.
I quickly yet cautiously knelt down in front of him. I can still sense how unsettled he was. So I tried to talk to him, divert his mind away from his anxious thoughts, towards myself.
But nothing helped.
Releasing a wavered breath, I decided to use the method, practised upon me by that guy from the roof who helped me when I ran away from the mall.
"How about this, I'll say a number and you tap that many times on my hand." I asked while extending my hand forward.
I remembered how quickly it worked for me, so I was hoping maybe it would work for this guy as well.
I sensed the guy freeze as he took a sharp intake of breath, his shoulders went extra tense but he slowly nodded his head, finally raising his chin to look at me.
And that's when his chocolate brown eyes locked with my blue ones.
He was the guy from the rooftop–
He was the one who helped me and I never got to thank him before.
He was here...
To say I was shocked, would be an understatement and he, too, appeared to be stunned for a split second.
His tanned face was covered in bruises, and he had a cut on the side of his lips. His right eyebrow has a slit and a purple-black colour surrounding his eye.
I gasped when I took in his bruises, but didn't say anything, because he sure as hell didn't want any judgements or opinions from me, at least not at this moment.
Who hurt him?
He brought his trembling hands to hover above mine, still staring right into my eyes with a look of realisation in his eyes.
