𝑅𝐸𝐷 𝑀 𝐴 𝐷 𝑁 𝐸 𝑆 𝑆

Eighteen

I knocked on her window, still amazed it was still hers. Nothing had changed. I could see the light was still open.

I assumed she was still awake, after all, it was only eight or so.

There was no response so I knocked a second time. When I tried it the third time, I saw Victoria rushing to the window in tears.

My heart skipped a beat.

She opened it and I wasted no time in coming in. There was blood everywhere. On the ground, on her bed, on her skin.

Oh my god.

I looked her up and down, and she couldn't even see me through her tears. My head was railing with the worst-case scenarios.

Her father wasn't home anymore, I waited for him to go to the bar like he does every Thursday.

My brain was spinning and I realized I was talking without actually making words. No words were even coming out of my mouth.

I couldn't form a sentence because I was too stunned. What had happened?

Ideas were put in my mind and I wanted to hit someone, to kill someone. I'd prefer seeing my friend dying than her breaking down like this. Maybe that was a bit much but it was the truth. If I had to choose between them, honestly, it wasn't even a choice.

It would always be her.

Couldn't she see?

It was always you, Tori.

"You came?" Her voice was so small, I barely heard it. I nodded carefully as I wiped the dried blood under her nose.

"We made plans baby" I blurted out which was not sexy at all, it just showed how panicked I was. I think she heard it in my tone because she slowed her breathing, her eyes never leaving mine.

I kissed her forehead and tried to make sense of everything.

How could I have been so fucking stupid?

One plus one equals two, it was so obvious and I didn't notice it. I knew something was up, everyone knew. How did her friends let this happen? Why didn't they step in? I was sure as hell going to fucking murder her father.

"Did he do this?" I asked. Victoria didn't make a sound as she gave me a death stare I didn't even know she possessed. It freaked me out.

"You don't have to tell me, he did, didn't he?"

She shook her head, her tears suddenly coming back.

Fuck.

"Hey, I'm here" I mumbled, closing the space between us. I kissed her lips first before hugging her as hard as I could.

"I feel so stupid"

I hushed her and the rage came back, harder than when I had gotten there. I analyzed her bedroom, trying to imagine what this must have been like, how it went.

Her entire body was shaking as she let go of me and fell to the ground. I was surprised as I saw the pain she carried on her back, the strength she had. We were the same, or I liked to think we were.

"Kill me kill me kill me!" she shouted as she was left with sadness and nothing but a broken heart. I didn't know what to do.

I couldn't call my friends. Surely I could have texted Will but if I wasn't able to calm her down, he wouldn't know what to do either.

"I am sorry" she sniffled.

I shook my head and I thought that maybe she wanted some alone time. It didn't take a genius to understand what had happened here.

What he had done.

I went inside her bathroom and took a wet cloth before rushing back to her. She was again trying to calm her breath and I wondered if it was going to work this time. Pani attacks were bullshit, was this what was happening?

I cleaned her wrists and when I went to press the cloth again her nose, she stopped me.

"Does it hurt?"

She nodded and guided my hand so I wouldn't crush her nose.

Victoria winced and some tears fell down her cheeks. I lifted her shirt just to see how was her rib and my jaw dropped as some new bruises settled in. It must have been difficult to just breathe, I couldn't imagine how bad she was hurting.

"He, um"

She didn't look at me.

"He started hitting me and- and then he left" She wiped her wet cheeks and put her hand on her heart. I knew that feeling too well. Try to be eighteen and hopeless, it didn't work out well. All you wanted was to just fucking live in peace. Our souls were the same. She wanted to rip her heart out as she spoke, once upon a time, I would have done the same.

"But he came back"

Her voice broke.

"I was against the door, trying to keep him from coming in but he did it anyway, and then it was all red" she whispered, closing her eyes.

When were younger, her father used to hit her mother. She talked about it a lot, mostly about how her father would yell at her when she cried for him to tuck her into bed at night. I never thought that when her mother was gone, he was going to hit her too.

"When did this start?"

I didn't really want to ask. I didn't want to know the answer, if she didn't reply, it wasn't real. But it was real and I had been a fucking douchebag. However, her friends were the worst.

"Since I was little"

At that comment, I started to cry too. She would have been freaked out, she didn't remember me. I expected her to push me away or to tell me to fuck off.

Instead, she stroked my hair before putting my hair down on her chest. I didn't know why I was so upset, it didn't make any sense.

It was as if we were sharing the same pain like we were hurting just as bad as the other one was. She didn't deserve to go through this, she shouldn't have gone through this alone. I was going to do everything I could to prevent it from happening again. That was a promise.