CHAPTER 13 — The Moment Everything Shattered
1406 Words
CHAPTER 13 — The Moment Everything Shattered
Elias lasted one more day.
One more day of watching Amani walk through the school gates with empty eyes.
One more day of seeing her sit alone, far from him and Zariah, staring at nothing.
One more day of hearing her voice flat and lifeless whenever she was forced to speak.
By the time the final bell rang, something inside him snapped completely.
He couldn’t wait.
He couldn’t stay quiet.
He couldn’t just watch from a distance anymore.
Amani wasn’t just sad.
She wasn’t just stressed.
She was disappearing.
And if he let her disappear, he would never forgive himself.
---
He Follows Her Again
Amani didn’t notice him trailing behind her after school.
She walked faster than usual, head down, clutching her bag tightly as if it held all her secrets.
Elias stayed far enough not to be noticed, but close enough to protect her if anything happened.
When she reached her small house, she unlocked the door without looking around.
Elias hesitated at the gate.
I can’t keep standing out here, he thought.
She needs someone.
His heart pounded as he walked to the door and knocked.
Once.
Twice.
No answer.
He raised his hand to knock again—
—and the door moved slightly.
It hadn’t closed properly when she rushed inside.
Elias froze.
“...Amani?” he called softly.
Silence.
Concern overpowered hesitation.
He pushed the door gently and stepped inside.
---
Inside the Quiet House
The house was painfully quiet.
Too quiet.
Amani’s shoes were lying haphazardly at the door.
Her schoolbag was dropped on the floor halfway down the hallway.
Something wasn’t right.
Elias took slow steps forward.
“Amani…?”
Still no answer.
His heart hammered.
“Amani, are you here?”
He followed the dim light seeping from under one door — her bedroom.
He stopped outside, swallowing hard.
He shouldn’t be doing this.
He shouldn’t enter.
He knew that.
But fear was louder than morals.
He knocked lightly.
“Amani? It’s me. Elias.”
No response.
His chest tightened.
He pushed the door open.
---
The Sight That Broke Him
Amani was sitting on the floor beside her bed.
Her arms were wrapped around her knees.
Her eyes were glued to her laptop screen — wide, empty, haunted.
The video was playing.
The same video she had been watching every day for almost two weeks.
The laptop’s weak speakers filled the room with faint noises Elias instantly recognized:
A muffled cry.
A choked beg.
A voice he recognized — Ethan’s.
Elias froze, his breath catching painfully in his throat.
He stepped forward slowly, horrified, not believing what he was seeing.
“Amani… what is that?” he whispered.
She didn’t flinch.
Didn’t blink.
Didn’t react.
She was completely lost in the video — drowning in it.
“That night…” her voice cracked, barely a whisper. “This is the proof. I didn’t lie.”
Elias felt like the ground had been ripped from beneath him.
He moved closer, trembling, his pulse loud in his ears.
He could see everything now:
A younger Amani.
Terrified.
Frozen.
Begging.
Ethan grabbing her.
Pushing her.
Forcing her.
Elias’s stomach twisted violently.
His fists clenched until his nails dug into his palms.
His chest tightened with a rage so sharp it felt like a blade.
“Amani…” His voice shook. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She blinked slowly, as if his voice was dragging her back from the bottom of the ocean.
“I couldn’t,” she whispered. “No one believed me. My mother blamed me. Everyone said Ethan would never do that. They said I wanted it.”
Elias’s face twisted in heartbreak and disbelief.
“What?” he breathed. “They blamed you?”
Amani nodded weakly.
Tears began to gather in her eyes, but they didn’t fall.
“I kept the truth buried… I tried to forget.”
Her breath shuddered.
“But the USB… this video… it made everything real again. And I can’t stop watching it. I don’t know why. I think I’m trying to prove to myself that it wasn’t my fault.”
Her voice broke.
“But every time I watch it… I feel smaller. Dirtier. More disgusting.”
“Amani—stop,” Elias said sharply, his voice cracking. “You’re not disgusting. You’re not dirty. You’re not—!”
His voice choked with emotion.
She looked at him finally — really looked — and the numbness in her eyes shattered him.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she whispered. “You shouldn’t see me like this.”
“I’m not leaving,” he said firmly. “Not now.”
---
Elias Kneels Beside Her
He slowly sank to his knees in front of her.
“Amani… please look at me.”
She tried, but her gaze kept drifting back to the screen like she was chained to it.
He reached out — slowly, gently — and closed the laptop.
Her breath caught.
Her fingers twitched, as if resisting.
Then she whispered, “Don’t.”
Elias swallowed his heartbreak.
“You’ve punished yourself enough.”
Amani shook her head. “I need to remember. I need to see it so I never trust the wrong person again.”
“You didn’t trust the wrong person,” Elias said softly. “He betrayed your trust. That is not the same thing.”
Her lips trembled.
He didn’t touch her — not yet. Not without permission.
But his voice softened to a whisper.
“You’ve been alone with this for too long.”
Amani bit her lip hard, her voice barely audible.
“It hurts too much to talk about it.”
“I know,” he whispered. “But hurting alone is worse.”
Silence.
Her eyelashes fluttered.
Then she whispered, “I’m tired.”
Elias nodded, his heart breaking for her. “I know.”
She added quietly, “I’m scared.”
He breathed shakily. “I know that too, Amani.”
“And I don’t know how to stop watching it.”
This time, Elias’s voice cracked fully.
“You shouldn’t have had to see it even once.”
---
She Breaks
Amani’s breath shuddered.
Her chest tightened as if the numbness she had been hiding behind suddenly cracked open, letting the pain rush out in a flood.
Her voice trembled. “I thought… if I watched it enough times… I’d stop feeling.”
He whispered, “And did you?”
A tear slid down her cheek.
Her first tear in days.
“No,” she breathed. “It just made me feel dead.”
That did it.
Elias moved closer, slowly, carefully, until their knees touched.
He reached out his hand — open, gentle, waiting.
“You’re not dead,” he whispered. “You’re hurting. And you don’t have to hide it from me.”
Amani stared at his hand.
Then at his face.
For a long moment, she didn’t move.
Then finally, with a broken breath, she placed her trembling hand into his.
And the moment her skin touched his, she collapsed into sobs.
Her body shook violently.
Her cries were raw, painful, desperate.
Weeks of numbness cracked open.
Pain rushed out at once.
Elias immediately wrapped his arms around her — slowly, gently — and she clung to him like she was drowning and he was the only thing keeping her afloat.
“I’m here,” he whispered into her hair. “I’m right here. You’re not alone anymore.”
Amani cried harder, gripping his shirt.
“It hurts… it hurts so much…”
“I know,” he whispered. “Let it out. I’ve got you. I’m not letting go.”
He held her until her cries softened, until her breathing steadied, until her body stopped trembling.
He didn’t rush her.
Didn’t speak unless she needed it.
He just held her through the storm.
When her tears finally ran out, she fell silent, leaning against him.
Elias rested his chin softly on her head.
“Amani,” he whispered, voice thick with emotion, “I swear to you… I’m going to protect you. And we’re going to get justice. Even if it kills me.”
Amani closed her eyes, exhaustion weighing her down.
For the first time in weeks, she felt something warm flicker inside her chest.
Not happiness.
Not peace.
But the beginning of hope.
- Writer
