Finally Found

Chapter 36 • Hope

Gabriella POV

Hope.

Hope is a dangerous thing. I had hope my brothers would get me out of here, that they would save me like they promised.

But they haven't, and now I know they aren't coming.

They're not here and they're not coming. I don't have any of my brothers here to protect me from the vile monsters roaming this cruel world.

Matty's not here to watch movies with me just to distract me from my mind.

Emilio's not here to make me laugh till my stomach hurts and my cheeks burn.

Luca's not here to talk with me while I paint and make me feel happy.

Enzo's not here to show me how much I'm truly loved with small simple actions and words.

Leo's not here to make me feel like I am strong enough to take on the world.

And Antonio's not here to show me he'd take down anyone and anything if they meant harm to me.

I don't know what I would've done or who I would've become without any of them in my life.

My mom always told me I was a flower waiting to bloom, well they were the sun that helped me grow into the person I was now.

They truly were my knights in shining armor saving me from the villain in my story.

But it turns out my storybook won't have a happy ending.

My chest tightens as the familiar feeling of tears blur my eyes.

I can't leave it behind in my past like I wanted to. What I thought was going to stay in the past appears to be my future too, what's left of it anyway.

The video replays in my mind like a broken record.

They're not coming for me.

It's getting hard to breathe, the more I think about it the worse it gets.

They think I'm fine, they're not coming.

The realization sinks in as the tears slip past my eyelids and stain my cheeks.

No way for me to escape my own mind.

No way for me to escape this torture.

No way for me to escape him.

And no way for me to ever see my brother again.

I knew if he ever got me in his clutches again what he'd do to me, and I know how I'm gonna end up.

In a body bag.

Just like he did with my mother.

Right after he has his fun first.

The tears fall faster.

I don't know how to get out now, before I had hope on my brothers bursting through those doors any second now.

But he lit a match and watched as the only thing keeping me strong burned to ash and blew away.