Her Savior (Book Two Of The Brave Series)

2-The Meeting

  2-The Meeting

When she reached about a block away Aria slowed down slightly, her breaths coming out in cloudy puffs. Small white flakes fell from the dark sky and she seemed to find a sense of peace in the gloomy weather. It reflected how she felt, like mother nature understood her inner struggles and was showing her that. She wanted life to be normal again, how it used to be, but since that first night, nothing had been normal. So much so that she forgot what it even was like. It had started when she was merely eleven...

She was sitting down at her dresser, sitting on the fluffy purple chair her mom had made for her, one of her favorite songs playing in the background. She hummed to herself as she brushed her hair like her mom taught her to every night to keep it healthy and strong. When she had thoroughly finished brushing through it, she started to braid it for bed. Just as she finished, her door opened.

He walked in smiling. He was a handsome man, his short dark blond hair neatly trimmed, with blue eyes. He was heathy and fit, usually in his work uniform or comfortable house clothes. Aria smiled back, "Hi Danny." She said happily. She'd had no reason to mistrust him after all. Until then they were a very happy family.

"Hey Sweetheart." He replied as he closed the door. That was odd, he'd never closed the door before.

"Whatchya need?" She asked cheerfully, speaking quickly and with excitement in nearly everything she said. She was an openhearted, free, and alive child. Then Danny sat on the bed and cupped her cheek. He did this often, right before he kissed her on the forehead, but that's not what he did now.

After he'd done vile things to her, he'd put the blade of the, now very familiar, knife to her back, digging in until she'd cried out. She didn't understand then what he wanted, or why he did what he did, but she remembered the bone chilling words he'd spoken to her. When she had cried and begged him to stop.

"Shut up." He pressed the blade deeper, piercing the flesh as she felt the blood trickling down her back. He'd smiled a sinister smile when she obeyed. He got up and walked to the door, turning back with a stone-cold face.

"Oh, and Sweetheart?" she cringed at the pet name now as she looked up at him through blurry, tear-soaked eyes. "Tell anyone about this and I will kill everyone you love." Her eyes widened at the hard coldness in his eyes. It told her that he would in fact do just that, "And I'll start with your dear Mommy."

After he had closed the door behind him Aria had cured into a tight ball, ignoring the aching in her back as she processed what had happened. He'd kill her mom, and anyone she cared for. Her tears had soaked her stained bed and that was when it all began. Her silence, her near daily cleaning to the point of pain, and the scars. So many scars. Her back had the worst of it, but her arms were also damaged enough to be noticed and she couldn't afford to be noticed.

Her mother had been concerned in the beginning, sending Aria to therapy and doctors, all of which just said that there was nothing physically wrong with me, that I just didn't want to speak. She cried and begged Aria to talk, but she refused. She just...couldn't. After a couple of years, her mother finally accepted it, and would no longer ask her to speak anymore. She started asking yes and no questions and when she was around, Aria felt kind of okay. But those moments were only few and far between due to her mother being a defender for the towns law firm. It was something she hoped to go to school for too, but she wanted to specialize in helping those in her own position and putting away the people that could do such heinous things.

Aria was dragged from her thoughts as the sound of the tardy warning began playing over the school's speakers. She'd made it on campus without even realizing it. She panicked. If the tardy bell rang, the students not in class were sent to a Study Hall class where they were given a notice to send home to their parents to sign and forced to work on their homework. Though the thought didn't particularly bother Aria as she liked being given free time to focus on something other than her home life, but she had never been tardy to class her entire life, and she wasn't going to start now. So, ignoring the cold air entering her lungs painfully, she started running. She was still halfway across campus.