I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up painful topics…" he whispered quietly while stroking her arm gently with the tips of his fingers, but Ava shook her head with conviction before saying, "Nope. No, I'll talk to you. It's okay. I just...I thought about my childhood again."
A few minutes passed in silence as he listened attentively to her story, while stroking her back softly. Once she finished explaining how her nightmares usually started the same way as they did now: with her sitting in the basement of her old house surrounded by all those broken furniture, looking around anxiously for someone who might help her escape. After a minute, however, a voice appeared in front of her, telling her that she must never run away. She would die if she ever did. The voice kept repeating and repeatin
