Silently Falling

Chapter Thirty Five (Edited 8/6/2021)

8/6/2021- My boyfriend has decided to read this book...he's going to find out that I simp harder for West than I do for him. Either that, or he's going to think I wrote West off of him (like he seems to think I did for Elijah from Fight For Her). If only LOL!

Also, if you haven't read Fight For Her yet, you definitely should! You can purchase it in any bookstore near you, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Wattpad Books, etc.! I am so grateful to have been able to formally publish one of my books, and the better Fight For Her does, the more likely they are to publish Silently Falling in English!!

Silently Falling (Edited): Chapter Thirty Five

The next morning, my confidence stays with me and I know I'm ready to face my classmates at school. They are going to be beyond shocked that I'm speaking again, and I have prepared myself for rumors to fly around. I tossed and turned all night thinking of what they would say.

So, when I wake in the morning, I find my body almost refusing to leave the comfort of my bed. My alarm buzzes on my phone beside my head, morphing my headache into a migraine the longer I wait to shut it off.

"Raine! Your alarm has been going off for ten minutes, you don't want to be late!"

Dad's voice mixes in with my annoying alarm and I groan, covering my head with Mr. Buttons and flinching when his horn pokes my ear.

"Okay," I sigh, flipping on my back. "I'm up."

Though I know I can't hide from this situation forever and I'm much stronger than I was three years ago, I am still dreading having to face him. I can still feel his grimy hands holding my mouth shut, still taste the sweat and dirt when I bit his palm, and, worst of all, I can still picture what he did to me every time I close my eyes.

Despite finding my voice, there's still a fear within me that as soon as I see him, I will lose it all over again. One snide comment, one glare, may be all it takes. I wasn't strong enough to fight him off physically, how can I be confident that I can fight him off mentally?

Knocking at my bedroom door snaps me from my thoughts and Toby steps inside seconds later.

"You have a habit of entering before anyone says come in," I tease.

"You had a habit of not being able to say come in," he shoots back with a smile.

I take a pillow from off of my bed and throw it at him while I laugh. He catches it and throws it right back.

"Throwing Mr. Buttons would have gotten the reaction you were looking for," he says, but then his smile fades. "I just came to see if you still wanted to come to school today. No one will blame you if you decide to skip."

"Yeah, West was wondering the same thing yesterday," I sigh. "I should go, right? If Warren sees that I skipped, he's just going to bask in knowing he still has such a hold over me. He'll think he won."

"This isn't a game, Raine. For him, maybe some twisted game, but not for you. This is your life. Don't look at it in terms of him winning or losing."

"It is a game though, isn't it? A cat and mouse game. Where he chases me into a corner and taunts me every chance he gets."

"If you want to look at it that way, at least make it a game that you can play by your own rules." He says seriously.

"A cat and mouse game has a clear winner no matter what rules are in play."

"Not in Tom and Jerry."

I tilt my head at Toby and can't help but chuckle. "You're comparing this to a kids cartoon?"