“Amelia?”

Something gripped my shoulder, shaking my body.

“Amelia? Hey come on! Wake up damnit!”

My eyes fluttered open. My vision was blurry and hazy shapes were moving in front of my eyes, but I couldn’t bring them into focus. I closed my eyes again and welcomed the darkness once again. I just needed to sleep.

“Amelia!”

More shaking. My hands meekly reached out to shoo away the annoyance. I just wanted to close my eyes and go to sleep. I wanted the comfort of the dark but the shaking didn’t stop. I rolled onto my side, sinking further into something soft, hoping whoever it was would get the idea and leave me alone.

“Wake up!”

I sighed, couldn’t I be left alone? Just once? I sighed once more, my throat scratchy and sore, and rolled back onto my back, slowly opening my eyes. A familiar pair of warm, walnut-brown eyes clouded my vision. I blinked and drew my eyebrows together. Where had I seen those eyes? I couldn’t remember. My head was pounding.

“Hey,” Brown-eyes pulled back revealing the rest of face. Brian. What the hell! I jolted up into a sitting position, my hand sinking into the mattress. Fuck! What was he doing here? He couldn’t be here! Where was Zack?

“Wh-” I started only to be seized by a coughing fit. My breath burnt the inside of my throat, rising along my neck and a hot, scorching pain erupted from my lungs. Breathing hurt. But why? Desperation settled in and like a madman, my nails clawed at the tender skin of my neck, wincing as my fingers touched damaged skin. But it didn’t help, the fire kept spreading.

“Here, drink this!” Brian hastily shoved a glass of water in my face. I stared at it and back up at him. What was going on! Why was he here? Where was Zack? I shook my head, so many questions were running through it, slowly driving me insane, and snatched the glass up. Greedily, I gulped down the cool liquid. Stubborn drops of water dribbled down my chin and neck, but I ignored them. All I could think about was how good the liquid felt against my throat, the burn was slowly subsiding.

“Thanks,” I managed to rasped out once I had downed the glass.

Brian didn’t say anything. He simply nodded and snatched the glass back, setting it down on the night stand beside the bed. I rubbed my eyes and glanced around the room – my room. How did I get here? I blinked and drew my eyebrows together.

Surely enough I would remember walking to my room and inviting Brian in, wouldn’t I? My nightlamp had been switched on, its pale light casted sinister shadows on the walls and eerily lit up the numerous posters I had put up. My frown deepened and a sudden gut-wrenching feeling erupted from stomach.

Mom.

It had to be her. It could only be her! Why else would Brian be here? Why else would he be in my room? There was no way I would let him otherwise… would I?

I gulped down my growing uneasiness and faced Brian. “What happened? Why are you here?”

Brian averted his eyes and chose to look at anything except me. I gulped. Please God, please, tell me it wasn’t something bad. I watched Brian carefully, watching as a range of emotions crossed his face only for a blank mask to befall his features. Crap. Chewing on my bottom lip, I glanced down at the bed and randomly started picking at the duvet, suddenly interested in the frilly decorations and sewed in sequences.

“How often does this happen ‘Melia?” Brian’s voice was flat, void of any emotion.

I felt the colour drain from face. My heart beat stuttered, skipping a beat before erratically pounding away. I couldn’t hear anything over the rush of blood in my ears and my rapidly increasing heartbeat.

“I-I don’t know wh-”

“Cut the bullshit Amelia!”

I flinched. Brian’s tone was angry and harsh.

“It doesn’t matter,” I managed to choke out. A lump had formed in my throat. I continued picking the at the duvet, my eyes intently focused on my task. There was no way I would be able to look at him. Not now. Not when my eyes were filled with unshed tears. I would not cry, could not cry in front of him.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” He yelled, slamming his fists in the duvet, startling me. “She almost fucking killed you Amelia! How can you say that doesn’t matter!”

I flinched, noting how he had pronounced the ‘A’ in my name. Why was he so angry? Why should he care? Besides, I couldn’t tell him, wouldn’t tell him. No matter how hard I would try, not matter how many tears I shed or things I threw, I couldn’t tell him. I couldn’t tell him about any of it!

I closed my eyes and breathe in deeply. I needed to be alone, to think about what might have happened – what did happen? What did my mother do? What did Brian see? Did she do something to him? Did he do something to her?

My eyes flew open.

“Where is she?” My voice cracked. Fear bubbled inside of me.

Brian didn’t reply. I watched as he clenched his fists in his lap, the skin of his knuckles a deathly pale. He unclenched his them only to clench them up again. The silence was crushing me. My chest constricted, caving in slowly on itself.

A hundred thoughts were running through my head, but I tried to shove them aside, refusing to give in to any of them. He wouldn’t hurt her, would he? She wouldn’t, would she? The lump in my throat reappeared

I swallowed thickly. “B-Brian?”

His fists were still tightly clenched in his lap, his eyes pinched shut and mouth drawn in a tight line. He didn’t react to his name. I nibbled on my lip and stretched my hand out, hesitantly gripping his wrist. Slowly, he opened his eyes and turned to face me, his stare hard and angry. Blood instantly rushed to my ears and my heart furiously pounded against my chest.

“I don’t know,” he spat vehemently.

“What does that mean?” My chest constricted, the wind knocked out of me. Fuck.

“It means I was too busy making sure you were still breathing to worry about that bitch!”

I doubled back, shocked at what he had just said. “Brian, that’s my mothe-”

He leapt off the bed, cutting me off when he faced me, his face a distorted mask of disgust and anger. His deep pools of brown shown with unknown emotions. I held my breath and braced myself for what might happen.

“Jesus Christ, Amelia! I don’t care if she’s your mother or not! She fucking damn-well strangled you!” he gripped my arm and yanked me to my feet. His grip was like iron, fingers dug into my skin, pressing harder and harder as he dragged me across my room.

“Brian, what are you doing!” I shrieked, trying to pry his hand off my arm. He wasn’t having it, his grip tightened ad I whimpered as I felt fresh bruises form.

Suddenly, he came to an abrupt halt and with a rough tug, he threw me in front of the body mirror that had been installed behind my door. I stumbled over my feet but he caught me, steading me with his iron-clad grasp.

“Look in the mirror Amelia,” Brian’s voice was low and gruff, riddled with unidentifiable emotions.

I shook my head ‘no’ and glanced down at my feet. An uneasy feeling had suddenly settled over me and the mere thought of glancing at the mirror – my refection chilled me to the bone. I didn’t want to look. I wanted to crawl back in bed and forget about this day.

Brian huffed out air and gripped my face in his hand, his grip a lot more tender than he had been. Forcefully, he tilted my head up and forced me to face the mirror. Instantly, I shut me eyes closed. I couldn’t do this. He groaned in frustration, breaking the silence between us.

“Amelia, open your eyes!”

Silent tears streaked down my face, wetting his hand yet he still refused to let go. I began to tremble, a cold shiver racked my body yet he paid attention to none of it. His grip was firm yet tender, angry yet caring.

“’Melia, open your eyes,” he said a couple of seconds later, his voice softer. “Please.”

My lower lip quivered. One after the other, I opened my eyes and met the frightened gaze of my reflection. She was a mess, she no longer resembled me – perfect Amelia. Her eyes blood-shot, her hair tangled. I scanned her over, my eyes trailing over the tattered dress, her bare arms, her shoulders…

I gasped.

I watched as my reflection drew her right hand up to her neck, gently trailing a finger over an angry, blue-red bruise that spanned over the width of her neck. Smaller, oval bruises littered the side. She stopped over one and curiously pressed it. Instant pain spread through my neck, tears instantly sprung to my eyes.

I swung my head back, meeting Brian’s hard gaze. “What…”

A heavy silence fell over us. Through the mirror, I watched as Brian’s hands slid around my neck and closed around them.

My eyes went wide.

“She strangled you, Amelia, wrapped her hands around your neck,” He began to squeeze, his fingers pressing into my bruise. Pain shot through my neck. “And squeezed.”

“ENOUGH!” I screamed and elbowed him in the gut. Caught off guard, Brian stumbled backwards. Failing to steady himself. With a loud thud, he toppled to the floor.

“YOU’RE LYING!” I began to sob violently. He had to be! She wouldn’t try to kill me! No matter how bad things got, no matter how drunk or angry she became, she would never try to kill me. “S-she’d nev-ver…”

I trailed off, collapsing to the floor with the sudden realisation that she would. I couldn’t hold myself up anymore. I didn’t have the strength. This was all too much. I closed my eyes and let the tears flow freely down my cheeks.

“It’s okay ‘Melia,” Brian enveloped me in his arms and began threading his fingers through my hair, probably trying to soothe me.

We sat there for a long time in silence. Just him and I. The last thing I remembered before drifting off to sleep, was Brian’s soft murmurings and his strong hold around me.

Notes

Happy New Year to all you wonderful readers. Thank you for all your comments and love!

So, I'm not too sure what's going on with Brian and Amelia and Amelia and Zack but I am excited to find out. Also, what the hell happened to Amelia's mom?

I promise to update soon! For the moment, please leave some love - comment, subscribe and rate!

C.H. Sullivan

Title Cred: Welcome to the Family - Avenged Sevenfold