Angel (Damiano David & Victoria De Angelis)

Chapter 22

"Another day, another breakdown", she thought as she kneeled down next to Damiano. Why did everything have to be so complicated with him? That sounded way more annoyed than she had intended it to sound. She wasn't annoyed...not at all. She just wished he could finally start feeling better. "Angel, tell me what's going on...what's happening?", she asked, her voice soothing as always. She had honestly thought that he was doing better. What had happened? The past 2 weeks, he had been doing great...well...considering all the things he had been through. "Please talk to me, love...I can't help you if you don't tell me what the problem is." He looked up at her, his big chocolate colored puppy eyes having a teary, disturbed sparkle to them: "Coraline...", he whispered. She looked at him, confused...what the actual fuck was going on? "What do you mean, Angel? What are you talking about?" He sobbed, hugging his knees: "Don't you remember?", his voice was as shaky as it had been in the beginning when she had first started comforting him. It was as if all of his trauma was suddenly back again. "Remember? Remember what?", her mind was racing, a million thoughts and questions keeping her from concentrating on anything. "Coraline, Vic...the safe word..." She furrowed her eyebrows...safe word? It sounded strangely familiar but she couldn't pinpoint it. Maybe she was just out of her mind. That thought also seemed familiar, making her think back to the time she tried to ignore his needs for her own selfish comfort zone. She closed her eyes...everything seemed so far away but there was a distant memory. Then, suddenly it hit her...of course...the safe word. She fluttered her eyes open again, staring at the broken boy in front of her: "Yeah...yeah, of course, I remember, Angel...the safe word. Would you like to go outside for a second?" Now she was absolutely sure that something was going on...something other than his usual trauma. She honestly had no idea what it could be but she was terrified. He nodded, so she got up, holding out her hand for him to hold onto if he needed the support. Thankfully, now he was way more willing to cooperate than just a few months ago, so he slowly reached out, his fingers loosely wrapping around her slim hand. She smiled reassuringly, slowly leading him outside, standing by the railing of their first floor balcony. Balconies always gave her a weird feeling...neither good nor bad...just weird, because in the end, their story had started on a balcony. And just like that particular night, where she had heard his crying for the first time, the fresh breeze was tangling her wild hair into knots. It was like everything was happening again...almost as if they were playing a school play for the second time, knowing the script but improvising because it had been re-written. He was supporting himself on the railing, his head lowered. The night was so eerily quiet, she could have sworn the world had stopped for a minute just to make her hear his sobs more clearly. But this time, something was different. Her...it was her that had changed. She wasn't selfish anymore...in fact, she couldn't care less about herself as long as Damiano was okay. So, having grown that much, this time she didn't convince herself that everything was okay. She didn't pretend like she hadn't heard anything and most importantly, she didn't walk away in hopes of saving their friendship by keeping her nose out of his business. Instead, she turned towards him, slowly pulling him into her arms, so he could cry it out and calm down a bit. "It's okay, love...take your time...", she soothed, rubbing his lower back in gentle circles. "You're not alone and whatever it is that you're dealing with right now, I can promise you that we can find a solution together – like we always do." He nodded but didn't seem convinced at all. "Now, tell me, Angel...what happened?" Of course, she didn't know that something had actually happened...she could just assume by the way he was acting. Maybe she was overreacting again...then again, her sense for those things had become really strong, so she didn't really consider the possibility of being wrong. He tightened his grip around her, shaking as he spoke the next few words: "She's back, Vic...Carla is back."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hey ;) 

First of all: Sorry for being gone for so long. I'll write some chapters in advance, so I can make regular updates because it's hard for me to follow my schedule right now. 

Anyway, what do you think? What happened with Carla? Is she hurting him again? Did she threaten him? How are they gonna deal with it? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Thanks for reading :)

- Thalia