Nightmares (slow updates!)

Chapter 17

Patrick's POV

I shoved past people dancing and talking as I made my way through the house in search of Poppy. I hated party's like this, but as belch would say 'free beer is better then stolen beer', which is a statement I do not necessarily agree with.

She had told me she was going to the bathroom before some stupid fucking kid had spilled a drink all over bowers, then proceeded to try to start a fight with him, to drunk for judgement. Lets just say that fucker got what was coming to him.

It was so loud, I wouldn't have been surprised if poppy had locked herself in the bathroom to escape the noise. I made it to a large group a people dancing to the blaring music and finally spotted her across the room. "Poppy" I yelled as I made my way through the crowd and into the kitchen. To my left a group of girls were comforting another girl who was currently drunkenly crying her eyes out, crouched against the wall. So fucking annoying.

"Poppy!" I called again as I finally made it to her. She looked in my direction and her face lit up. "Oh hi" she said waving at me excitedly. She took a few steps in my direction before stumbling and tripping. I caught her by the waist, yanking her back up before she had the chance to hit the ground. The smell of vodka radiated off of her strongly, she was actually drunk, and not just regular tipsy drunk. She was drunk out of her fucking mind. "Hey dumb ass" I replied, leaning her back against the counter.

Her face changed into a pout and tears welled up in her big green eyes. "Are you mad at me?" she questioned, leaning her forehead against my chest. I rolled my eyes, setting my hand against her lower back to support her. Usually I wouldn't baby her so much, but she was so fucking drunk I almost felt bad. Not really. "Stop crying"

"I'm not crying! My eyes are having a bath." she replied, slurring her words as she wiped her tears. I bit the inside of my lip to keep myself from smirking "Ok let's go, belch is waiting in the car" I said grabbing her hips and guiding her towards the door. She groaned dragging her feet. "I'm dizzy, carry me." she demanded holding her arms up. I quickly complied knowing that it would get us out of here much faster then me having to drag her all the way out to the damn car.

I picked her up and she wrapped her legs around my waist, a satisfied smile plastered on her face. I felt her hand reach up as she started petting me. I held her up, walking quickly out to the car. "Your so pretty" she said, sighing as she snuggled her nose against my neck. I rolled my eyes once again, knowing that we were close enough that everyone in the car could hear her drunken comments.

"Oh shit" belch laughed. "Is she actually drunk?" he said, an almost shocked expression on his face, "Shut up and drive" I replied setting her down in the car, shoving her inside before I climbed in myself. "Belch, you wanna know something? Your such a good driver, you never even crash and kill us and that's like super impressive" she said leaning forward, resting her elbows on the center console. "Uh thanks" he replied with a chuckle, turning the key and letting the engine roar to life. "Your absolutely welcome" she nodded before leaning her head on my shoulder and promptly falling asleep.

I was still sleeping at her house, her dad was still in England, god knows when he was coming back. Come to think of it, she had never even told me why he was over there to begin with. As belch pulled to a halt in her driveway, I climbed out of the car, grabbing poppy and tossing her over my shoulder.
"Night assholes" I yelled back to them as I made my way to the front door.

"Fuck, the keys." I grumbled, pulling the girl from my shoulder and setting her feet on the ground. I dug two of my fingers into her pocket, searching.
Once I found it I picked her up once again, shoving the metal object into the lock and listening for a click. I pushed the door open and made my way inside. Carrying her up the stairs, I plopping the drunken girl down on her bed as I started to take her shoes off. She groaned, resting her hand on the back of my neck to keep herself sitting up. "My stomach hurts" she complained.

"Well, don't drink so much and that wouldn't happened" I countered, tossing her shoes away. "Oh, shut up, bloody cunt." she growled, shoving my shoulder as she rolled into her bed. I chuckled "You talk to you mom with that mouth?" I joked. Suddenly she froze at the mention. There was no emotion on her face, almost as if she was trying to force herself not to think.

"It was a joke."

"I know. She's why my dad is in England. He went to see her at the asylum" she said, her eyes locked on the ceiling fan. I gave her a confused look. "Why's she in an asylum?" I asked expecting at any moment for her to change the subject, like she always did with topics she didn't want to discuss.

"She did something really bad to me" she said hanging her head as she played with her fingers. "What?" I asked. The thought of someone else hurting her made my fucking blood boil. There was a long moment of silence before she spoke again. "She tried to kill me. She took a knife and she stabbed me, over and over and over. She said that I wasn't the real poppy." She replied, speaking slowly as if the memory was hard for her to think about.

My teeth were clenched so hard it made my jaw ache, but I stayed quiet, I didn't know how to react without causing her to shut down. "She tortured me for years, saying that I was a fake, that I was just pretending to be poppy. There's something wrong with me, that's why she did it" she laughed, but I could see the tears streaming down her rosy cheeks as she spoke. "She wouldn't have hurt me if I had just been a good girl like she wanted."

All I could think about was the life leaving her moms eyes as I did to her what she did to poppy. She had never told me any of this before, and now I knew why. "That's what I saw that night I took all those pills. I hadn't even remembered what happened and then when I saw it, when I felt it again it was to much." she continued. I pushed her towards the wall as I kicked off my boots, laying beside her.

Before I got the chance to reply to anything she had said her eyes fell shut and small noises came from her as she fell asleep. I knew she probably wouldn't remember anything she had said in the morning but I learned so much about her that night.

She had been tortured, traumatized by what had happened to her. The thought of her having to go through those things made me feel like a hole had opened up in my chest. Like nothing I had ever felt before. It was different then anger, different then the pure rage that I felt so often, but I couldn't explain it.  I laid there staring at her as the moon lit up her tearstained face. She was mine now, and no one was ever going to hurt her again.