Ava by L.G.Savage (HeartBreak)

Chapter 25

Screams. Blood. The crunching sounds.

Screams. Blood. The crunching sounds.

That same scene repeated over and over again until Ava jolted awake.

There was nothing but the pitch black around her and the shadows receding from her dreams. The sudden movement made her groan and close her eyes as she lay back and curled into a fetal position. Breathing hurt, but she had to take deep breaths to calm herself. As usual these days, her nightmares were accompanied by a panic attack. With her body in so much pain, she felt frozen in place, all her muscles seizing up.

She couldn’t move, she couldn’t breathe…

This was really where she died. In this school, alone, with people who played with her like she was a piece of meat.

She tried all her usual techniques–counting, focusing on drawing deep breaths, thinking of something else. It wasn’t working. Her lungs started to burn as all the chaotic thoughts in her head told her she was dying. Her heart’s loud, erratic beating was the only sound in the dark room. She wanted to pull on her pyjamas–they felt constricting even though she had worn her shorts and strappy vest top–but her muscles were too still to move.

Then there was a gentle touch on her back and the whispered word, “Breathe”

The voice washed over her and calmed her as if all she needed to draw deeper breaths was his command.

In and out. In and out. She concentrated on the deep breaths until her lungs stopped burning and her mind calmed down.

Then she felt the mattress dip and the heat of his body behind her. His spicy cologne filled her nose as she relaxed against him and closed her eyes. His warm breath blew against her necks he nestled closer and wrapped his large arm gently around her.

She didn’t know when she had fallen asleep, but the sky was lightning outside her window when her eyes opened, and she was very much alone.

Had she dreamt that? Had she missed him so much that she had taken to imagining he would come into her room in the middle of the night? If so, then she was more messed up than she thought.

stiff body to move. It was Saturday, but she was

didn’t have to share, and no one would hurry her if she soaked her body for a while. She ran the bath and then stood in front of the floor–to–ceiling mirror before slowly feeling

wasn’t any part of her that wasn’t cut, bruised, sprained or swollen in some way. She’d thought she would be out of the matches after her first loss, but the coach said she needed all the help she could get to bring her skills up to par.

the second week after the

they mean to kill her? Would she really leave this place in a

– Stream

Day

Jan

Chapter 25

to see the

2453

11

punished for sometimes letting her mouth run away from her and ending up with

detentions.

just one giant sore, and still, nobody wanted to listen to her to get

aid kit that Zeke had given her. She didn’t know

limped to the kitchen, she was half an hour late and had

quicker, human. The place is a mess, have some

can’t move any quicker than

or I will report you!”

It was like they kept the page open on

could mark it.