Court of Ambrose

No Buts

{Celeste’s POV}

“No buts this time, I’m taking you upstairs to get the things you want to bring downstairs, then we’re staying down there for now. We’ll come out at night, and if we can order some blackout curtains for the house, then we’ll come up during the day too!” He said, pointing towards the staircase. “Let’s go get your stuff, it’s getting late, and you need to get some rest.”

I nodded, heading upstairs and grabbing my laptop, charger, phone, and a few other things, toiletries and clothes. I packed them into a bag and made my way downstairs. “You can sleep in my room.” Dayus said, smiling at me as I made my way down the stairs to their hidden home.

“B-But..” I began, but once again Veryn swooped in, cutting me off before I could finish my sentence.

“No buts! Dayus and I don’t need to sleep, and if we want to, we can take turns sleeping in my room, unless you’d rather sleep in my room.” He smirked playfully.

I rolled my eyes at him, before walking into the room that Dayus was standing in front of. It was nice, it had a black four poster bed, with dark red curtains wrapped around it. There was a fireplace, and a tv, along with its own bathroom. In the bathroom, there was a large jacuzzi tub, and a rainfall shower. I turned back to look at Dayus and Veryn, each of them were staring back at me, with unreadable expressions on their faces. “Try to get some sleep, you need it..” Dayus said, smiling as he turned away.

“Feel free to take a bath, towels are in the closet, and there’s some bubble bath under the sink.” Veryn added, before turning and closing the door behind him.

I was alone, once again, and the panic of the events that just unfolded were still fresh in my mind. He was out of prison.. and he was out for revenge. He did all of those awful things to me before I sent him to prison, imagine what he’ll do to me now. I shook my head, trying my best to shake the thoughts from my mind. I stepped into the bathroom and turned on the bathtub, Veryn was right, I needed to relax, to unwind, and with them standing guard, maybe I really could. I took a long bath, washing off completely, and soaking in the warmth for a while. Once I was done, I stepped out, drying off quickly and pulling on my satin, pale pink nightgown, and my matching pink, satin robe. I tied it around me, and began trying to towel dry my hair. I opened the door from the bedroom into the living area, expecting to see Veryn or Dayus there, but it was empty. I walked around, looking for either of them, but I didn’t see them.

I crept up the stairs, and started walking around in the living room, trying to figure out where they went, and that’s when I saw them talking to a cop on the front porch. I snuck over quietly, and listened in to their conversation. “I didn’t know how badly he’d hurt her..” Dayus said to the cop.

The officer nodded, turning to them. “I saw the pictures in her file.. and read the police report. It was.. traumatic for her.. I couldn’t imagine, after everything she went through. After fighting for her life, for her ability to walk, and after fighting tooth and nail in court to make sure that he was arrested for what he did to her.” He shook his head, letting out a heavy sigh.

“She didn’t tell us much, is there really nothing that you’d be able to tell us?” Veryn asked.

“Not without her permission, but I’ll warn you, when she does tell you, or if you ever get a look at her file, it’s gruesome, I didn’t know that someone could be so cruel.” He turned, his eyes landing on me, as now I was leaking out of the door frame.

“You two simply won’t give up will you?” I sighed, forcing their attention to turn to me.

“Celeste I.. we..” Dayus started, but I cut him off.

“No! I’ve told you that this isn’t something that I want to speak about, and you go behind my back after telling me to relax! You two really are something!” I shouted, turning and stalking back to Dayus’ room, I slammed the door, locking it behind me. I didn’t want to be alone.. but it’s obvious that I couldn’t trust them. They go behind my back and try to get answers for something that isn’t any of their business. I threw myself down on the bed, piling pillows all the way around me, and covering myself in blankets.

That’s when I remembered.. I kept a copy of the case file, it’s in my room, in the back of my closet in an old shoe box. Surely they wouldn’t go looking for it, they wouldn’t even know that I have it. I heard a knock on the bedroom door.

“Celeste.. please, we’re sorry, we just wanted to know what happened. We wanted to try to make sure that you’d be okay, and that we could try to help you!” Dayus said, his voice soft.

“Please, just talk to us.. we only want to help!” Veryn shouted.

I shook my head, rolling my eyes and pulling the blanket up over my head. Soon I found myself drifting off to a restless sleep.

{Veryn’s POV}

We sat outside of the room for about ten minutes, and never heard a word. Then, panicked cries, and whimpers coming from inside. I ran to my room and grabbed the key, opening the door as Dayus and I both launched ourselves into the room.

Celeste lay in the middle of pillows and blankets, her body jerking, and her head swinging from side to side as tears streamed down her face. “N-No!” She whimpered. “Please! Stop!” She rolled over to her side as the nightmare continued. “Get off of me!” She screamed, and Dayus and I froze.