Letters to Anonymous | ✔️

he's awake

"You're awake." Claire said, her eyes wide and filling with tears. She didn't know why she felt the need to cry now when she was able to control herself yesterday.

"Hey." He greeted.

His bed was propped up, so his back was raised up, but not too much because of the stitches on his stomach.

Claire walked further in, not saying another word. After a few moments of unsuccessfully blinking her eyes to make the tears go away, she felt the need to hug him.

"Can I hug you?" She asked, surprised when she heard a crack in her voice.

Adrian was halfway through his nod when Claire stepped forward and gently wrapped her arms around his neck. She squeezed her eyes shut as she pressed her head into his side.

Adrian was only able to drift one arm around her, while the other remained too far to embrace her without some pain. Since his other arm felt useless, he squeezed her lightly with the arm that was already embracing her. But, at his slight squeeze, Adrian heard her suck in a breath.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but he didn't utter a word until she pulled back. "Are you okay?" He asked.

Claire let out a laugh. "I'm actually here to ask you the same thing."

"What happened? Did he hurt you again?"

Dodging the question, Claire said, "Adrian, it's not about me right now, it's about you. So, you tell me, how are you doing?"

After some thought, Adrian decided to let it go, but only for now. "I could be better." He said, with a small smile and Claire smiled back sympathetically.

"I was really worried about you." She said, her voice lowering. "How did you even find the guy?"

"I didn't. I was walking back home from your place and I saw him. I don't know if the situation would have gone differently if he wasn't following after another girl. But in that moment, all I saw was red. All I could see was him and what he did to Emily. I didn't even realize what I was doing until he stabbed me in the stomach. I swear, Claire, I have no idea what came over me. I honestly didn't even realize what I was doing, and even after, I didn't stop. I kept hitting him until I physically couldn't.

Claire reached out to cover his hand in hers, as she looked at Adrian in concern.
"I'm sorry, I didn't even realize I let that all out. I've been keeping it in, waiting for you to come. And now that you came, it came out way too fast."

"Hey, at least you didn't catch onto my rambling. Although, that might've been a sight to see." Claire said, giving a smile in his direction.

He squeezed her hand and returned the smile, remembering all the times she rambled in front of him. "But when you do it, it's cute. If I would do it, it'd just be embarrassing."

Although trying to fight it, Claire's cheeks covered in a light blush at his compliment.

"Did your mom tell you about...?"

"Yeah, there's a chance he might be put away." He said and drifted into his thoughts.

Claire lifted her hand that was still connected to his, but Adrian didn't want to let go, so his hand flew to her wrist to catch her. Claire visibly flinched, but only slightly. However, it was enough for Adrian to notice and he immediately let her wrist go.

"Claire," he said, expectantly, "can you give me your hand?"

Sighing, she knew it was inevitable. She slowly placed her hand in his, ignoring the way she felt when their skin made contact.

He used his other hand to push her sleeve up, revealing fresh bruises. With a tight-lipped face, he slowly pulled the sleeve back down. "What about there?" He asked, pointing to her stomach.
Claire hesitated as her fingers played with the hem of her shirt. Her gaze moved to the corner of the room as she lifted up her shirt, revealing another fresh bruise right on the side of her stomach.
The sound of a gasp coming from behind her made Claire drop her shirt. Her eyes widened as she realized what just happened.

"Claire?" A familiar voice asked and Claire didn't believe it until she turned herself around to face the owner of the voice.

"Mom?"