A Different Beginning

A Different Beginning ~ Part 57 ~ Updated: 2/14/15 Late Evening

A Different Beginning ~ Part 57 ~ Updated: 2/14/15 Late Evening

***POV Nathan*** 

I had just kissed her. My mind was blank as I started back into her eyes which shined from the tears that still slowly fell down her cheeks. My heart was overwhelmed by what I had just talked to her about and I was honestly all over the place as I drew the bath before stepping out of the room closing the door behind me. 

Gabriel stood stunned outside of the bathroom. “What the fucking hell just happened? Dude why was she so upset?!” His voice got louder and I quickly held up my hand guiding him down the hall and then down the stairs out of range of the bathroom.

Mr. B, Kota, Silas, North, Luke, and Victor were all downstairs as we joined and they stopped talking spotting Gabriel fuming. “Dude come on what happened?” Gabriel wined. 

North stood. “What do you mean? What happened?” His voice was raw. 

“Aggele is okay right?” Silas spoke up his eyes wide. 

“Mr. Griffin could you please explain?” 

Biting my lip I let out a soft sigh and took a seat at the table. All attention on me. “I lead her upstairs to take a bath but when I went in to start it she was sobbing.” I recalled the memory and felt the air shift about. 

“What?” Silas’s voice was now raw with worry. 

“She was sobbing and at first she wouldn’t say anything about why but she then mentioned her mother and how she had wanted to have a family for so long and how her mother was smiling…” I couldn’t speak and I glanced down at the table trying to gather myself. “She reminds me of how I felt.”

Victor shifted placing a hand on my shoulder and squeezing ushering me to continue. “When my father first started to abuse alcohol and hit me I looked at others and thought why couldn’t that be my family. Why couldn’t we be normal? Why couldn’t I make him smile and laugh again…” My mind wandered thinking about old memories and I let out a slow breath. 

***POV Silas***

As soon as Nathan stepped into the room I knew something was wrong. Stopping my conversation with North I stood from my seat and everyone shifted with me giving Gabriel and Nathan the floor. Something had happened upstairs with Sang. 

My mind raced as Nathan explained about Sang crying in the bathroom and I pulled back surprised and worried. I had only been a few steps away and had seen her a few seconds before. How I wish I had stayed to comfort her. Pulling my head away from ideas I looked to Nathan focusing on the present. 

Her mother. 

My mind rushed back to the day before. We had been walking down the isle of the mall, looking at different vendors and the different shops. Gabriel was chatting about the different stores he had liked and that would work well with Sang’s personality and style. But when he asked her about it no response was given. No one stood behind us. 

Panic had filled me instantly, as I looked around the mall wildly and we quickly split up walking down different seconds when my phone had started to buzz. She was answering but something was obviously wrong from her short texts. She was scared. 

When she stated what store she was in and that her chest hurt, I ran. I ran as fast as I could into the store and rushed about, Victor called me asking what was going on, as my eyes searched the store. She wasn’t out in the open but when I spotted an attendant knocking on a door to one of the changing rooms I had known it was her. 

Rushing over, the attendant tried to push me back but I had already stated her name. “Sang…” 

The door instantly opened, the attendant letting me through as I knelt pulling her into my arms. She was shaking badly. My hands rushed over her sides being careful and I could feel her breath in my ear shaking at every intake. The exhales were also weak. Something had spooked her. 

Slowly moving to take her out of the changing room, she stopped trying to pull away and instantly I froze. 

Her mother. 

Glancing back around the store I made sure she wasn’t there but if she had been it would have been to late to stop her. Sang was top priority. “I have her. But she is wheezing. Get to the car. Her mother is here. We need to get her out of here.” There was a click on the other side of the phone and I scooped her up bringing her out of the mall and to the car. 

The rain soaked us in seconds as we stepped outside and I could feel her struggling for breath. She was panicked and scared. All because she had seen her mother.  

Pulling myself out of the image I glanced to Mr. Blackbourne whose lips were in a firm line. “You did a good job calming her down Nate.” I stated quickly and met his eyes. 

***POV Luke*** 

Glancing from Nathan to Silas, I took a slow breath thinking through all of the different painful thoughts and then glanced to North who was focused on me. His eyes wide with rage as he remembered our parents and I shivered thinking about the bruises and wounds that Sang had that first day we had met. 

Climbing that tree had been the best thing I had ever done and it would forever be engraved in my mind. The girl that now sat upstairs in the bath was so strong that at some points, I honestly didn’t know how to respond. Between all of the different guys that made up our group she was the strongest. 

But even through everything, she still felt more alone than ever. I wanted to aim my fist at the wall just as Gabriel had that afternoon we had found her in the forest barely breathing. “What can we do?” I looked to Mr. Blackbourne. “I talked to her this morning about this as well. She is so shaken that her trust is broken. It’s not that she doesn’t trust us. The only thing she has known for years was her mother’s beatings.”

Mr. Blackbourne nodded. “We need to keep calm here. If we get to nervous or worried or even mad,” He glanced over at North who instantly took a slow breath, “we could seriously scare her off.” Mr. Blackbourne shifted in his seat thinking before meeting our eyes. “It isn’t as though she doesn’t trust us at all. She has reached out to us a number of times when she was seriously hurt but I think we just need to reassure her of our willingness to stick around. She knows of the Academy and how it is a large part of our lives and maybe she believes that when we finish our job here we will leave.” Mr. Blackbourne met everyone’s eyes. “Everyone here agree’s that we want her to stick around correct?” 

Everyone nodded. 

“Then we just need to show her we are here for her even after longer periods of time.”

That was the best option for now.