Page 48 of Teach Me How To Fly

“Don’t talk like this to me because I’m not the person to do it with. Tell me the truth and let’s end all the drama, but if you know something about what happened to Annalise or if you have any idea what could’ve caused her to collapse like that once she stepped into your house, then you should fucking tell me.”

Maybe it was something connected to the fact that Annalise wasn’t Lukyan’s daughter, but then I asked myself, did Lydia know about it?

“Something had happened when you were children. Sylvian, Annalise’s uncle and Lukyan’s big brother did something to you two, but I don’t know what. The only thing I know is that Lukyan made him disappear and forbade both of you to come here again.”

Sylvian.

If Lukyan’s brother truly did something to me and Annalise, then I had all the right in the world to be angry right now with myself because I couldn’t seem to remember one bit from it.

The last weeks were the strangest of my life. I went from being a man who doesn’t show his feelings, to a man who tries to face his traumas and help those around him.

I left Lydia alone in the hallway and went back into the room without telling her anything. I closed the door and my gaze fell on Annalise.

She was still sleeping, still sitting in that bed without moving or even showing any signs that she was about to wake up soon. I sighed and sat on the chair next to her bed, and then I took her hand in mine and placed a kiss on it.

I didn’t know that I would ever end up like this, staying beside her bed and praying for her to wake up. That was the moment when I realized how much she truly meant to me, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

It did scare me too, but it didn’t make me want to run away from her. I wanted to discover every layer of these feelings I had for her.

I continued to look at her, while my mind kept flying to what Lydia told me. I tried to remember anything about this man, Sylvian, but nothing came to me. The only thing that made me question everything was that both me and Annalise had nightmares of a man harming us. Could the man be Sylvian?

Maybe Lydia was right. Children forget about the things that traumatized them too badly because that’s a common coping mechanism humans have when they face traumas that might break them for life.

Everything that had happened, and everything that I found out, managed to drain me to the point where I let my eyelids fallheavy. I caught a last glimpse of Annalise before falling into the deep sleep I needed.

My mind kept thinking about Sylvian, Annalise, and what might’ve happened to us.

And the sleep made all the thoughts go silent.

17

ANNALISE

My head weighed what seemed like a ton and as I tried to open my eyes; I felt my body trying to regain its energy.

I felt a light touch on my hand and I knew without having to look by the feeling of it that it was Maksen’s. The moment my eyes adjusted to the light, I opened my eyes and I saw the pale pink ceiling in front of me, I froze.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.

“Did you close the door, Annalisa?”

He asked me and the sound of his belt opening filled the room. I nodded and I wanted to cover my legs more, so I pulled the edge of the dress Aunt Lydia gave me before she went to work and left me home with Maksen and Uncle Sylvian.

“Did you lock it?”

“Yes, uncle,” I replied, turning to him.

He had his pants fallen to his ankles and my body started trembling again, as it always does every time my uncle approaches me. He came closer, and his eyes were pinning me. I wanted to run, but I knew that would have made the situationworse for me. I ran once, and he beat me, touched me even harder and did things to me I didn’t really understand.

“Take your dress off, Annalisa.”

“I-I’m freezing. I’ll get sick if I take it off,” I replied, hoping my reason was good enough to stop him as my legs started shaking.

Why was he always like this way with me? What did I do wrong for him to punish me every time? Didn’t he know he was hurting me?

The next moment, he grabbed me by my arms and lifted me up from the ground, throwing me on the bed’s surface. With a sudden movement, he took off my dress, leaving me naked in front of him.

“Look, your aunt gave you these tiny pink panties I love so much.”

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