THIRTY-TWO

THIRTY-TWO

It was as if something suddenly switched on inside of me. Some could say it was bravery, others could define it as stupidity.

My initial thought was one of fear. But then, as though I had reached my capacity of taking shit without saying anything, I started to feel angry. Angry at the intruder, angry at myself, angry at everything.

You see those people whose worst fear was whether they passed their exam or not... I wanted to be one of those people. I wanted to be worried over something so pointless and pathetic rather than being worried for my own life. I had pretty much had it.

"Fuck this." I muttered to myself, staring at the door as if the person behind it could hear me. I pushed myself off the floor and angrily swiped across my wet cheeks. I was crying, they were just wet on their own accord.

I took a step away from the door, my eyes still locked on it. I know he was still there, the looming presence still evident and crawling up my skin. "Fuck you." I spat out.

It was silent behind the door.

"Fuck you!" I screamed, much louder this time making sure that he heard me.

What was the reply? A single knock on the door.

The hairs on my arms rose up and then I questioned myself whether what I was doing was okay or not. I didn't ponder much further on it, shutting myself down incase I started to ponder further and waste my time. I turned on my heel and hastily made for the window.

My brilliant plan was as simple as life should be. I was going to jump out the window. And then I was going to run for my fucking life.

My hands rested on the window sill, my forehead pressed against the cold window. The jump down was high... But heck I jumped down from a tree when I was younger and that was more frightening.

I did everything quick. No time to talk myself out of it. I opened the window as wide as I could and hurled myself out there.

It all happened too fast and before I knew it I was on the ground. I could only recall the rush of the window taking me back by force for a millisecond before I hit the ground, my knees first and then followed by my chest. I had hoped I would land on my feet but that was wishful thinking on my part.

The impact didn't hit me until my head dropped down on the floor. But it didn't last long before my whole body somehow had a delayed reaction and then decided that everything was too much for it.

It slowly gave up on me, my eyelids slowly shutting themselves down. The last thing I remembered was hearing the crunching sounds of footsteps by my ears.

****

I woke up to someone pulling me off the ground effortlessly. Their hands were under me as they lifted me off the ground and into their arms. I fell into them, welcoming the warmth. I didn't have any energy inside me, all my limbs shattered in me. I felt my bones complain and my head was screaming at me.

They carried me inside the house and planted me in the sofa in the first room. A soft cry left my mouth as their warmth disappeared.

I heard them say something but I wasn't with it to actually make out what they said. I felt the side of the sofa fall down and then a second later I felt something wet and warm being pressed against my forehead.

"What's that for?" I said over my heavy mouth. I'm not sure they got what I said since I mixed up a few words.

"You cut yourself when you jumped."

I stopped squirming under the touch when I registered whose voice spoke from above me.

"Please tell me all that happened today was a fucked up nightmare," I said softly.

Link was quiet for a few seconds, not sure how to answer my question. Eventually he spoke.

"You're safe now."

I cranked open my eyes and saw Link's face directly above mine. His eyes were big and dark, holding my gaze firmly. I couldn't look away, not with the hold he had over me. His face said it all, the frustration he was bearing and how he made sure I was okay.

"Is he gone?" I asked him slowly.

"Yeah." Link answered quietly.

"Did you see who it was?"

I saw the flash of anger cross his face. "No."

I shot up the chair, catching Link off guard and the wet towel that pressed on my forehead fell to the ground. Link, seeming surprised by my sudden move tried to push me down by my shoulders.

"Relax," he tried to calm me down, ease the nerves that suddenly were rattled. It was to no use as I fought against his force and sprang up off the sofa.

The quick movement was a dumb move on my part as I fought to gain equilibrium longer than I anticipated. My head started spinning, tiny black dots appearing in the corner of my vision. I blinked a few times, unsure of what exactly was happening to me but nevertheless, I wasn't going to cave in.

I looked around the house until my eyes could make out what they were seeing exactly. Ahead to the hallway, I saw the mess that he left behind and a small cry escaped out of me.

I frantically jumped over the ottoman that divided the room, stumbling slightly over the miscalculated jump. I collected myself and stumbled into the hallway, another muffled cry escaping from my throat.

"No," I cried out upon seeing the broken glass, the broken vase and the ruined carpet. "My parents are going to come and see this." I cried to myself, dropping down to my knees and hastily picking up the pieces of glass that were scattered on the carpet.

A hand came down in my shoulder. "Ori chill chill," Link said in a low voice from above me. But I was registering anything with all this mess in front of me, one of the few evidence that he was in my home.

"I need to clean this," I told him, picking up as much glass as I could. I stood up, intending to go to the nearest bin and get rid of it.

Link grabbed me from my arm and pulled me back, away from the kitchen where I was heading. By force he turned me around and made me drop everything I was holding in my hands.

"Are you insane?" He exclaimed in a low, hissing voice. His eyes, big and dark and scary looking under the lack of light glared at me. He roughly flipped my hands around and pushed them into my face. "You are just hurting yourself."

I saw then the damage of the sharp glass I had in my hands. Every part of my palm had cuts in them, various parts oozing out thick crimson blood. I moved a finger and instantly felt the sting.

My vision started to blur and, because I was so fucking pissed and so scared, tears of anger poured down my face. "I'm gonna kill this person." I snarled at Link.

He ignored me and dragged me back to the sofa, losing all sense to be calm around me. This time he was the agitated one. He pushed me down the sofa, furiously pointing a finger in my face.

"Stay the fuck put. I'm going clean your hands and get the mess cleaned up."

I shook my head at him. "No, clean the mess first incase my parents are going be back-"

"I got someone watching them and I'll be notified as soon as they're coming."

My mouth dropped open, my eyebrows reaching my hairline. "How?" I asked him slowly.

Link, still glaring at me answered my question quickly. "Favours and don't ask anything else, I'm not in a talking mood." He snapped at me.

I visibly shrunk under the chair and watched as Link walked out the room and into the kitchen. I heard a few cabinets being opened and then slammed shut, each one making me jump. The tap was running for a while and then it was put off, the next minute Link strolled in with a few wet towels and some bandages.

"I couldn't find the first aid kit and I don't have the time to search." He admitted when he came and went down on his knees next to me. At this new position, Link's eyes were directly in line to mine.

He grabbed my right hand first and placed it palm facing upwards on my knee.  "It doesn't matter-" I started to say as he lifted the wet towel and started to wipe clean the blood that smeared my whole hand.

"Don't," he interjected sharply. "Don't say this doesn't matter because it fucking well does."

Jheeze. I sat back and let him do whatever the hell he pleased. I watched him silently clean my hands, each move of his slow and delicate which didn't match his harsh looking hands. Each stroke put me in a trance, my eyelids slowly dropping low. The pain was getting bearable by the minute and as Link finished up and wrapped my hand with bandages, I felt no pain anymore.

"You are going to sit here and wait until I clean the other mess." Link ordered, pushing himself off the ground.

I nodded at him, mostly because I had no energy inside me and his nursing put me in a serene trance. A trance I didn't want to -and probably couldn't - get out off.

I closed my eyes, finally giving in to the pull that Link left for me. I heard him walking around the houses, seemingly cleaning the place up for me. Appreciation swam inside of me until I was drowning inside of admiration.

He was taking care of it. Of everything.

////

ATTENTION PLEASE MY LOVES

As some of you may have experienced already, there are now ads on my story. I want to explain before you guys assume the worst. Wattpad is still a free platform/community. But I've been given this opportunity to make something out of my passion.. Just watch it, it's really short and it would go miles to my dream to become a published author.

Thank you lovelies xoxox

> and before ya'll gonna switch on be about this being a short chapter.... Good things are coming (Link's PoV)