Chiara Rose

venti

hey you, it's been a minute. please leave some comments as you go, i love seeing what you guys think as you go <3

tw - mention of rape, sexual assault and abuse

Chiara's POV

"What the fuck was that?" Rocco's voice is the first thing I hear after I open my eyes. I don't even have the chance to properly survey my surroundings, my ear drums are just assaulted by his loud ass voice straight away.

The room goes silent after he yells, the only sound floating throughout the room is my heavy breathing. So I now have the opportunity to figure out who's in here, and I kind of wish I just never had the opportunity to look around.

Carlo's still sitting next to me, much like how he was when I passed out, just now the TV is turned off. But he looks petrified, and I feel a slight ping of guilt flare up in my chest at the sight of his expression. Dad's squatting on my side of the bed, holding my hands in his and rubbing reassuring circles on my wrist. He looks more concerned than scared, which probably makes sense.

The other 5 are standing in the corner just by the door, nervously waiting and looking mildly concerned. It's kind of creepy how they're just standing there, like I'm some sort of zoo animal.

"Rocco, why don't you go grab Chiara a glass of water." Dad says softly, not taking his concerned gaze off of me. Rocco opens his mouth to retaliate, but Dad senses it and quickly says, "I wasn't asking. Go." And with that Rocco rolls his eyes and leaves the room, leaving one less onlooker in the room. Honestly, all I want to do is shrink under my blanket and never leave again, I'm slightly mortified.

"The rest of you can leave, Carlo and I have got her." Dad says softly, and Bruno, Enzo and Tino all file out of the room slowly. However, Gi is more hesitant and stays standing there after the others leave. Dad just raises an eyebrow at him expectantly.

"But what if-" Gi starts, before Dad cuts him off with a slow shake of his head.

"I've got her Gi, go make sure Bruno and Enzo are okay please." Dad says softly, and with a quick final glance at me, Gi makes his way out of the room. That's when Dad shifts his attention to me.

"Bad dream, hey?" Dad says, moving to sit on the bed beside me. I can feel Carlo shift slightly to get comfortable and I pull myself into a seating position.

"Uh, yeah. What was I doing?" I say quietly, directing the questions towards Dad. But he just remains silent and gives Carlo a knowing look, so I turn my attention towards Carlo. Clearly, he knows more than Dad does.

"I woke up to you just kind of thrashing around in bed, kicking your legs and whatnot. Then you started mumbling quietly, and then you started grabbing your throat, so I yelled for Dad because I couldn't get your hands off." Carlo mumbles not being able to make eye contact with me, and focusing on smoothing out the wrinkles of my quilt cover.

"Oh." Is all I manage to get out, trying to piece together all the information in my brain "Di-, Did they all see me like that?" I say, roughly nodding my head in the direction of the door in reference to my brothers. Dad immediately gets what I'm asking, and starts shaking his head.

"Rocco and I got in here around the same time, and then you were just scratching your neck and mumbling. By the time everyone else rolled in, I had gotten your hands off your neck and you were moving your lips, but no noise was coming out." Dad explains softly, and I slowly nod my head in response.

I reach my head up and ghostly touch my neck, trying to figure out how much damage I actually did. But before I have to opportunity to figure it out, Dad gently grabs my hand and pulls it away.