Puking

Both doing and perceiving it was utterly horrendous, to say the least.

Spewing out the last bits that were left in my stomach, I leaned back, panting. The stench of my breath made me gag instantly, resulting in me vomiting my guts out again.

"God, Lilith! How much did you even drink last night? Did you want to destroy your liver in one go?" Clavicus derided with a snort and patted my back. I didn't even bother to spit out my sarcasm back at him as I had more crucial matters to conduct currently. One of them had to be my murderous headache.

"Clavicus, can you not be the new mean girl right now and focus on Lilith's state?" Orson's stew voice could have been heard from the kitchen. I was still sitting in front of the commode and on the ground with Clavicus beside me. He suppressed his laughs and kept rubbing my back as an act of solace. I rolled my eyes at him and labored to get up but fumbled in the process. Clavicus was quick to hold me.

After regaining my posture, I lumbered to the sink and opened the tap, rinsing my mouth thoroughly before putting some toothpaste on my brush and started to brush my mouth.

"Well the wedding is about to start within few hours, so I gotta go to get ready. I am pretty sure Orson would be more than enough to handle you." Clavicus announced with a tone of teasing, a smirk was evident on his lips. I flipped my middle finger at him and he shrugged with a chuckle before leaving.

Splashing water on my face repeatedly wasn't helping at all. Not at least in making me forget about last night. Unpleasantly, I remembered every memory of yesterday, how yet again I revealed another demon of mine to Orson, just like I did 10 years ago.

~Flashback~ (TW)

Washing the last plate, I turned off the tap and let out a sigh of relief as I was done with today's chores. I wiped my hands with a napkin before making my way to the stairs when I was stopped at a halt by her.

"Where do you think you are going? Did you ask for my permission to go to your room?" Her voice boomed across the hall and I took a deep breath before turning to look at her.

"But my chores were done, mom." I deflected with a shrug, my face relaxed in nonchalance. My lack of fear seemed to aggravate her more.

It wasn't like something new would happen. She would have been just taken out her fiendish desires on me like always. Was I intimidated by it? Well, I have years of experience and by now, I was pretty sure my skin had turned to metal because I didn't sense affliction anymore, not at least physically.

She strode to me with resentment flashing on her face. She tugged my hair as hard as she could. But I still didn't let the pain get to me, I kept myself numb.

"Firstly, I am not your fucking mom! You were just a tremendous mistake of mine." She spat out in animosity. This woman was so repetitious, always reusing the same sentence again and again. I sighed and stared at the ceiling out of boredom.

"Oh, so now you are trying to showcase that you don't feel pain, huh? Let me put it to the test then." An eldritch smirk spread across her face as she backed away. I gazed her death in the eye as if challenging her. Unwittingly, a pinch of dismay was dwelling in my chest. I knew she had no boundaries when it came to tormenting me.

Sauntering to the counter, she opened one of the drawers and picked up a sharp knife. My breath hitched in my throat and my chest tightened in apprehension. Yet I didn't let the indifference in my face fade away.

"Let's see how long you will last." She gibed, cackling as she roughly pulled the sleeves of my hoodie. Numerous scars were conspicuous on my arm, some were healed, some were still afflicting. Flashing me her nefarious smirk, she slowly caressed the tip of the knife on my arm, making me tremble slightly.

Biting my lower lip tightly, I struggled not to scream as she started to slice across the skin of my arm. I could have felt the blood dripping down. I kept staring at the ceiling nonchalantly when suddenly someone's shriek took me by surprise and the voice was too familiar to me.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, you psychotic bitch? Leave her this instance!" A voice roared across the house. I promptly had shut my eyes closed, internally imploring God to let it be anyone but him.

Glancing at the door, I found Orson throbbing in fury. His gaze was shooting glares at her with his hand clenched in a fist. But she remained unfazed. Her face disclosed neither fear nor shock.

"Keep this friend of yours tame. I don't want any chaos in my household." She proclaimed apathetically while maintaining eye contact with Orson and threw the blood-covered knife on the counter then left for her room without sparing us any glance.

I didn't even realize that I was holding my breath till now. Letting out a deep sigh, I pulled down my sleeves. I wasn't finding enough courage to look over him. Only God knew what he was thinking currently. What if he was ashamed of me, seeing me so weak, or maybe he was disgusted seeing my scars? Did think that I was as psychotic as my mom?

My trail of thoughts was adjourned abruptly when I felt someone pulling up sleeves again. I jerked away and gazed up to find Orson's eyes were teary yet they held rage and bitterness in them. As he held my wrist again, I could have discerned his palm getting bloodstained from the hoodie sleeves being bloody.

I averted my gaze from his and stared down at my feet. Neither of us uttered a single word as he led us to the sofa. I could have heard him sniffing in between. He made me sat on the sofa and I still hadn't dared to look up.

"Where is the first aid kit, L?" He inquired and I pointed at the drawer where it was. After some time, I felt the space beside me deepen and he clutched my arm delicately. A sob escaped from his lip as he rolled up the sleeves. I peered and found him staring at my scars with his eyes glistening with unstoppable tears. My heart ached as I saw the anguish on his face. He looked into my eyes and muttered softly.

"Why, L? Why were you silent about the abuse that was happening to you? You are stronger than this."

"I know," I shrugged as I surveyed my scars mindlessly. Honestly, I didn't even know what I was feeling currently, I felt numb towards the pain from the cut, apprehension thinking he might never see me with the admiration he used to yet I was at the relief as I was finally able to share my scars with someone for the first time in my life.

Realizing that I wasn't ready to talk about it yet, he quietly started to dress up my wound. The dabbing of the antiseptic left a burning sensation yet I felt a warmth from the inside, in a  loving way to be precise. I was used to pain, hatred, curses, wounds but never had I ever experienced someone mending those physical scars.

"I am calling the police. You can't live with such maniacal bitch." Orson enunciated as he wrapped the bandage around my arm, a look of hostility rested on his face.

"This is my issue to solve, so don't you fucking try to poke your nose in it." I chastised, yanking my arm away from him as the dressing was done. He shot me a glare, his eyes were still red and teary.

"I don't give a flying fuck about whose matter it is. You are my best friend and a human being to be precise. Nobody deserves such treatment except for that bitch." Orson condemned, getting up as he dialed to call the police.

"Please don't ruin my years of struggle just like that." I lamented with a sigh and gazed at him with my own eyes glistening in tears now. I usually pretended to forget about my reality but it always tossed back at me like a slap, a harsh one. His brows furrowed as confusion took over him.

"What do you mean, L?" Orson questioned in a gentle tone as he perceived my vulnerable state, sitting beside me.

"I just want to provide him a normal life with a happy family. I know once I graduate high school and leave this place, this family would become a sweet home again." I smiled in melancholy as I stared at him. Orson understood what I implied to, as he let out a rigid sigh.

"Just give me a few more months Orson, I beg you," I whispered and he pulled me in his embrace, I had let out my tears fell freely on his shoulder. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was finally out of a cage. For the first time, I felt free and valued.

As I gazed upstairs, I found her staring at us from there, a smile was gracing her lips but it vanished away as soon as we made eye contact, and indifference flashed on her face before she went inside her room.

~End of flashback ~

"How are you feeling now?" I was pulled out of my thoughts and turned to find Orson worryingly staring at me. I cleared my throat and ignoring him, I walked past, into the room.

"Umm... I made lemonade for you, it might help you with the hangover." Orson continued and I just laid on the bed, pulling the blanket over me. My back was facing him. I heard a noise beside me but I snubbed it off.

"I will get going now, lemme me know if you need anything." He was about to leave when I turned around and the glass was kept on the nightstand. I picked it up and threw it against the wall, making him startled. He turned to me in bewildered.

"After today, we will be back to how we were, strangers," I exclaimed nonchalantly and he just shook his head with a smile.

"Lilith, we both know that we never were nor ever will be just strangers. We are like tangled strings. Twisted yet together." He left without even looking back, leaving me unable to be apathetic yet again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I pulled the hood more down to my face as I leaned back in my seat with my hands stuffed inside my pocket. Giggles and jovial voices could have been heard from the distance. Vibrant colored flowers were decorating the place, contradicting my monotonous soul.

As I peeked around, several criticizing gazes were thrown in my way. And why wouldn't they? After all, I seemed like an outcast, wearing a plain hoodie and shorts. People were dressed in clothes which weren't any less than the ones worn on the red carpet.

But did I give a shit about their opinions? I didn't even care about myself, then how could I have cared for other's superfluous opinions?

Scouting at Jerome, I found him grinning from ear to ear as he indulged in a conversation with one of his buddies.

Out of the blue, Verona ran up to me. She then stopped in front of me, panting and I rolled my eyes before taking out my phone.

"Hey Lilith, can you please go and hand Lauren this bouquet? I made it myself last night and I want her to walk down the aisle with this." Verona pleaded and I just shunned her out, scrolling through my phone.

"Please Lilith?" She continued and I tsked in delirium before sneering at her, not being able to bit back my scathing psyche.

"Are you blind to see other people around or did we suddenly shift to another dimension where only you and I exist?" I retorted and she just rolled her eyes, chortling up.

"She doesn't want her family and best friends to see her till she walks down the aisle. And I just can't send one of the guests to her room. So that leaves me with you. Please do me a favor one last time?" Verona pouted, blinking her eyes innocently at me. To be honest, it looked hilarious. I sighed exasperatedly before getting up and snatching the stupid bouquet away from her, few hours left till I had to tolerate these annoying ass bitches.

Strolling down the hall to her room, I found the hotel deserted as everyone was mostly in the venue, including the staff. As I got closer to Lauren's room, shoutings could have been heard but I wasn't able to make out what they were saying exactly.

The door was opened slightly. I had burst opened it and my heart dropped, perceiving the scene in front of me. The first thing that caught my vision was blood.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
2227 words!!!!!!!!!!! Finally wrote a small chapter!!!! But I think this chapter was kinda boring.

  *Ranting alert*

So like any other writer, I have been feeling kinda low lately. Like I feel like my book isn't interesting enough or doesn't have a hooking plot. I wanna rewrite the story again with a better plot yet I don't wanna change the current one cuz it's just too attached to me. As a reader, I find my book boring as there isn't much intriguing happening my book. I feel like I wasn't able to make the emotions of my characters realistic enough for people to connect with.

And I am not making this up, I see many people reading my book at first then leaves it in the middle which clearly indicate that it ain't that fun to read. Even the people that used to read my book before, many of them have stopped now.

I am not writing this to get praises or sympathy about my book or anything. It's just I needed to vent it out because I haven't been feeling like writing lately. I know I shouldn't care about what other thinks and just write for myself but come on! Feeling low is inevitable!

Anyways love y'all ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤎