Griselda POV
Sunlight streamed through the windows, making me squirm from my sleep. Blinking my eyes open, I looked around my unfamiliar surroundings, and the fear started to kick in. It felt like hours before I realized, it was Arcado"s room and I force myself to relax. I turned around to find beside me empty. It was no surprise to me, as the past week I"ve been sleeping in this room, Arcado would wake up early and tend to his office.
This past week has been amazing if I am being honest, the fear I have keeps diminishing little by little, but I am still aware of the possibility of him finding me. I thought it would be weird if I slept with Arcado, but it almost feels normal, when he holds me, it feels like I belong in there forever, he makes me feel things that are so foreign to me. I am afraid if I let myself feel something more for him, then he would be gone in the blink of an eye.
My stuff was brought up here the minute Arcado ordered his men. I didn"t have much stuff so it was easy as they took only an hour, but the only thing I am thankful for is, they didn"t see the picture I hid. If they did see it, then many questions would arise from Arcado and I wasn"t ready to answer them yet and I don"t think I"ll ever be ready.
Sliding off the bed, I stand up to my feet and head for the bathroom. Opening the door, I hesitate a moment, before shaking the bad thoughts that are swarming in my head and close the door behind me. Walking towards the mirror, I gasp as I see my reflection. This girl, staring back at me, she looks different. Vibrant is the word to describe her. The scars I"ve had are barely visible and my eyes are shining with happiness as they stare right at me.
For once in my life, I am not ashamed of who I am. Instead, I let out a small barely there smile and giggle to myself giddily. This, this girl was who I am supposed to be, but life had other plans. It tortured me, it broke me, but I am going to fight with everything in me to find my own happiness.
I strip out of my clothes and stride towards the shower. Once the temperature is warm enough, I let it caress my body and sigh as I feel myself relax under the warm water. I don"t want to let myself be too happy because if I do, it will be swept away before I can blink. He will make sure of that.
Wrapping the towel around myself, I walk out of the bathroom and towards the closet. Getting out my clothes, I look towards the door to make sure it"s shut properly before dropping the towel and putting the clothes on quickly. Heading for the door, I get out of the room and close the door shut. Looking towards the room, I slept in. I make sure no one is insight before pulling the door open and getting in.
I don"t hesitate, as I quickly head for the closet and pull out the picture. Hugging it close to my chest, I let myself succumb into oblivion as I imagine what life would be like if my baby was still alive and here with me. I only saw him for a second before he took him away from me, but I knew no doubt that I would cherish my baby no matter what, I would give him the love I never got and wouldn't let the devil hurt him.
But he didn't live for long, he died while I watched him helplessly. Pleading to the gods above to wake up from the nightmare. As I heard the gunshot, my whole life came tumbling towards the ground as I cried and plead for him to be alive. From then on, I let myself get abused, tortured and raped without feeling anything, I became numb and it was my fault that my baby isn't there with me.
My eyes blurred, as the tears slowly made there way to my eyes. This time I didn't hold back, instead I let them fall as I looked at the picture through blurry eyes. Before Kulah took him away from me, he printed out a picture of my baby. I was happy because I thought he would change but devils don't change instead they only grow more evil.
He didn't even blink as he murdered our baby, instead he watched with smirk as the color drained from his face and his tiny little fingers fell at his sides limply. That memory still haunts me. It feels like I will never be whole again because there would be a constant reminder of what I went through.
"Griselda, is that you?", I tensed as I heard a voice behind me.
Wiping the tears, I put a small smile on my face and turned around. My smile only widened as I saw Sophia walking towards me with a smile of her own. But that smile quickly turned into a frown as she looked deeply at me probably trying to think why I've been crying.
"Hey, Sophia", I murmur, clearing my throat.
"You okay?", she asks, giving me a concerned look.
"Yeah", I force a smile.
Sighing, she sits down on the floor and pats the seat next to her. Not giving any thoughts, I plop down and she looks at me like she's trying to figure me out. The picture is hiding behind my back, I don't want her knowing my whole story, she might look at me differently if I tell her, or she might hate me.
"Tell me what's wrong, Griselda", she demands.
"Nothing is wrong", I assure her.
"Don't give me that bullshit, clearly something is wrong if it caused you to cry", out bursting, she narrows her eyes at me.
Eyes focusing on my hands that are bind behind my back, she furrows her eyebrows and before I can register what's happening, she snatches the photo behind my back. It feels like my throat is closing up and I try to breath in through my nose, but it doesn't work. Sophia begins to look at the photo carefully as her eyes slid between me and the paper.
"Griselda, is he yours?", she whispers softly.
---------------------------
Griselda POV
Inhale, Exhale. These are the words running through my mind, as I rack my brain for something to say as Sophia looks expectantly at me. The truth is I don't want to tell her what I am going through each and every second. I don't want her to look at me differently and I don't want her to treat me like I am fragile. I want to stand on my own two feet and conquer all my fears that are living inside of me.
"You don"t have to tell me, if you don"t want to", she said softly, touching my arm in assurance.
Sucking in a sharp breath, I turned my head towards her. I didn"t know what urged me to tell her, but I trusted her with everything in me. I knew she wouldn"t look at me or treat me differently, instead she would see me as Griselda.
"I want to tell you", my voice came out in a whisper.
Nodding her head in understanding, she waited expectantly as she looked at me. I honestly didn"t know where to begin. If I tell her, would she be disgusted? Would she laugh at me like all the others? Or would she run away, seeing how weak I am? These thoughts running through my head, they scared me to no end. But Sophia wasn"t that kind of a person.
"T-the baby is, was mine", I felt my throat closing up, as new set of tears blinded my eyes, but I blinked them back not letting them win.
"Was?", she questioned confusedly.
Gulping, I continued "H-he was murdered".
Gasping, she froze in her seat not blinking. But after a moment, she blinked her eyes multiple times and covered her mouth with her hands. Giving her a small smile, I rubbed her arms soothingly.
"I should be comforting you", she choked out.
"It"s ok, I know this piece of information is shocking", I continued to rub her arms.
"Who murdered him?". Her hands flew to her neck and she rubbed them nervously.
"H-his own father", I flinched as she took a sharp breath.
"What the fuck? He murdered his own child?", she was furious now.
"Please calm down, I will explain everything", I murmured blinking the tears away.
After calming down a little, her head turned towards me and in instant I was engulfed by her warm smell, as she hugged me tightly.
"I- I honestly don"t know what to say", she mumbled in my ear.
The tears I"ve been holding back, freely flowed down my cheeks. I struggled with each breath I took. It became painful and my breath turned to soft pants. I couldn"t hear or feel anything, only the ringing sound in my ears. A sob racked through me as my arms made there way around her waist, seeking her comfort.
"Take deep breaths, Griselda". I heard her say, after my ears stopped ringing.
Doing as she instructed, I kept taking deep breaths until it was back to normal, the tears were still running as I pulled away from Sophia. Looking at her, I was shocked to see tears on her face also.
"I was twenty- two, when my father forced me to be engaged to one of his men. At first I did everything I could to prevent it, but he tortured me until I gave in. When I first saw him, I was speechless, he seemed like a guy who would treat you like you deserve, I put my trust in him, I didn"t believe it when my friends told me he looked dangerous, but after one night, he forced himself on me".
"After that, he kept breaking me doing the things he loved. He said he owned me and my body, he would let his guards use me if I disrespected him. I was so disgusted with myself that I wouldn"t even look at a mirror anymore. After a few months, I kept throwing up, one of the maids made me took a test. When the results came back. It felt like, I was dying."
"I was scared for the baby growing inside of me. I was scared of how he would react. I planned not to tell him, but somehow he found out. Strangely, he acted calm, he treated me like a normal person, but I should"ve knew something was suspicious. When the baby was born, I was so happy, but also scared. I didn"t want to my baby to turn out like him. After I gave birth, the door was burst open and he walked through the door. Taking a picture of my baby, he gave it to me and told me to cherish it."
"I didn"t know what his words meant, until the baby was snatched away from my hands. I begged and pleaded him but he didn"t listen as he took out his gun and shot my baby in front of my eyes." I took a deep breath and looked towards Sophia, as I finished.
Sitting still, she had new set of tears on her face. She muffled her cry with her hand as she sobbed uncontrollably. I scooted closer to her and laid her head on my chest. Trying to comfort her, I tried to talk to her with soothing words, keeping my own tears at bay. I had to be strong for myself and for my baby.
After a few moments, she slowly lifted her head. "No one should go through those horrible things. The thing is Griselda, even though you were tortured, you came stronger than you think. You didn"t let this world beat you down, instead you owned it and I am so happy that you escaped from him".
Her words shocked me to the core, no one had called me strong, instead they thought I was a whore, that my body should be used whenever and they thought I was weak. But hearing someone call me strong, it gave me a sense of pride in myself. It made me feel like maybe, I could face him without feeling any fear or anything like that.
"Thank you", I said sincerely.
Arms sneaking around my waist, she hugged me tightly again. I basked in her warm fragrance and immediately felt safe. Even though I"ve known her for about a month, she became an important person in my life, along with Arcado and Lilly.
Pulling away, she gave me a warm smile and stood to her feet. Offering a hand, she pulled me up. Before one of us could utter another word, the door slowly clicked open.
"What"s going on in here?". The person questioned.