Chapter 17:

Six days had passed since Caleb had opened up so deeply about himself and then told Lexi to leave and never come back. Not that's Lexi had been counting the days. Or hours. Or minutes.

Lexi didn't know why she had listened to him. She was stubborn and defiant, that was clear. But there was a pang of hurt that sat within her chest, at the fact that Caleb made it abundantly clear, he didn't want her there. It made it hard for Lexi to believe if it was indeed for her own safety.

Maybe he didn't care for her as much as she did for him. She didn't want to admit it, but she did care for Caleb a little. Maybe she even cared for him immensely, but didn't know of it yet. Wouldn't let herself know of it yet.

Because as soon as she does that, she's pretty much close to admitting she has feelings for a psycho. Whether they're good or bad, they're still feelings and Lexi just couldn't live with herself if she started to feel unacceptable feelings with someone who'd killed innocent people for their own sick and twisted pleasure. What would that make her?

Lexi felt like she grew to have a close connection with Caleb. He affected her. But she finds herself thinking if she had affected him at all. Maybe Lexi was just another target to him, who he'd planned on getting closer to in order to hurt her. Or worse, kill her. It's not like he hadn't done it four times before.

If those were his intentions, they were completely the opposite to Lexi's. She wanted to get closer to him in order to help him.

At first, it was more about her college project. She wanted nothing more than to get the perfect grade. But it grew more complex than that when she got to know him a little more. Well as much as she could get to know him without him sharing anything about himself to her.

She wanted to help him. Help him talk about his experiences and his choices and his past. Getting him to open up would've taken that massive weight off his shoulders and maybe that's all he needed to take the next step back into sanity.

But Lexi thinks to herself that maybe Caleb was too right on her first visit to see him when he had stated how naive she was. Maybe she was naive. Naive enough to think that she could fix someone so broken and soulless. Someone who clearly doesn't care about his own life, so why should she care about it?

Lexi thinks back to a few nights ago when Caleb willingly told her the story of his fucked up past. His mother didn't care for him after what happened with his sister. His father downright hated him. How someone could beat an innocent child so violently is beyond Lexi. You'd have to be pretty fucked up to do something like that.

No wonder he's so fucked up. His whole upbringing was fucked up.

Caleb lost his whole family at the age of 10. And it wasn't an accident or a mistake. His sister died by the works of his own two hands. It's given that it was a horrible mistake but that doesn't stop Caleb from blaming himself. His pregnant mother was taken from him, burned right before his eyes. His father was dead to him before that point anyway. She couldn't imagine what that must've been like. And she didn't want to. That certainly wasn't an accident or mistake. It was on purpose and heartbreaking and just purely horrific.

Having her parents taken away from her in another sick and twisted way. That's messed Lexi up. Not enough to psychologically damage her but enough that it still emotionally hurts.

Caleb's been through so much more though. And as much as she wants to hate him, the scars on his body is a different kind of gravity itself, because every time she sees them, she's drawn closer to them. To him. It's like she can't help it. Those knife cuts and cigarette burns pain her. It literally hurts her heart when she sees them and all she really wants to do is kiss the emotional pain away from every single one.

She doesn't know what it is but that hollow feeling in her chest, feels worse when she thinks about his scars. Emotional as well as the physical ones. The fact that he blames himself causes pain to Lexi's heart.

A tear rolls down Lexi cheek and she wipes it pathetically, scoffing at herself. She finds that she's been crying a lot lately. At least once a day, during the past six days. Her sudden change in behaviour startles Scott who is currently studying with her. "Lex? What's the matter?"

She doesn't quite hear it because her mind has already zoned everything out. It's when she's shaking with sobs and large arms wrap around her tiny little body that she can finally hear again. Only this time, it's her sobs that fill the air. She breaks down and let her stupid emotions get the best of her.

"Hey, shh. What's wrong. Lexi?" Scott asks, as Lexi continues to shake with strangles cries leaving her lips.

It was almost 11pm and they were sitting on the sofa of the living room to their college dorms, thankfully alone, with a re-run of 'Friends' playing in the background as they attempt to get some homework done.

Scott had joined Lexi a few hours ago, actually wanting to get some work done for once. Both Scott and Re had noticed she had been distant lately. They also noticed her lack of visits to Riverfield Sanatorium but couldn't question her since Lexi tried to keep herself as busy as possible this past week or so.

"Is this because Rachel got on the plane to Paris and left Ross? I promise you they get together. There's something wrong with the left phalange." Scott smirks with his hand rubbing up and down Lexi's back who seemed to chuckle lightly before diving into his chest for a hug. He squeezed right back, cupping the back of her head with a large hand as he attempts to comfort her, still unsure of what had caused her sudden outburst of tears.

She sobs a little harder into his shirt but is too hysterical to care. "Dude come on, this shirt cost like thirty bucks. You're getting all your disgusting mascara stuff all over it" He scrunched his nose in disgust, but was playful none the less.

This cheered Lexi up a little because she sniffs her nose, stops sobbing all together and slaps him playfully on the chest. "I'm not wearing any mascara, you dick." She mumbles into his chest, causing it to vibrate with laughter.

She stays there for a bit, in his warmth, inhaling his familiar scent and relaxing. Lexi then finds herself thinking about Caleb's scent. It was so much more intoxicating than Scotts. It was much more woodsy and masculine and honestly, she misses it. The thought makes her tense up again and Scott notices because he simply turns the television off, shuts both of their laptop lids and picks Lexi up bridal style, carrying her to her dorm room in order to get some privacy.

He figured that Lexi wouldn't want any of the other housemates to see her crying. So he walks over to her bed and instead of placing her on it, he sits down, placing Lexi comfortably on his lap. "What's up Chicken butt?" He asks, smirking down at Lexi who has now unburied her face from Scotts chest.

A smile tugs the corner of her lips and she tries hard not to let it slip. Unfortunately, Scott has this natural stupid look on his face that makes it impossible not to laugh at him. "Goof. You're so...ugh!"

Scott smiles, using one hand to untie one of Lexi shoelaces. "I was not aware that 'ugh' was a word Alexa Reid. I'll bear that in mind next time we see Professor Collins." He smiles, tugging her shoe off and unlacing the other.

It should've made her smile, that comment. But instead it made her frown. The only person who called her Alexa was Caleb. It sounded foreign when leaving Scotts lips. Like the word was meant for Caleb alone.

"Please don't call me that." She whispers.

Scotts smile fades and he furrows his eyebrows in deep concern for his close friend. "Seriously Lexi, what's up? I've never seen you get like this. Is it about...your parents?" He asks cautiously. He knew that was a touchy subject not to be discussed with Lexi.

She didn't find herself minding that much that it was brought up. "No..." She trails off in a whisper, looking down from his eyes to the buttons on his shirt, focussing on them instead of his gaze. She pulls a finger out and starts fiddling with the buttons absentmindedly.

He pulls her other shoe off and let's it drop to the floor, awaiting her continual. She sighs long and hard. If she was going to tell anyone about what going on in her life at the moment, it'd be her best friend Scott. He may not understand the situation fully, but he'd know exactly how to cheer her up.

"Are you sure you wanna hear it. I mean, it's probably the longest story in the world." She says.

Scott doesn't smile, he just furrows his eyebrows more and utters in concern. "For you, Lex, I've got all the time in the world."

She'd never seen him look so concerned before. He usually always smiling or joking around. This seriousness was making Lexi feel uneasy.

But she pushes the feeling aside and relaxes into his arms as she takes a deep breath, about to start the story that may have changed her life forever. Except, she doesn't know that yet.

She tells him pretty much all of it with the exception of Caleb's privacy. The day she first started at Riverfield. How she was so scared of Caleb when they had first met and how he was completely mute. He seemed to get over that pretty quick during her second visit though where her fear was replaced with anger towards the green eyed man.

She tells Scott about the pencils and the drawings; the sarcasm and the small talks; the harsh exchanges and heated conversations. She even skitters around a little around his past, not explaining it in detail at all but simply summing it up as "pretty messed up". She's glad when Scott doesn't press for details because otherwise she'd be breaking her promise to Caleb.

Lexi avoided talking about the torturing and pounding completely. She didn't even know what was fully going on herself, let alone explain it to someone who's just as oblivious. But Scott got a pretty good understanding of her...involvement with Caleb and listened carefully throughout, all the while with Lexi sitting comfortably on his lap.

Another tear fell down her cheek when Lexi finished talking about Caleb's scars. "You should've seen them Scott. They were everywhere. His stomach, his chest, his back and even his arms. Some of them were so deep." She whispers darkly, as another tear falls free.

Lexi wipes her tears with her sleeves and rests her head on Scotts shoulder again. "He won't let me go back to Riverfield to see him. I just want to know if he's okay."

Scott frowns. "But why? He's in a hospital Lex. I'm sure they're taking good care of him. No-one can hurt him in there." He explains to Lexi.

Lexi looks up into his eyes. She wants to say it. He isn't safe in there. But she promised she wouldn't tell anyone. So she hesitates when replying. "I know but...I just." Pause. "I just want to see him." She whispers.

"Look I don't know the guy at all. But I do know you Lexi." Scott says, his lips twitching into a small smirk. "And if I didn't know any better, I'd say you love him."

"No I don't!" She snaps, not meaning to say it as loud as she did. She seems to have recovered from her previous crying and instead glares up at Scotts big brown puppy eyes.

His smirk widens. "Defensive much?"

She crosses her arms stubbornly and glares harder. "I do not love a guy I just met a month ago. Especially not one who is locked up in a mental asylum for killing four women." She snaps, though not at all in anger.

Scott sighs as his smirk disappears. "No but it seems like you feel something towards the guy." He says in all seriousness. Lexi doesn't reply, mainly because she's too busy thinking about what sort of feelings she might have for Caleb.

"And it's perfectly fine to have those sorts of feelings for him." Scott says as he rises to his feet with his arms under Lexi's back and knees, carrying her up with him. He turns to place her on the bed. "You'd best think about it."

Scott tucks her in and shuts the curtains of her dorm room before bending down to place a quick kiss on her hairline. "And do it quick because you're going to fail college if you let it consume your thoughts every single minute of the day and every day of the year." He smirks before leaving Lexi's dorm room to let her drown in her own thoughts.

• • • • •

Word count: 2400

A/N: WARNING! THIS IS GONNA BE ONE LONG ASS AUTHORS NOTE & IT MAY OR MAY NOT CONTAIN SAP.

WRITING IN CAPS BC I CANT EVEN BEGIN TO EXPLAIN HOW HAPPY I AM.

THIS BOOK HAS WAY OVER 1K EFFING VOTES AND 15K READS!! LIKE HOW?! IT IS LITERALLY TRASH THAT I MAKE UP AT 3AM WHEN IM SUPPOSED TO BE SLEEPING.

I CANT THANK U GUYS ENOUGH FOR READING AND ACTUALLY LIKING MY WORK. WHEN I FIRST STARTED THIS BOOK, I DIDN'T EVEN THINK ONE PEROSN WOULD VOTE. IM NOT KIDDING!

THANK YOU SO MUCH. I LOVE EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU THAT VOTES. CAN I VIRTUALLY KISS YOU??? BC I REALLY WANT TO.

KEEP VOTING & MAKE SURE TO COMMENT COZ THEY LITERALLY LIGHT UP MY DAY.

I MAY LOVE YOU GUYS MORE THAN I LOVE CHEESE SO...

SARA x