𝕸𝖀𝕽𝕯𝕰𝕽 | 𝖂𝖊𝖉𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖉𝖆𝖞

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖞

~

XXX

T/W: Rape and child sexual abuse mentions.

~

Xavier Thorpe stared at Aiyla Demir wide eyed and open mouthed.

"You what?"

Aiyla looked up at him, breathing heavily and untangling her hands from her hair, she opened her mouth as if to say something, but instead turned away. She walked over to the wall where she'd thrown Bahadir's axe and pried it out of the wall.

Xavier felt like a fish.

He looked a bit like one too.

He hadn't moved an inch, and was still staring at her with the same shocked expression. He even felt slightly cold blooded - most likely because his insides had sickeningly twisted.

"Yo-you couldn't have," Xavier managed to splutter out.

Aiyla let out a twisted, dry laugh, "Why not?"

"You'd have been five years old," Xavier whispered.

Aiyla gave another, rather weak laugh, and screwed her eyes shut. She leaned her back against the wall and slid down to the ground, holding the axe so tightly her fingers were white. She gave a small, "hmmn," of agreement but her voice cracked before she could say anything else.

And then the realisation dawned on Xavier.

"Oh. My. God....."

He stared at her, but her eyes were still closed. Her hands were beginning to shake.

She looked so small there.

So hurt.

He made his way over to her, but she recoiled away from him, causing him to furrow his brows in confusion. "Gazelle," he said softly, kneeling down near enough that he could offer comfort, but far enough away that she was no longer scooting away. "What happened?"

Aiyla took a deep breath and opened her eyes, they were glassy and full of pain. She stared hard at the wall, not meeting his gaze.

"It was Parent's Weekend 10 years ago, back when Bahadir went here," Aiyla revealed. "My parents and I were visiting so that they could attend to some 'business'. Most likely they'd been recruited to kill someone outside of Jericho - but that was where they were staying. When Bahadir found out were were here just in time for Parent's Weekend, he took me to Nevermore with him."

She let out a shaky breath.

"On... on Saturday night, he was called into the Nightshades for a meeting. So he left me with our older cousin - hi-his best friend," Aiyla pursed her lips together and hit her head against the wall repeatedly and screamed through her teeth. "I was five! I was five! I was five!"