My Protective Bad Boys

Eliza ~Three Years Ago~     The one word changed my life forever, or so I thought. "Guilty," the judge's voice boomed through the courtroom. My brother, who sat 20 feet to my left stood up slowly, he looked at me and said, "You'll pay for this bitch."  I froze in fear knowing well that it was not just a comment, it was a promise. ~Present Time~     "We're leaving the country,"  my mom says in a flat tone as if it's not a life-changing decision. "I don't understand why we have to mom," I say in a whining tone. “Do you remember what we went through three years ago?” She says in her authoritative voice and all I can manage to voice is a small but definite, “yes” There's a slight pause with our conversation,  I see her body language change to the more caring mother that I know and love. She begins to start towards me but all I can do is shrug back as I'm stuck in reliving the memory of my worst nightmare, next thing I know I'm taking back to that day in the courtroom when all I can remember is his face, his ice-blue eyes staring into the depths of my soul and I know deep down that he would come for me someday and I hope that day is not soon but I know in my gut that it is. “ Eliza, honey we have to leave, your brother’s being released, tomorrow.”        Before I know what's happening my body begins moving and I know exactly where to, before I know it I'm suddenly in my room with the door locked and making my way towards my bathroom shutting the door quietly behind me.  I lean against the bathroom door and I shrink down to the floor is it soon becoming hard to breathe and I feel like I'm being crushed into my own memories I begin to hyperventilate at the one vivid memory of the last thing that my brother said to me as it plays over and over and over in my mind and begin to have a panic attack hyperventilating and freaking out that begins falling on the floor holding myself into a ball. my mom somehow makes her way into the bathroom and pulls me into a tight and warm embrace..” I know it's hard to hear but we have to leave honey” she says quietly and I find myself nodding although I don't want to leave I know it's for the best.”      An hour later we're packed and we're ready to leave although I'm still having second thoughts about leaving my home country oh, I was born and raised in America and I don't know how I feel about going somewhere that is unfamiliar to me.  “Where are we going, mom?”  I said quietly, not really wanting to know. “ we are going to Italy I figured if we have to leave the country will go somewhere nice”  for some reason I feel a little bit better about moving out of the country so I've always dreamed of going to Italy and my mother is known that for years now I even took it upon myself to learn Italian and hopes that I'd go someday and it's finally coming true. Once we arrive at the airport I'm half asleep and don't really want to wake up, but then I remember the reason for this trip, the reason for my nightmares, the reason I'm not normal anymore like I used to be. I wake up frightened thinking that he's here but, he's not, the dream I had when I dozed off I can still feel his hands crawling all over me, I can still feel him inside me. he's the reason I'm f***** up.     We lug our bags through the airport until we reach our assigned gate and still have another hour until our flight begins to board, but I can’t sleep, I won’t sleep until we get to Italy, I’m too afraid that he will reappear in my dreams, that not only will he be in my dreams but when I wake up he will be there for real, that he will keep his promise, that he’ll come back for me. It’s about 1 in the morning before our flight boards and as I’m about to step onto the plane I hear a familiar voice, and I freeze in place, although knowing he can’t see me but I can hear him, “Where Are You, b***h,”  he yells as I hear security dragging him out of the airport.     I find my seat and notice that I’m in the aisle, “thank god” I mutter to myself, realizing my mother knows I’m claustrophobic. I also see that she bought all three seats and not just two, at least we don’t have to sit with a stranger I speak to myself. We buckle into our seats after putting our things above us and I find myself clutching onto my phone for dear life, hoping it will store the good memories of the life that I am leaving behind me as I venture off to Rome in a 13-hour flight.     I feel my mother shake me slightly, as if not wanting to disturb me. I soon realize that I am asleep, but I can’t wake myself up. I begin to panic inside my mind as I feel the dark memories resurface and once again I can feel his hands on me, I can hear his voice as if he is right behind me. I begin to thrash, kick, and scream, not wanting him to come close to me ever again. I wake up screaming and kicking, and I startle my mom as she is driving down the road. I don’t realize right away that we are in a car until another car’s headlights’ shine brightly in my eyes. “Where are we?” I find myself asking out loud. “We are in Venice, just outside of Rome, we will be there in about 2 hours,” She says calmly. I manage to nod my head and turn to look out the window and I see a beautiful city, lit up with bright fluorescent lights, with yellow, and pink, and orange. It’s beautiful at night and I’m anxious to see what Rome will look like. For once, during this whole situation, I actually have a good feeling about this, for once I’m actually excited about moving. Soon I find my eyes falling heavy and I soon doze off into the start of a hellish sleep. ***      “Helllppp! SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE HELP!” I scream as loud as I can. I scream until my lungs burn from the sudden exertion. Next thing I knew I was thrown and I hit something hard, it felt like concrete. “Scream as much as you want, no one will hear you down here,” he says sinisterly. Although I could not see him, I knew who my captor was. “Please, Colt, you don’t have to do this, if you let me go I will forget this happened, I promise,” I pleaded with my older brother through the black sac he had put around my head as he bound my wrists and ankles. “This’ll be fun,” he says in an amused voice as I hear the sound of a knife opening I thought he was going to kill me right then and there but I was so wrong.     I wake up screaming as I roll off of the bed and scramble to the corner of the unfamiliar room, unable to catch my breath while trying to make myself as small as possible to seem invisible. As my vision starts to blur I hear my mother burst into the room and come running towards me followed by three more figures following her into the unfamiliar room. “Can someone go grab my purse please, she needs her medicine,” my mother says in a worried tone and one of the figures disappears and reappears in an instant. “Here you go,” the tall figure says in a hushed tone and I begin to panic even more. “Honey, Honey, calm down, it’s me, hey take this,” she holds a pill and small dixie cup to my mouth and I comply to take the medicine. As she holds a pill and small dixie cup to my mouth and I comply to take the medicine. As I calm down from my sudden panic attack, I feel my eyes fill with tears as they stream down my face in fear and embarrassment. As my vision clears, I can see my mother’s face in front of me and I see two identical figures a few feet away and then another figure towering above them.     When my eyes finally adjust to the sudden crying and dimness of the unfamiliar room I found myself in I see two teenage boys that look about my age and don’t even get me started on how godly they look, but then I realize how familiar they look. They are identical twins but they are the twins of my nightmares. The messy, dirty blonde hair, the soul seeking, ice-blue eye, and the perfect white teeth. But something was different about them and I can’t quite tell what it is yet. My heart rate rises and I begin to panic in fear while looking at them and I spare a glance at my mother before looking back at them in terror. “What’s going on mom,” I say shakily. “Baby, it’s ok, they aren’t him… he’s not here, he’s back home,” she says in a reassuring tone and I calm down as tears begin to stream down my face again. Before I knew he was gone, one of the boys returns with a cup and a bowl in hand and he sits right in front of me.     I shrink back against the wall and he looks at me, concerned. “It’s ok… I’m not going to hurt you,” he says in a soothingly deep voice and gives me a small reassuring smile that melts my soul. He hands me the cup of ice water and sets the bowl down on the ground. I notice that it also has water in it as long as a washrag. He picks the rag up out of the water and rings it out. He brings it close to my face and wipes the long-forgotten tears away from my puffy and swollen face. Although I can feel my body shake due to the close proximity of the terrifyingly familiar looking boy. He stands up with the bowl in hand and walks back to where he got it from. I can still feel where his fingers lightly brushed my cheekbones, it was electrifying. “Eliza, honey, look at me,” my mom says in a hushed tone. My steel grey eyes slowly shift to meet with her chocolate brown ones and they are filled with concern. “ Here is your bag, go into the bathroom and take a shower to relax and come find me when you are done, you need to eat something,” she says quietly. I nod my head in agreement and slowly stand up. Suddenly feeling dizzy I rest my hands on the wall to regain my balance.      "We’ll be in the kitchen if anything happens,” the unfamiliar man says and they all proceed to leave me in the room by myself. Before my mother leaves the room she pulls me in for a tight, but warm embrace and as she pulls back she slightly rubs my shoulders as to reassure me that we are safe. I slowly turn as I take in the simplicity of the room I am currently standing in. Three of the walls are a slate blue and the wall in which the bed is on is a steel grey as an accent wall. There are two rustic looking grey and white nightstands, one on either side of the queen-sized bed. There is a white door to my right and I figure it is the bathroom. I cautiously twist the silver door handle as if one of my horrors is standing just behind the door.     To my relief the bathroom is empty and I fail to notice it’s elegance right away. I look at the granite-topped sink as I run my hand across the smooth, but cool top. I cast my eyes upward and see the horrifying image of myself with a bed head and a very red and very puffy face. I slowly turned around to face the glass-doored rainfall shower. After storing my things on the vanity, I turn the shower on as I unlock my phone to play some music. I finally decided on a country song, I usually don’t listen to country music but it helps calm my nerves.     I step in the painfully hot shower, paying no mind to the numb pain that I have grown so used to and I hope to wash the events of this morning away.