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Dedication: Mizuhanaa for voting for all the chapters in this story! Thank you!

Recap:

He shook off my hand, before sliding into his car.

"You made your bed," he said to me in a quiet, sad tone that left me slightly breathless. "Now you have to lie in it."

With that, he tore out of the school car park, leaving me all alone.

Which is exactly what Ashton said would happen.

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*WARNING* This chapter includes violence.

I feel cold and numb as I walk out of the school car park.

Without Hayden, I am pretty much alone. I'm to blame for this, obviously, but it still hurt. I have Harvey's divided attention and that's about it. Other than that, who do I have?

The walk home feels much longer than it usually would. Probably because I am dragging my feet. The wind is harsh, slapping the loose tendrils of my hair to my face. I hug my blazer to me, wishing I could go to sleep and wake up when high school is well and truly over.

My phone vibrates in my bag. Pulling it out, I stare emotionless down at the screen as mum's name appears.

I answer but don't say anything as I continue to walk, my shoulders slumped.

"Grace? Are you okay? I just got a call from the school. Apparently, there was a disturbance and now you're not in classes but were seen there this morning?"

"Hayden and I got in a fight," I reply bluntly. "I'm not going to classes today."

"Are you okay?"

"No, not really."

I'm glad she called. Hearing her voice makes me feel better. It makes me feel like maybe, she had time for me, after all.

"Do you need me to come home? I might be able to get out in a few hours."

I shake my head. "No, don't bother. I'm miserable company anyway."

"Are you sure? You don't sound okay."

"I'm fine," I mutter as I walk up the pavement. "I'm going to go to sleep and hopefully I'll feel better when I wake up."

"All right, call me if you need me? I'm going into surgery, but you can leave a message at reception."

"I'll be fine."

"Okay. I love you."

"You too," I mutter, not wanting to say I love you to anyone else, ever again.

I feel empty as I walk up my stairs and into mum's bathroom. I open her mirror cabinet and scan through the few medications she has. I find the ones I was looking for--she was prescribed sleeping pills when she had nightmares after dad died. They occurred for years but the more she worked, the more tired she got and the fewer nightmares she seemed to have.

They're probably expired but I slide four onto my tongue anyway, dry swallowing them, before putting the container back onto the shelf. The label had read to take only one at a time, but I thought four would keep me knocked out for a while.

I walk into my room, shrugging off my blazer, dry tears staining my cheeks, before face-planting onto my bed, begging sleep to consume me.

***

A loud bang downstairs caused me to jump, startled.

My eyes feel heavy in my head as I peer around, wondering where the hell I am, what year it is and what the hell that noise was.

As my groggy mind slowly pieces everything together, the thick hurt I felt deep inside my chest re-surfaces, slicing me open.

"I know you're here!" a voice yells loudly.

It was hard to distinguish what the person said. I'm not sure if it's because I'm zonked out of my head on sleeping pills or if the person is drunk.

Peeling my body from my mattress, with enormous effort, I wobbly got to my feet, my vision blurry.

Stumbling down the stairs in complete disorientation, I see Ashton standing at the bottom of my stairs.

"What the hell?" I ask, my speech tangled and slow.

He is swaying, a glassy look in his eyes as he stares at me. I look around, noticing that it isn't daylight anymore.

Had I slept all day?

"You stupid bitch. Carrie left me because of you." His face holds a murderous, stormy expression I've never seen before.

His eyes are a mess, hair ruffled, pupils abnormally small.

"Who's fault is that?" I ask groggily, walking down towards him, my throat feeling dry. I need some water before I pass out from dehydration. I feel like I've been hit my a truck, dragged and then backed over.

I gain a little more energy due to adrenaline but I still felt like a tonne of bricks has been dropped onto my body.

"Now, Grace, you have no one," he drags out his words, his teeth gritted. "You're not my number one, you're not Hayden's. Even your dorky friend has someone."

My head is swimming. I feel his brutal words like a slap across the face. Does he not realise that I already know this? Why else would I have drugged myself into being in a coma-like state all day?

"Get out of my house before I ring the police," I snarl, my words having a slight delay as I yell them.

"Big threat coming from someone off their face on God knows what," he sneerd and I look at him incredulously.

Is he delusional? Clearly, he is the one off his face.

"Go home and sleep off whatever you've taken," I demand, folding my arms across my chest.

"No, thanks."

"You're 22 years old. Grow up and get the hell out of my house before I scream."

He let out a crude laugh. "You're a little bitch. No wonder you have no one."

Ignoring his cruel words, I move towards the kitchen, considering he is blocking the door. I am going to ring the police.

I safely manage to get into the kitchen. I reach for the cordless phone and just have my fingers around it when I feel his hand grip my arm, wrenching me back. I cling onto the phone with dear life as I stumble back, falling over. The phone bangs onto the floor, the back busting open, the batteries spilling out of it.

Of course. That always happens in the movies, doesn't it?

My body is sluggish from the pills that I can hardly get up. I try for a moment, my legs going the wrong way and my arms feeling too weak.

"Where are you going, Grace?" he asks in a low, taunting voice. "I don't have Carrie, you don't have Hayden. It's just us left now, right?"

Slowly getting to my feet, I watch him slither closer to me.

"You put out for Hayden?" he asks in a slow, eerie voice. "Why didn't you, for me? I told you the things you wanted to hear. I acted the part, didn't I?"

I feel my stomach clench as I listen to the words coming out of his mouth.

You can really be wrong about a person.

"It's the dating part that I got wrong," he murmurs, more to himself, than me. "If I had just played along, maybe you would have."

I'm going to throw up.

My mind is reeling. This is not looking good--he is off his face on some sort of drug and I'm doped out on sleeping pills. My body is not able to fight him off in this state.

I turn and run out the other exit in the kitchen, staggering clumsily towards the door. I almost make it, when Ashton shoves me roughly. I stagger to my left, hitting the table that usually has mum's keys and handbag on it. It smacks against the wall roughly as I collide with it, bits of paints coming off the wall from the impact.

Wrenching my body around so that I am facing him, he drove his outstretched hand into my throat, the pressure of him on my windpipe almost crushes my airways. I try to scream but instead, a hoarse, raspy sound comes out.

"Shut up, you worthless whore!" he screams, shoving my head back into the wall.

I can hardly breathe as his long fingers tighten around me. I feel my eyes begin to bulge out of my head as my oxygen is cut off.

His eyes lock on mine as he continues squeezing.

"Don't ever show up to my house and speak to Carrie again," he threatens, pressing his face up into mine. "She's the one that chose me. She's my number one. She's who I'm meant to be with but you've fucked it all up."

Feeling the blood rush to my face, I know I have to act fast or he might actually kill me. I can see in his eyes that he is gone. He was in a black, enraged state and he isn't going to quit until I stop breathing.

Reaching my hand out, I fumble for the air freshener that is sitting on the table. I know it is there because I always thought it was a random spot to sit it but never questioned mum about her choice. Somewhat surprised that I didn't manage to drop it considering the state I am in, I push him back as hard as I can and aim it at his eyes, before spraying.

A wretched scream tears from his lips as he falls, clawing at his face. He let out a series of howls as his eyes burn. My heart is hammering in my chest as I try to move around him.

He quickly gets to his feet and swings his hand forward, connecting it with my face. I feel my lip split as he makes contact. I fall, hitting my head on the corner of the table. I hoarsely scream as I land in a painful sprawl on my left arm.

By now, we have both made enough noise that surely someone had to have heard the commotion.

Ashton struggled to stay upright, hardly able to open his eyes.

"I'm coming for you, Connaway," he bit out. "This isn't over."

I watch as he staggers out the door, slamming it shut behind him. My body sags as I lay in a pile of unwavering pain.

Blood is running down my face from where I've clearly split my head open. My lip is burning and I can feel the hot blood trickling down my chin. I attempt to get up and let out another cry, my left arm completely giving out.

How the hell did this happen?

Recently, I had thought Ashton was nuts but I didn't think he seriously was. I guess for someone to go for two underage girls when he was their coach at high school, should have been a red flag. But even then, he could just be categorised as a creep, not a crazy sociopath.

I should have known something was up that day he came to my house and threatened me. The way his attitude changed so drastically... I should have known.

Slowly crawling up the stairs, I use the support of them to pull me up.

I fumble for my phone. My fingers trembled as I began dialling.

I tried calling Harvey. No answer. I tried calling Mum. No answer. I tried calling the hospital, automatically being placed on hold. That always happened whenever I phoned the hospital.

If I can't get onto Hayden, I have no other choice than to call the ambulance and I really don't want to have to fill out a report of what just happened.

I ring Hayden and on the third try, he finally answers.

"I'm not ready to talk to you," he snaps. "Stop calling."

"Hayden," I rasp, my voice slow. "Can you-" deep breath, "drive me to the-", more ragged breathing, "hospital?"

"What?"

"Hayden," I gasp, the room spinning. "I'm bleeding. I need to go to hospital-"

Suddenly, the line is dead.

I feel my phone slip from my grip as I sink to the floor. My body weak and tired. I just have to get my phone...

I don't know what that meant. Is Hayden hanging up because he doesn't care or because he's in a hurry to get over here?

No, he would care. He's Hayden.

My Hayden.

My eyes close as I lay on the floor, cradling my swelling arm to my chest.

"Grace!" a voice says to me, shaking me, sometime later. "Grace! Wake up!"

Slowly opening my eyes, I stare up at Hayden's concerned, green eyes.

"Hayden," I whisper, feeling blood in my mouth.

"It's okay, I'm here," he assures me, grabbing me and lifting my body. He hugs me to him.

I feel myself crying as he carries me down the stairs. My cries drowned out his heavy breathing as he places me in his car.

"Stay with me, Grace," he urges, gripping my shoulder as he started the car. "Stay with me."

Those were the last words I hear before I blackout.

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Yeah, that just happened. Unexpected..? Let me know what you think!

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