Hearth

26: the end

Annaliese

"She's a pretty little thing, isn't she?"

My blood runs cold. That voice. No. There's no way. Footsteps echo in the room quietly as their voices become faint. My heart is hammering in my chest but I refuse to open my eyes.

I'm at home. I'm at home and I'm safe. My brothers will come wake me up any second. It's just a nightmare.

"Annaliese! Annaliese," Alexander's voice hisses in the darkness. Numbness washes over me. It's not a nightmare. It's painfully real.

"Goosie?" I whisper, slowly opening my eyes. I meet Alexander's worried gaze as my surroundings become clearer. Blood is dried on the side of his face and his pretty eyes are sullen, his lips pulled into a thin line. His hands are tied behind his back and he leans his body against the stone wall.

Looking at him causes me to realize I'm tied up as well. My body is leaning onto the right side of his body, his figure almost completely shielding mine. We're being held in a small, stone room with no windows. A small lightbulb is dimly lighting the room along with the small crack of whiteness under the metal door.

"Are you okay?" He asks me, scanning me for any injuries.

"Yes, I'm fine," I mumble, analyzing him the same way. "Are you okay?"

"The fuckers who did this will be feeling it way worse," He states simply. I don't react to his words. Instead, I lean my head on his shoulder and stare at the floor blankly. Is this all my life has come to? First, my mother abandoning me and putting me into the worst situations of my life. Next, Sophia comes along and betrays my friendship.

For the first time, in a long time, anger fueled my veins. Picking myself up off the ground, I stumble over to the metal door. "Annaliese?" Alexander's voice feels far away. "What're you doing?"

"Sophia!" I scream, my fists shaking behind me. "Get the fuck down here and face me, you fucking coward!"

"Woah, woah," Alexander stresses, shuffling along the wall to stand up too. "Chill, Airhead."

I kick the metal door as hard as I could, channeling every bit of anger into every hit. "If you wanna pull this shit, have the audacity to fucking see me face to face!"

"Damn it," Alexander pushes me out the way of the door and we both fall onto the ground. His face hovers above mine as he breathes heavily. "Are you trying to get us killed?"

"Stop it Alexander," I snap, my voice wavering with pain and anger. "Get off of me."

"No," He says lowly, his eyes narrowing. "I understand why you're angry but-"

"You don't get anything," I barely whisper. "You don't get a single thing. She's working with.. with that man and I'm supposed to be okay with it? I'm supposed to just sit and take it? Alexander, I am so tired of this man ruling over my life. I'm so tired of it."

My eyes blur with tears and I instantly hate myself for crying in front of him. His face softens and his weight on me loosens. "Annaliese, I probably will never be able to understand all that you've gone through, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to take away all the pain you've felt. But one thing I do know is that for you to be able to get past your fears, you have to survive. You have to.