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“Mateo”
How can this be? How are they here with me? Is it a figment of my imagination? Am I so far gone that I am conjuring my fellow kings before me?
“Carter.” The name leaves my mouth in a rush, stabbing pain piercing my chest and fear coating my limbs. I look back into the eyes of the stranger staring down at me.
“He’s okay, Theo, he’s alive.” The voice that sounds like Finn calls from my side. I can’t see him, and I can’t make my body turn in that direction. Fear is choking me, paralyzing my weak body. This could be another of my father’s sick tricks. They might not even be here.
“Theo, we need you to calm down and stop thrashing, son. You’re going to bust open your sutures.” The unknown male speaks to me, using his hands to hold me still. No, please, no more! More tears escape my eyes and slide down my face. I should be embarrassed about my weakness, but I have nothing left in me. I am nothing but this feeble, useless creature that couldn’t save himself or Carter.
“I’m going to remove my hands from you, son, but you need to calm down. You are safe and in a hospital. Your friends are here. No one is going to hurt you.” The male hastily removes his hands and steps back from me, putting space between his body and mine. Finally, my eyes move away from him and down to where my legs are.
Mateo is standing there with terror on his face, tears making tracks down his dirt-smudged face. His hair is a rat’s nest, anguish across his elf-like features. His arms are crossed tightly over his chest as if he’s trying to hold himself together. I turn my head slowly to the right and glimpse Finn. He’s here; he’s actually in this room with me. He looks so scared; his hands tighten into fists at his side. My chest rises and falls with rapid breaths. How can this be? They went with Mia; they were safe. How can they be here?
“Theo.” The soft voice calls from my left, turning my vision back in that direction. The sight that greets me has my breath leaving me in a harsh exhale. Beautiful dirty blonde hair, large frightened blue eyes, and soft pouty lips meet my gaze. A sharp cry leaves her mouth, tears like diamonds on her lashes, escaping and trailing down her high cheekbones. She rakes her hand through her thick hair and rubs at her face, her body tense.
Mia, my beautiful, vicious little queen. How? How can Mia be here? She’s supposed to be safe in Manhattan. Carter told me she made it out, that my father couldn’t get his evil hands on her. Am I dead? Is that what’s happening here? Is Satan trying to tempt me with visions of my friends and love?
“Dead?” I whisper.
“No, bro, you’re alive. Barely.” Finn’s voice replies from my side, but I can’t take my eyes off the vision in front of me. She looks terrified like she doesn’t know what to do and is physically holding herself back.
Finally, she steps forward, drawing nearer to me. The stranger stepping aside and allowing her to come forward. Her shoulders are hunched, tears still making their way down her beautiful face as she rapidly wipes them away with agitation. Her large blue eyes shine with fear. A sob escapes her as she leans across my body, and panic overtakes me. Darkness clouds my vision and mind.
I jerk my body away from her touch, fear, and horror invading my mind, a sharp cry escaping me. I can’t bear for her to touch me. The images and memory of others’ hands roaming on my body against my will fills my senses. I press myself further into the metal bed rail on my side, my hands coming up to ward her off, trying to escape her touch.
“No,” I cry out.
Mia immediately straightens and reels back from me as if I’ve hit her. Her body goes rigid, and her eyes widen in horror. She opens her lips as if to speak, but no sound makes its way out of her beautiful soft lips. Shock and surprise make their way across her face, her mouth set in a hard line. Beautiful ocean-blue eyes trail over my face, trying to see inside the messed-up place that is my mind.
My mind tries to reassure me that it’s Mia we are seeing. She won’t hurt us. But my whole body revolts against the thought of being touched, even by her soft hands. Bile fills my mouth, and my heart speeds up again at just the thought of hers or anyone’s hands touching any part of me. You’re weak, boy…but I will make you strong. My father’s voice whispers through my mind.
I turn away from her horrified features, unable to maintain her stare, and back towards Mateo and the stranger. “How?” The whisper leaves my lips.
“We got you and Carter out. You’re both safe now.” Mateo answers me with a shaky voice.
Safe? I’ll never be safe again, my mind denies. I stare into Mateo’s sad green eyes and realize that he’s a fool if he thinks there is any way we can be safe ever again. There will never be a way to stop the monsters from coming and destroying what’s left of me. ‘What’s left of you?’, my mind asks. Not much, it seems.
“You should have let me die.” The words leave my mouth, and I taste the truthfulness behind them.
Chapter 9
Mia
"A strong person is one who is quiet and sheds tears for a moment, and then picks up her sword and fights again " Xena, Xena: Warrior Princess
Shocksoarsthroughmybody at Theo’s reaction; he’s trying to pull as far away from me as the bed rails will allow. The look of pure horror, anguish, and disgust on his face at my touch. His hoarse cry of “No” shatters my heart and has me stumbling back, my mind screaming from his rejection.
My gaze turns away from him to meet Finn’s, and I can see the shock on his face as well at Theo’s reaction to my touch. He takes a step towards me, but I shake my head. He needs to be here for Theo, not comforting me.Something is terribly wrong here. How can Theo be so frightened of me?
Taking a further step away from the bed, I make my way to the open doorway of the hospital room and then slip out into the quiet hallway. My legs feel like they won’t hold my body any further. I force my body to lean against the wall to catch my breath and process my thoughts. My body slides down the hard wall to the floor, and I wrap my arms tightly around my knees; finally letting the sobs that are trapped in my throat out. They’re loud in the empty hallway and echo back to me. The sounds of a heart breaking into multiple pieces.The sounds of weakness!My mind roars.
What did they do to him? He looks so terrified. Scared of me, afraid of all of us. Fear races down my body. What if he never comes back to me, or he never recovers from what his psychotic demon father put him through? Based on what the doctor said and the condition he was in, they beat him severely. I know he’s lucky to be alive and breathing. They broke a few of his ribs, his hand, two of his fingers, and his cheekbone. Not to mention all the lacerations and stab wounds that needed stitches, his spleen had ruptured, and the internal bleeding caused all the blood loss he suffered.
When he was brought in two days ago, the emergency room doctor mentioned that he thought Theo had been sexually assaulted. There was evidence collected. Surely he had to be wrong? Could Vincent have allowed others to rape Theo? Could he himself have raped him? His only son? Would that monster have been capable of that kind of evil? Bile races up my throat, and I crawl to my knees, emptying the contents of my stomach on the hall floor.
“Mia?” Bare tattooed feet shuffle into my sightline, and I follow them up to bare hairy tattooed legs and a blue hospital gown. Craning my neck, I stare up at Carter with his shoulder and arm inside of a sling, hair a ragged mess, bruises all over his beautiful face, and husky eyes filled with concern.
I swipe the back of my hand across my mouth and wipe my tears on my forearm. I drag my body up to stand in front of him. I want to chastise him for escaping his room, despite the doctor telling him to stay put, but the words won’t leave my mouth. A sob I try to hold back escapes instead, and it sounds pitiful and loud in the empty hallway. Weakness is unbecoming of a Stratford. Where is the tough bitch Mia Stratford hiding now?
