Burning Slow

Pain, Suffering and Nightmares.

"No! No, no, no. No! No, no-"

Her loud screams got Rocco to open his eyes, his sight blurry but he quickly reached out next to him, feeling Ember struggling.

He was quickly alert, getting off his chair. "Ember, hey, shhh." He was awakened from his nap 'cause of her screams.

Her eyes were closed shut, tears pouring out of them and she kept on kicking and punching the air, hitting Rocco at times.

The teenager started to panic more once he saw that Ember was starting to bleed again, desperately trying to wake her up and get her to stop.

"Nathan!" He screamed for help.

"Ember! Hey! Wake up, little flame." He yelled. "Wake up!" He tried to shake the girl awake as he held down both of her arms, hoping that his voice would get through to her and get her to calm down.

Ember just kept on screaming, crying, kicking and trying to keep on punching the air and Rocco.

Multiple foot steps were heard running up the stairs and the door burst open. All other members in the Agapov household looking in the room.

They didn't have time to be shocked at the scene in front of them. All they saw was more blood and a struggling Rocco. 

They had to calm Ember down quickly.

All of them raced to Ember, holding down Ember's body as best as they possibly can, shocking Rocco in the process as he had been too focused on Ember to notice all of them enter the room.

Rocco averted his gaze back to Ember, tears still streaming down her cheeks as she kept on screaming.

The room was filled with Ember's high pitched screams and the gang's desperate attempts to wake the bleeding girl and stop her from struggling against their holds.

From such a petite girl, it was a shock to all of them that she was even able to fight against all of them.

After a couple more moments, Ember's eyes snapped open, startling everyone in the room, making them loosen their hold on her.

She took a couple deep breaths before throwing her arms around Rocco who quickly caught her in his arms. She was fully sobbing on his chest, telling him something that nobody in the room was able to make out. They weren't able to decipher what she was mumbling, only watching the exchange between the two of them, watching Rocco whisper sweet nothings into her ear and stroking Ember's tangled ebony hair.

After a while, he was able to calm her down enough to stop her from sobbing but not enough to make her let go of him.

Tears and blood soaked into his shirt. It was as if Ember wasn't bleeding at how she wasn't even acknowledging her bleeding wound. It was as if she was experiencing emotional pain more than the physical pain.

Everybody was looking at Ember, unable to comprehend what just happened.

It had only been and hour since she had fallen asleep. A whole hour of pure bliss for the girl before she was horribly disturbed with a nightmare that shook the whole house.

"Shh. I'm here. I'm here." Rocco whispered words of reassurance in her ear, stroking her soft black hair continuously, untangling some of the knots.

After a couple minutes, Ember eventually calmed down. Her cries turning into small hiccups.

Rocco gently laid her down again as she tried to steady her breathing.

Grace bundled up her hair and immediately got to work on Ember's wound, doing everything she can to make it stop bleeding again.

"Why the f**k do you keep on bleeding?" She peeled back the gauze on Ember's stomach, hissing at the sight. "And how are you still alive?" She rhetorically asked as she ran a glowing blue hand above Ember's stomach, making the burning sensation, that Ember failed to notice seconds ago, go away. Grace grabbed the pack of gauze that Astraea passed to her and changed the hundredth gauze of the day.

After that, she sat up on her blood stained bed, wiping away the rest of her tears and fixing her appearance.

"I'm sorry, guys. I'm fine." She smiled at all of them but they quickly noticed that it was fake.

Greyson shook his head. He sat beside his daughter, holding her hand. "What really happened, love?"

"It's nothing. I'm fine." She responded still with a smile, removing her hands from her Dad's hold and getting off the bed.

"Can you guys leave so I can change?" She gestured to her clothes. "And I can smell something burning."

"Shit." The three men who were apparently the only people in the house who can cook, along with Nick who only lived for food, raced down the stairs, to the kitchen.

James and Astraea followed the two, throwing Ember one last glance. Rocco, Nathan, Alex and Grace still had their feet glued to the ground.

All four were staring at each other, waiting for something to happen.

"You were screaming, E. I haven't heard you scream like that since the last time you used your-"

"I'm fine, alright." She cut Alex off, her voice taut.

"If that's the cause, we have a huge problem here." Grace muttered but nobody heard her.

Nathan sighed, stepping closer to Ember. "I'm right here, Em. I'm right here." He kissed the top of her head before stepping out of the room.

The two gave her wary glances before following Nathan out.

This time it was Rocco who walked to her, gently placing his hand on her cheek. "You're fine, right? Nothing with the screaming?" His green eyes stared into Ember's dark brown eyes as she stood where light can perfectly showcase them.

"Yes, Rocco. I'm fine." She leaned into his touch. "I'm sorry for disturbing you." He wiped away a trickling tear down her cheek that she hadn't even felt. It was as if she was too entranced by his eyes to feel what was going on with her body.

She felt her stomach churn but she didn't feel sick. From that, she felt a stinging sensation, instead of a burning one thanks to Grace's power.

"Alright." He nodded, staring at her face, looking for any signs that would prove otherwise.

When he found nothing, he sighed, letting his hands fall back to his side. "I'll be outside if you need me."

The girl nodded. "I'll be out in a sec. Don't worry."