Chapter 63: 48|Still the same

Groaning loudly, I opened my eyes and was greeted with partial darkness. It took me a moment to realise that I was inside a prison. Like literally a prison, with handcuffs and all. Reality of situation hit me like a bullet train as I recalled the fight between me and Neal, then the entry of Elliot Cross and then my unconsciousness. My fingers gingerly touched my forehead and I immediately winced at the jolting pain. The area around the wound was swollen and probably blue. I could feel dried blood on side of my face. I cringed and retracted my touch. "Got enough beauty sleep, eh princess?" All I wanted at this point was to bang my head on a wall and die. What is even happening in my life?! "Yeah. Murdering you in dreams helped insanely." I sassed back and to my utter irritation, he laughed. "No wonder you are my sister." My eyes snapped in his direction and I looked at him incredulously. How many brothers do I have in exact?! He laughed again and I realised that I thought out loud. "Don't you remember your favourite cousin, Cygnet?" I studied him for a moment. He had steely blue eyes and platinum blonde hair. He looked around 23-24 in age with the way he was dressed. There was something in his eyes that told me that he wasn't my favourite cousin after all. "You are a Cross." I pointed out flatly. "I am." He straightened in his seat on the other side of bars. "But do you know why I am?" I shook my head gingerly. "Because when my own father gave me up. These people gave me family. These people gave me a name. I am not a Law. I am a Cross." "We aren't so different after all." I muttered in hurt and his eyebrows scrunched in confusion as he leaned on his knees and laced his fingers. "What do you mean?" I bit my lip and looked away. He doesn't know? "I asked you something, Swan." I gulped and looked up in his cold eyes. "I came to know about... all of this a few days ago." I blinked back tears. "I never knew who I really was. I never knew I was a princess. I never knew I was a Law." I looked away as pain coursed through my veins. "I never knew my family gave me up to a stranger because I always thought that I was a Parker." His eyes softened a bit and I knew that behind the poisonous aura, was a human who went through something similar. He wore his heart on sleeves. He is my cousin after all. "A week back, I was a normal girl with an overprotective family and now..." I chuckled darkly. "Now, I know that they aren't even my family to begin with." Heavy silence settled between us. I looked anywhere but him as I knew he was studying me. Screeching of a chair snapped my head up and all I caught was a flash of platinum storming out. If he is really my cousin, then somewhere in his heart, he will feel our pain. He will help me out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What the hell are you playing at?!" I flinched as I was harshly snapped out of my trance. My wide moist eyes locked with cold and hard blue ones that softened a bit. I immediately looked down and wiped my eyes dry. "W-What are y-you saying?" I internally face palmed myself for stuttering like an idiot. "Eat." A plate full of food slide down the bars. I shook my head. "I already told them that I am not hungry." "I am not asking. Eat it." I looked up incredulously. "What? Now they want me in shape too?" I retorted sarcastically and his nose flared. He was breathing heavily in rage as he commanded the guards to open the bars. I squirmed a bit when he marched towards me and grabbed the plate from floor. "Eat. It." "I. won't." "Fine!" I flinched and closed my eyes tightly as I expected a slap but when it never came, I peeked open my eyes. Elliot was sitting in front of me in Indian style. He was looking at me with a blank expression but I swear on my life, I saw a flash of guilt in his eyes. "You thought I will hit you." I bit my lip and looked away. There wasn't a trace of accusation in his tone, just emptiness with a ghost of hurt. "Trust isn't something I will be able to give anybody now." I mumbled and winced when the handcuffs produced friction against my skin. My wrists were sore and wounded badly with huge scars while my palms were dirty with mud. I was still wearing the same sweatpants and Aiden's hood that I was wearing that dreaded night. His cologne was gone from the fabric and so was my sense of security. Even though Aiden killed me with his words, he is still my security. I did a double take when a piece of meal entered my vision. I looked up with wide confused eyes and Elliot's eyes immediately turned cold. "You were not eating and I had to do my job. Now eat it or I will make you eat with your dirty hands." I looked between the bite and his eyes. With a small knowing smile, I took the bite. He sighed. As I chewed, I studied my apparent cousin. His eyes were trained on the food but I saw the purple bags around them. His face looked pale and lifeless just like his eyes. His lips were chapped and I knew that he wasn't happy like he thinks he is. He looked up and caught me staring. Preparing another bite, he bought it to my lips. I shook my head and biting my lip to supress a wince, I gingerly raised my hands up to grab his fingers. I pushed it towards his lips. "W-What are you-?" "I know you didn't eat. Eat it." He shook his head and opened his mouth to say something but I pushed the food inside. I laughed as he almost choked. "Still the same." He muttered and this interested me. "How was I?" I asked with a small sad smile. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and I took this as my cue to explain. "I mean, what kind of kid was I?" "You don't remember anything?" I shook my head and bit the inside of my cheek. Sighing, I decided to just let it be. "You know what, It's a-" "You were everyone's favourite." My eyes widened but then I composed myself and scoffed. "I hardly believe it." "You were." He stated sternly. "Always the happy go lucky kind. You loved troubling people, especially me because dare I quote you, 'Elliot, you need to stop acting like someone stole your favourite underwear.'" I chuckled at that. His lips quivered to hold back a smile. "Listen to the younger me." "Cedric was always the kind and shy one but still, he had more friends than you. You were friendly with everyone, but you never let anyone come near Cedric's status. You gave every bit of your love to your brother and that's how you forgot to make friends." I looked down with a sad smile. "Still the same, yet so different." I whispered and silence settled between us. "Mind telling me what happened in all these years?" I looked up at him, torn between trusting and pushing him away. He did open up to you. I sighed and listened to my subconscious. "I don't know." I licked my lips and took a deep breath. "I just woke up one day after months of coma and a permanent memory loss. 4 pairs of eyes were looking at me like I was some angel." I chuckled. "1was my doctor and then, my twin brothers and dad." I gulped and averted my eyes from his calculating one. "I don't even know if I can call them brothers and dad now." I blinked my tears away. "Anyways, they told me that I am their family. It took them months to convince me but what can you expect from a 6 year old? I believed them. I grew up with those 3 and never in my life, I thought that all this time, it was a lie. I wasn't Astrid. Aiden and Asher weren't my brothers, dad wasn't my dad. I still can't believe it. They just loved me so much that I couldn't look past the blindfold and then A-Cedric came..." I stopped abruptly because of my heavy breaths. My eyes were blurred with tears but I still managed to catch the sight of Elliot's hands from my vision. They were shaking and he was clutching them tightly into a fist as if to stop himself from holding me. I looked up and saw his torn expression. I didn't want to see him like that but I didn't want him to feel like I was using him as my key out. I didn't want to let him attach to me. I didn't want to attach to him. I am a curse and I killed everyone around me, I can't do that to anyone else now. Gulping back the lump in my throat, I turned my eyes into cold ones. "I have eaten enough. If you're done, then you can leave. I want to sleep." The coldness of my tone sent chill down my toes and I swear I saw a knowing look of pity in his eyes. He knew what I was doing. He was seeing himself in me. "Cyg-" "Good night, Cross." With that being said, I laid down on the cold rough floor with my eyes closed, waiting for sleep to take over. Even when I knew that it won't.