Damage Repaired

Chapter 12

Blood.

All I saw was blood everywhere.

I cried out for help, screaming, pleading for someone to save me, but no one came.

I was alone in the dark with no way out covered in...

Blood.

"Please!" I heard my strangled voice cry out, bouncing against the hollow walls as I jerked upright, drenched in sweat and tears. My heart pounded deafly in my ears.

I combed my hands through my damp hair, taking shaky deep breaths until my vision cleared. I lazily shifted my head towards the clock on the nightstand seeing the glowing red letters read: four a.m; like it always does whenever I wake up like this. Knowing it'd be useless trying to go back to sleep, I whipped the covers off and trudged into the bathroom to splash cool water on my hot face. My hands trembled as I gripped the edge of the counter, squeezing my eyes shut in an attempt to calm my pounding heart.

I hated sleeping alone more than anything, but it's not like I could stay with Dylan every night and sleep in his bed seeing that he has Ethan now, and I didn't want the lines to get blurred between Ezra and me and sleeping over every night could possibly do exactly that. So instead, I chose to suffer through every nightmare, praying that one day it'll miraculously stop and cease to exist.

I ended up taking an early shower and got dressed for work one time. Afterward, I journaled while waiting for Ezra to call me around six a.m; but when six-fifteen a.m rolled by and my phone still hadn't buzzed, worry settled in my stomach. I called his phone five times, but it went to voicemail each try, so I ended up calling an Uber to take me to work.

During the day, I tried not to think about Ezra and what could be going on but the image of how he looked last night before dropping me off kept replaying in my head. I called him again in the middle of the day, and my heart stopped when I heard the other line pick up.

"Ezra?" I asked as if I didn't purposely call him.

There was shuffling in the background, and then I heard his voice loud and clear. "I'm busy."

Before I could even think of a response, he hung up, leaving me shocked and confused. A sinking feeling crept in the pit of my stomach as my brain thought of all the possibilities as to why he'd acted this way for the first time since we met. The nagging idea that he wasn't interested in me anymore lingered in the back of my mind as I buried myself in work for the remainder of the day.

His words stung more than they should've, but I couldn't stop thinking about the way he sounded as if he had just finished...crying? His voice sounded stuffy, thick with emotions, and on top of the way he looked at me last night, something had to be wrong. I put aside how I felt about his coldness and impulsively took an Uber straight to his house after work. One part of my brain screamed at me to turn around and leave as I made my way to the front door, but another part told me I was doing the right thing despite feeling as if I was overstepping the boundaries of our relationship. But if I didn't see him now and figure out what was going on, it'd just eat me alive later.

I held my breath as I knocked, waiting for him to answer, and when he did, my eyes widened in complete and utter surprise. Ezra's hair was completely disheveled, and his beautiful eyes were red and puffy, a clear indication that he'd been crying. The t-shirt he wore was stretched out and ripped, exposing his sculpted chest. I looked down and gasped when I saw how bloody his knuckles were while one of his hands gripped a picture frame tightly. He looked absolutely wrecked and nothing like the man I'd grown used to over the past two months.

"Ezra," I whispered softly, my heart squeezing at the sight of him as I reached a hand out to touch his cheek. Before I could reach him, he gripped my fingers and shoved my hand away.