Liv

Chapter 2

"Sure thing princess, princess, princess..."

I jolted right up in my bed, startled from the nightmare that had consumed my mind. I watched my chest rise and fall as I took deep, sharp breaths. My brain wanted to sleep, telling me to close my eyes. But every time I did, all I saw was him. All I saw was the memories, the pain, the tears. The monster.

"Princess."

My brain wanted to sleep, but my body was awake. Awake and angry.

I made my way down the hallway of Irene's house. Irene was my mother's former foster carer, and she had reluctantly decided to let me stay with her for a little while, but I was hoping to turn it into a more permanent visit.

"What are you doing girlie?"

"Irene!" Her voice startled me, and the tone of her voice hinted that she was not in the mood to spare me her pity.

"Go back to bed."

"What are you doing up?"

I was curious to know why she was up so early in the morning, although it wasn't any of my business. She confirmed that for me by telling me to go to bed a second time.

I knew that there was no point in arguing with her, so I slumped my shoulders and staggered slowly back to my room.

I was eager to get out of the house. I needed to find him. Which was strange because, I didn't even know where he was.

***

"Olivia! You have a visitor!"

"Uh, give me one second Reeny!" I yelled back to Irene as I tried to adjust to my surroundings after my interrupted sleep that I had just endured.

Who could be wanting to see me at this time in the morning?

I wasn't too eager to find out that answer, so with hesitation I quickly chucked on some clothes and made my way down the stairs.

"Hunter!"

"Surprised to see me?"

"What are you doing at my house? How do you know where I live?"

"It's called Instagram," he said with a small chuckle, as if I had never used a social media platform in my life.

"I don't have Instagram," I said smugly as a small grin crept across my face.

"Okay, maybe that didn't lead me here. But how come I found an account with a girl who looks exactly like you?"

"What!"

"Yeah, something Fraser-Richards... I'll get her account up now if I can find it.." he began to say as he started scrolling through his phone.

"Don't!"

"It's okay Olivia, I only have eyes for you."

Oh gosh. He was making me blush already, and it wasn't even 10am.

"So why are you here anyway?"

"I wanted to talk to you about yesterday," he said hesitantly, as if he expected I would bite his head off about why I brought our previous conversation to an abrupt halt.

"Yeah, what about it?"

I didn't want to talk about it, but I didn't want to push him away either.

"I called you 'princess', does that mean anything to you?"

I could lie to him. I could. But I wouldn't.