Seven

                                                   "It feels like I'm finally free."

                                                               —Niall Horan

                                                                       ●●●

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"YOU HAVE TO continue your chemotherapy therapy, Jake."

"It's too much pain, Dr. Forbes. I can't and don't want to bear it." Jake dumbly answers back.

"Jake get this inside your head that you are improving. That's a miracle that you are. You should be great full and I'm not hearing anything more. You are young and have a life ahead of you."

He just nods and closes his eyes. I just look at him and then leave.

"Sweetie, you didn't go home yet?" Uncle Smith says as I exit Jake's room. "It's two in the morning."

"I was just leaving Uncle," I tell him and hug him goodbye.

"Hi, Tori." I hear as I pass the reception.

"Hi Sam, you are back," I say to the dirty blonde-haired girl. The only one I call somewhat my friend.

"Yeah and right now I really got to run, but I will see you soon, okay? Night duty. Patients waiting." Sam which is short for Samantha hugs me tight and runs off.

"Yeah," I say to particularly no one.

She was gone on a vacation and is a nurse here. We get along well.

I get in the passenger seat of my black 2019 Ford Mustang the same car in which I took Christian to my house. The car seats had blood on them and now that they are clean, I can use them.

When I took the car for cleaning the cleaners were giving me suspicious and weird glances like I was some serial killer. And I made it clear to them that I am a doctor and took someone to the hospital and their blood dripped on my seat.

They believed it and they had to because we are talking about me. I can't hurt someone like that. My face doesn't give off that vibe rather an innocent one.

I drive through the same highway I drove through when I found Christian, all bloodied and bruised. It's been 8 days since he has been staying with me. Time flies so quickly. We get along well after the whole shopping spree.

I get to the house safely and park the car in the garage. I make my way inside and collapse on the couch from exhaustion.

"You are spending more than 12 hours in the hospital?"

I jump at the voice and fall down from the couch and groan.

"Christian! Do not scare me like that." I huff still laying on the ground, too tired to get up.

"When was the last time you slept, Victoria?" He asks, well another question.

"A full night's sleep?" I Ask. "Well about 11 years ago." I let out still lying on the ground. The old memories coming back to my mind. It's the first time I admitted it to someone.

Christian comes to me and stands beside me giving me his hand for me to stand up. I put my cold hand in his warm ones.

His big hands perfectly fit in my small ones as cheesy as it sounds. I ignore the tingling feeling in me and stand up.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" he offers.

"Not really." It wasn't just the memory of my 12-year-old self but also my life after that.

"How much did you sleep last night?" He questions. Concern clear in his voice.

"About 3 hours," I tell him. "It was the best I have slept in a while."

"Only 3 hours?!" He asks with wide eyes.

"I usually do not sleep so it was more than enough for me." I shrug like it's no big deal.

"It's not healthy, Victoria. You need sleep." He tells me.

I look up to him. "It is not easy Christian, you do not understand. I cannot. No matter how hard I try."

"Have you tried sleeping pills?"

"Yeah they make it even worse, I can not wake up when my--" I cut myself off.

"Your what?"

"All you need to know is that I am fucked up and no one can do anything about it." I say and go past him but he holds onto my wrist stopping me before I can go anywhere else.

"Talk to me, Victoria." He says. "Let me help you."

I look into his eyes directly. They were filled with so much emotion, so much sincerity. Do I trust him? Yes.

Am I going to tell him about my past? At least I can tell him bits, he doesn't need to know everything.

He doesn't need to know that how I die every time in my dreams.

He doesn't need to know much so that he could see how fucked up I am.

"You can trust me." He says and holds onto my hands in his both.

"I know but I can't talk about it now," I tell him and he understands.

"When you are ready."

●●●

I wake up at 6:00 am. A four-hour sleep and I am grateful for it. At least now I am getting a bit of sleep.

I take a 45-minute shower. The whole time standing under the shower with a blank mind.

I finally get out and blow dry my hair and prepare for a nice run under the warm sun.

I take out my puma black sports bra, yoga pants, and trainers. I leave my hair open and take my cellphone with the air pods, debit card, and house keys.

I don't forget to leave a note on the fridge telling Christian that I am out for the run and I am going to have breakfast that Jade.

I take off the house and run. Nothing more, I just run feeling free. And at the same time the song playing was Finally Free by Niall Horan.

Huh, the irony.

I run around the neighborhood aimlessly. Enjoying every minute of it. Remembering how me, mom, and dad used to run like this. Most people mistakingly said that I was my mom's sister.

Yes, my mom looked that young.

I run until I reach the park near Jade and sit on the bench in the empty park. It's a weekday and nobody is here. Not even a single soul.

I sit there alone with closed eyes breathing in the fresh air, and at the same moment, I almost shit my pants.

Yes! Because someone put a hand on my shoulder from behind me and decided it would be funny to do that.

I scream and fell down but I balance myself. I turn around to see the culprit.

"Fuck, Christian!" I curse. "You scared the hell out of me."

He laughs out. "I'm sorry. It was hard not to. Your face was priceless!"

"Ha ha. So fucking funny." I roll my eyes.

"You know it was." He scoffs.

"What are you doing here?" I say ignoring his statement.

"I'm here to join you for breakfast." He says in a duh tone.

"Well, I'm not going for breakfast right now. You can go if you want." I cross my arms and turn away from him.

"Come on Victoria. Don't be mad."

I just stick out my tongue to him and take off running towards the swings.

"Where are you going!?" I hear him yell from behind me.

"Away from you!" I fire back.

I turn to look at him and see that he is coming after me, running. I scream and run faster.

I run to the big swing with slides and climb the stairs up. By now he is standing down the swing.

He suddenly climbs through the slide. I scream again. I go to the slide opposite to it and immediately slide down.

I run again, Christian hot on my heels.

I can feel my breath getting harder and harder as I run and laugh.

I look behind me to see that he just behind me, I turn back around but just then a hand grabs my bare waist and pushes me, and turns me back with so much force that we both fall to the ground.

And again, I scream.

I feel his chest vibrate while he laughs. I huff and look up while he laughs.

"Stop laughing!!"

He still laughs.

I try to get up but he doesn't let me. And quiet downs.

"You know what's funny?" He asks.

"What?"

"That I already made you scream my name." He says with a smirk.

My cheeks get read after his statement but I play along.

"Oh really?" I breathe out. "Then I might as well return the favor."

He raises his eyebrows at my statement. In a quick flash, I straddle his torso.

I lean my head down near his ear and whisper. "Payback is a bitch, baby."

With that, I pinch his nipples. Hard. Yes, I do exactly that. You heard me right.

He lets out a scream and puts his hand on them and I just stand up going towards the Café.

I turn around one last time to see him laying on the ground, groaning. I blow a kiss and I'm off.

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