Four or Dead by G O A

“It’s…Asher.”

I gasped and quickly try to pull my hand away from him.

“No…no no!” I said moving further up my bed and making myself smaller.

“Emma…please..it’s okay. I won’t hurt you, I swear.” He said, his voice soft.

No wonder I didn’t recognize his voice. He hardly ever spoke to me and when he did his voice taunting and cold. His voice was now soft and kind, something I had never heard from him.

“What are you doing here? Why? To hurt me?” I asked pulling my legs closer to me, making myself as small as possible.

“No of course not! I wouldn’t hurt you.” He said, his voice sounded wounded.

“But you have hurt me before. You let others hurt me…” I said a hint of anger in my voice.

He sighed yet again.

“I know. I know Emma. I’m so sorry. I had no idea everything that was going on with you…all the scars…you have been in so much pain and we hurt you even more. I can never make up for what’s been done to you, but I will try if you let me.”

I shook my head in disbelief.

“How could I ever trust any of you? After everything, I can never trust you.”

His blurry figure moved closer to me and he reached his hand out to cup my face. I whimpered and readied myself for pain, but it didn’t come.

“I will never hurt you again, and I won’t let anyone else hurt you again either. I will not let you go back to that house, Emma. Your father has been hurting you…they said…that you had trauma…that you had been  abused as well.” His voice grew softly at those last words.

I swallowed hard and tears fell with ease.

“Y–yes.”

He already knew so there was no point in lying now. “How could they tell?” I asked him.

“They said there was external scarring that concerned them, so they did an internal exam and found scarring there as well.” He replied with a cautious tone.

“Why did they tell you all this?” I asked him, tightening my arms around my legs.

“They tried reaching your father at first, but he couldn’t be reached, then when they examined you  , they didn’t want him anywhere near you. Leo asked if we could be temporarily responsible for you until the investigation against your father is complete. Since you have no other family, and since my father is well known and trusted they agreed.” He said.

I scoffed.

“Of course. Your family name was all that was needed to take me from one hell to another with no say from me.”

I think he was taken aback by words as much as I was because he fell silent for a while. I had no idea where that fierceness came from, but this whole situation was insane. I was mad now. My chance to get out of this messed up situation had been ruined and now I was trapped in the clutches of the very people who had tormented me for the last three years. No matter how genuine Asher sounded, I didn’t believe a word of it. There was a reason why they did this, and I wouldn’t let my guard down not even for one second. I may be mostly blind, but I would fight shadows any day then become a victim again. I may be weak, but I needed to get away somehow. There had to be a way to break free.