My secret lives

Chapter 26

He stares at the scars for a few more seconds before he looks up and his teary eyes meet mine, "why?" He asks voice breaking.

"It was difficult- I'm sorry" I apologize to him and look away not wanting to see the disappointment and stuff in his eyes.

Atlas brings up my wrist and gently gives me a soft kiss on one of them, "you survived, this only makes me think that you're even stronger than I thought you were" he says, the tears still evident in his eyes, "however I hope you know that this isn't..good for you. If you ever feel like doing it again, please tell me, I don't know how bad it got- and I'll be happy to talk to you talk about it, to maybe help you process everything- but I for sure know that I don't want you going there again." He says while looking me in the eyes.

The lump in my throat only grows hearing his words.

I nod my head and the expression on my face falls down quickly as a small sob leaves my lips and I throw my arms around him.

Atlas hugs me back, "don't cry Ena, you're strong, you've survived. Be proud of that because I know for sure as hell that I am" he says shoo-tingly.

I nod my head and stop myself from crying while I get my shit together.

I haven't cried this much ever since Henry's dead.

We pull away from the hug and Atlas starts cleaning the open wounds/injuries.

I hiss a couple of times and some wounds reopen but eventually everything goes pretty well.

Now only my stomach and back remain and I know that that's not going to go well.

My back has practically been reopened multiple times a day for the past few days and hurts more than anything in my entire body and even though I haven't exactly seen it myself, I know it's not good.

My ribs are a problem too, they are broken and I have to constantly make sure that I don't make a wrong move because it could easily move and puncture my lung which I am don't particularly excited for nor do I really want that.

I stand up again and Atlas starts with just cleaning the wounds on my stomach once more before bandaging them and stuff.

"Your ribs" he says.

You can clearly see my ribs so you can also see that they are not okay.

"They're broken" I finish his sentence.

He nods his head, "you have to be careful with that okay" he tells me.

I nod my head, "I know" I say.

He nods his head before I turn around for my back.

"Oh god" he gasps shocked, "Ena-..." he says so fucking concerned that I have to question myself if I heard him right.

"It's okay Atlas" I say trying to sort of comfort him.

"Wh-what did he do to your back?" He asks.

"He gave me some whiplashes, beatings, cuts and burns- nothing unusual" I say trying to make it sound like it's not a big deal, to sort of help him process what he's seeing.