"I have to go," Kyle told Ashlee, without any change in his expression. He didn't want to leave her, but he had no choice.

"Okay. You should," Ashlee replied with a tight smile. Somehow, she felt safe around him, and hearing him tell her he needed to leave gave her shivers.

"Don't worry. I'll be here soon. Don't exaggerate too much, and take more rest." He shouted, going out. Giving a glance back at her, he finally left.

What could be more important than keeping her safe? How he wished he could just tell her the truth and take her with him. But the only thing bothering him was her face.

Ashlee went to her room and closed the door. Reaching her standing mirror, she pulled up her clothes. A big bruise on the side of her stomach was revealed. She slowly touched it to see if she was going to be okay. But it hurt more than she expected.

"Good thing he didn't see," she whispered to herself, frowning at the mirror. "It wasn't even painful yesterday, and suddenly it's blue."

Her skin had only shown some redness while he helped her clean up. Though she remembered a bit from yesterday of how he was taking care of her, she was too embarrassed to say anything. He had already seen her almost naked. It was only fortunate that he hadn't seen the bruise.

Instantly, a familiar noise of a car parking in front of her house froze her. She gulped down roughly, praying in her mind that it wasn't what she thought it was. With steady steps, she peeped over from the window.

"Damn it!" She hissed, seeing her Uncle's car parked in its usual spot. He got out, his hand covered with bandages. He wore the same creepy smile and glared up at her through her window.

She quickly backed off, knowing what that smirk meant. He was back, and her normal days were over. She needed to get out of her fairytale fantasy and go back to the abusive life she had always known.

"Ashlee!" Her Uncle shouted from downstairs. With his one call, she went straight down, even though she didn't want to.

"Go, make me a drink," he ordered her without sparing a single glance. Drink? In the early morning? Who even let him get discharged? It was far better when he was in the hospital.

"Okay." Without asking a single question, she went into the kitchen, opened the cupboard where he kept his bottles— and from where Kyle had taken one. She sighed, remembering that.

He was gone, and she felt scared without Kyle being around. It had been just a few days since he entered her life, but somehow, she sensed herself getting comfortable around him. She felt secure with him. And now that he wasn't there, she felt alone and scared.

Quietly, she placed the drink in front of her Uncle, who was trying to switch the channels on his TV. She was about to move away in silence when he stopped her.

"Stop!" He calmly stretched while standing up. "What were you up to these days?" he asked as she turned around, hesitantly.

"I... I was just busy with some schoolwork." As soon as these words left her mouth, a fierce grasp pulled her hair, making her scream in pain.

"Do you think I wouldn't know? Huh?" Her uncle hissed in her ear. He was mad, but she couldn't find any reason for him to be. She kept screaming, trying to break free from his hold.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" she screamed between her cries, biting back the pain she felt as her wounds from Heather started to sting in her skin.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"You don't?" He growled and laughed creepily, seeing the wound on her face. "You deserved it," he whispered before throwing her roughly to the ground.

"You think I wouldn't find out about the ugly boy you keep bringing to my house?" he said, taking off his belt. She looked at him, shocked and horrified. How did he find out about Kyle?

She didn't remember telling anyone. Then how the hell did he know?

"This will surely teach you a good lesson, you slut," he groaned before lashing out at her. He kept whipping her until she stopped screaming from the lashes.

He panted, his breathing incoherent as he went back to the sofa and picked up the glass of drink, swirling it around.

"You need me to do this every single day, don't you?" he sighed, taking a sip.

Ashlee lay there on the ground like an alive corpse. Her pain wasn't even bothering her anymore. She just wanted it all to end. She closed her eyes and saw a man smiling and laughing at her. Not in a way of mocking her, but genuinely laughing with her.

"Get up, you wench!" Her uncle kicked her in the stomach, making his way to the kitchen. She shrunk into the pain. He kicked her in the same spot where Heather had already wounded her.

Either way, she took long breaths and got up. Stumbling and dragging along the wall for support, she went to her room and closed the door. She flopped on the bed, facing the ceiling.

It was surprising she wasn't crying. She would never cry when her Uncle lashed out at her. Even if he stabbed her, she wouldn't shed a single tear. She didn't want to waste her tears on someone like him.

She closed her eyes and fell asleep before she even knew it. Her wounds were bleeding, but she was unbothered by any of that. She just fell sound asleep with a beautiful dream in her eyes.

"I am here, sweetheart." Three different voices rang through her head as she stood in the center of the space. The white curtains flew in the air, though she couldn't feel them.

Ashlee was already lost in her dream. What she would call a beautiful nightmare, there was always one person in her dreams who would keep calling her and saying familiar words she couldn't remember properly.

But the dream she was having right now was different from all others. There were three people in her dream. She could only recognize two of the voices.

Kyle walked through one of the curtains in white clothes, extending his hand to her. He smiled politely, gesturing for her to take his hand. From the other side, her father stood. She could barely see his face, due to her blurry memories of him.

He also extended his hand, gesturing for her to take it. From the last side, she expected her mother to come out, but instead, a keen ray of flickering lightning hit her eyes.

"Come here, child." A deep, soft voice called for her. She looked at Kyle and her father, still standing there, extending their hands with polite smiles on their faces.

Then she turned her head towards the bright side, confused about what to choose. She let her heart guide her. With slow and steady steps, she went towards the gloomy light awaiting her.

As soon as she entered, her eyes hurt because of the keen rays. The alarm clock suddenly buzzed in her ears. She abruptly woke up, seeing the sun hitting her face.

She opened her phone to check the day and couldn't believe that she had slept for the whole day and night. How could she just lay down and sleep like that?

She shook her head at the weird dream and went to get ready for school. Her wounds from her Uncle were getting lighter, but the ones from Heather still hadn't healed.

Kyle, on the other hand, went straight to Derion, who was busy with some papers in Kyle's study. Seeing Kyle entering, he rushed to him, grabbing the laptop.

"See, I found something unusual on the cameras," Derion said, playing Kyle the video he grabbed.

Kyle watched the video of Diana entering Heather's room, and then the video jumped to the guard shouting in the hall that Diana wasn't responding. It was confusing for Kyle. He watched it again and couldn't understand what Derion was trying to say.

"What is it?" Kyle asked, tilting his head to the side.

Derion sighed, "See here, Diana is entering Heather's room in the morning. But there is no video of her leaving Heather's room because somehow the cameras glitched. Then the next thing, Diana was found in the hall, poisoned with wolfsbane." Derion explained all he found. He was clearly trying to make Kyle suspect Heather. But given that Heather and Diana were best friends, Kyle wouldn't believe it.

"So you're trying to say Heather made Diana take wolfsbane?" Kyle chuckled, not believing him. Derion already knew that.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me. So I have something else for you," he said, grabbing the laptop and playing another video.

"What is it now, Derion?" Kyle was annoyed. He had left Ashlee just for this stupidity? Only for the suspicion of Derion did he have to come back?

"Just watch once," Derion told him. As the video played, Kyle's eyes widened and he froze. How was this possible? With this much security? How did they enter?