Chapter 5 - Hurt

• I felt a small breeze on my face before opening my eyes, my body was completely sweating and it felt very cold, it seemed like I was dead from how frozen my skin was. My breathing was already calm and there was no drum beating in my chest. In front of my eyes I found Eris's face completely marked and bloody. I had a small knot in the pit of my stomach for seeing him that way, even though it wasn't the first time I'd found him this way.
• I sat up suddenly to realize later that I was lying on the floor of his room, I surrounded my brother's face in my hands after taking a strong breath of air. My vision gradually cleared and I tried to reconnect with reality. I couldn't understand what had happened.
• One of his eyes had a large bruise that barely allowed him to open his eyelids by a couple of millimeters, he doubted that he could have a clear vision with that eye, half of his right lower lip was burst and bloody. He complained as soon as I had put my hands on him, making my heart sink in a second.
• It hurt me a lot to see him this way, perhaps much more than the marks I saw on his body would hurt him, I wanted to know how all this had happened.
• What happened? - I asked scared.
• Once again I looked to the sides to confirm that I was on the floor of his room, which was completely messed up and with small pieces of glass scattered all over the floor, I had even just superficially cut a part of the glass with one of them. palm of my right hand.
• Where... What happened to you? Where are those bastards? - I insisted.
• Calm down sister - Eris whispered.
• Eris approached slowly and with some difficulty kissed my forehead and later made a small complaint about the pain that minimal effort caused him, you could tell how sore he was.
• You feel good? - Eris asked.
• What happened? - I investigated.
• I brought one of my hands to my head, it hurt so much.
• You have fainted - Eris assured.
• And the men who were here? - I consulted.
• They were called from a place and had to leave immediately - He answered.
• Let me find something to heal your wounds with - I said.
• I got up with a little difficulty, feeling a little dizzy and with too many questions. I headed to his bathroom so I could wash my face with cold water so I could react in a better way.
• I noticed the marks that I had caused on my legs with my nails, they were all marked with a great inflammation around them, they even had a little blood on them, now I understood the reason why my nails hurt so much. I touched those wounds and noticed how much they burned, I was so nervous that I had not found a better solution at that moment, I had to pay the consequences of the anxiety I had experienced.
• I took a couple of gauze pads from her shelf along with a couple of cotton balls and looked for some disinfectant that was not expired: That shelf was really a disaster, both in the order and expiration of the products it had, I even doubted that any of them could serve. In short, I ended up taking what I believed would help me the most to avoid further consequences with his injuries.
• I made him sit on the bed and lean against the wall, I stood next to him and started to slowly rub that product over his face while he got a couple of insults for it, he was really sore. I was partly upset but despite that I had not sought to exert any kind of discomfort. How was it that I did not know about these situations that seemed to develop with a certain regularity? He couldn't say that he deserved such things but he also knew that he said that because of the affection he had for him.
• Who were they? - I asked for.
• It doesn't matter - Eris answered.
• While he closed his eyes as if enduring the sensation that the disinfectant generated in his open and recently caused wounds. At that time I did feel like causing him a little discomfort in order to use it as a method of torture to obtain his confession, although my heart did not allow me to behave that way.
• What were they doing here? - I inquired - You told me that they were no longer bothering you.
• It's a long story - Eris answered.
• He always had the same fucking answer for everything and the same excuse to evade the questions I asked him, I placed a part of pure alcohol on one of his wounds causing him to let out a big complaint about it, it was ending with the little patience I had left.
• I have all the time in the world to listen to it - I asserted.
• It turns out that they have never left me alone and since you already had enough things on you, I didn't want to overload you with anything else. The cursed ones come with some frequency - Eris clarified.
• I had a lot of things in my head, I tried to concentrate on everything I had heard today trying to put together the key words I had heard, I went over the conversation in my head a couple of times while I cleaned the blood from his face and finished applying that product in his wounds.
• The words were repeated at high speed in my head and caused my heart to speed up a little again as if they were taking me back to that moment when I feared for our lives. After a couple of seconds I stood in front of his brown eyes, which were shining.
• What is this about pasta? - I insisted.
• He was quiet for about five seconds and opened his eyes to look at me, at least the one he could easily do so with.
• It's nothing - Eris assured.
• Did you use again? - I asked calmly.
• My heart was crushed even by asking the question, I wanted everything to be a lie, that it was simply a mistake even though deep down I knew that I had all the certainties in front of my face, as if I preferred to put a curtain in front of me in order to not seeing reality. He started to get nervous and I couldn't press my nails against the palm of my hands.
• Nova… - Eris responded.
• Did you use again? - I screamed and paused - What the fuck is on your mind?
• Understand me Nova - He asked.
• The only thing I have to understand is that I spend every damn night of my life dancing in front of strangers who only want to fuck me, where they probably bet who will be the first to convince me - I said annoyed and sighed - And for what? Aren't you wondering? Because right now I'm starting to rethink it.
• I headed to the living room to grab my things with some fury, I no longer cared about anything. All the effort I had been making over three years was fading, I had not realized that the wall I was trying to build kept the enemies locked inside, finding myself trapped with them.
• I saw him fall because he didn't have the strength to stand, I saw him not even wanting to eat or drink anything, I saw his bones mark his skin when I bathed him because he couldn't stop shaking while he was in a cold sweat. I did so many things that now seemed not to have the importance that I did give them.
• I saw him become a handsome man again, I saw him seemingly healthy and clean again. How blind I was.
• Nova - He called me again.
• With a somewhat complaining tone, as if I were exaggerating with my behavior. I'm sorry! But having your effort count for nothing felt horrible. I took a deep breath and turned to slap him even though my entire face was sore, my eyes were blurred by the tears that were building up but not coming out, I felt really hurt.
• What the fuck with you Eris Prado? - I asked - Don't you remember anything three years ago? Don't fuck with me!
• I need you to understand - Eris insisted.
• The only thing I understand is that all this was worthless to you and that you screwed up everything the first chance you had - I said.