The Sinful Scream

4 - recollection

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*Edited*

Renee POV

   I slowly began to stir from my deep sleep, feeling the soft bed beneath me and the warmth of the fleece blanket covering my body. Opening my eyes, I take in my surroundings and am immediately confused.

Where the hell am I?

The events of last night began rushing back to my memory all too quickly, causing a dull ache to form in my head.

   My eyes began to fill with tears as I remembered the way the two men pinned me against the wall, holding my wrists at my sides against the brick wall. Even now, I could still feel their touch. I could still feel their dirty hands on my skin, leaving me entirely disgusted with the sensation passing through my body.

   Slowly sitting up, my gaze travelled down to my arms and, as if to further prove just how real last night was, I saw the purple bruising hand marks that decorated both of my wrists.

Without thinking, I rubbed my wrist slowly and hissed when I felt a stinging pain shoot through the area. I quickly yanked the covers off of my body before examining myself from head to toe.

I exhaled in relief as I came to the conclusion that I had no further injuries, although my shirt was torn.

  Continuing to recollect the memories of the previous evening, I think about the man who had stepped in to protect me. When he had first arrived to the scene, I was unsure of his intentions.

Flashback:

   It was late at night, and the streets were relatively dark and quiet. I had genuinely believed that I was doomed, void of any way to fight back. For all I knew at that exact moment in time, he could have shown up to finish the job that the two men had already started.

   However, the man immediately proved that he was on my side rather than that of the two men who had targeted me so vigorously. I recall how he pulled the men away from me and began to throw punch after punch at one of them.

   He was seemingly in a state of pure rage, one that would have terrified me had I not known the reasoning behind it. He didn't release the man from his grip until he passed out and hit the sidewalk like dead weight, bruised and bleeding. He pushed and chased off the other man, telling him something that I didn't even attempt to hear.

   Everything was silent and still for a moment as the man stood facing away from me. I sat with my back pressed against the wall in pure shock, tears brimming my eyes.

He then slowly turned around, his chest and shoulders visibly rising as he inhaled deeply. His overall aura was intimidating, and I thanked God that I hadn't met him in different circumstances.

Surveying his appearance, I was stunned.

This man was truly a work of art.

   He was large in stature and extremely muscular. Tattoos covered any and all of the skin that I was able to see, seemingly coming to an end just at his sharp jawline. With dark brown hair that was effortlessly smoothed, back, he had steel gray eyes, which were almost silver.

As his gaze landed on me, I noticed the hard look in his eyes soften, reminding me of melting, silver steel.

The way he was looking at me snapped me out of my daze that had felt as if it was hours long, and I quickly looked down, placing my forehead against my knees as I cried.

I was trembling, tears running down my face. I was shaken up after what had just happened, the after-effects of the adrenaline from the awful scare setting in. However, I couldn't bring myself to be scared of this man who protected me. Even after seeing him nearly kill my attackers, I strangely felt safe, safer than I had felt in a long time.

I heard his footsteps as he walked towards me, kneeling down in front of me. I heard him sigh, causing me to looked up at his chiseled face, which was twisted in concern and another emotion I couldn't decipher. Tears were still rolling down my cheeks.

Panicked, I attempted to stand up, my head spinning. Suddenly, everything went black.

End of Flashback

   Bringing myself back to the present, I shook my head as if that would rid me of all of my chaotic thoughts. I slowly lifted myself out of the bed and pushed open a door to my right, peeking my head inside to see that it was a bathroom. Fresh white towels were placed on the sink along with a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and undergarments.

A lined piece of paper was neatly placed on top of the clothes with writing on it in black ink, reading:

Goodmorning, I hope you find these clothes suitable for now. Take a shower and get yourself comfortable. Once you're done, come downstairs for breakfast & we can talk.

         -M

I smiled to myself as I read the note.

It was incredibly kind of him to get clothes for me, to let me use his shower and clean myself up.

    I walked over to the glass paned shower and turned on the water. I began to remove my clothes and stepped in. The warm water felt amazing as it ran down my body. I turned and grabbed a bottle of shampoo, which had to have been the man's. I lathered it into my hair as I massaged my scalp, before rinsing it out.

The scent of his Old Spice body wash was comforting to me, and put a name to the hints of the scent I noticed when I had been so close to him.

   Finishing up in the shower, I dried myself off and put on the clothes that were given to me. They fit me quite well, and I simply brushed my hair, leaving it to air dry.

I felt refreshed and content as I made my way down the stairs, searching for the kitchen. The smell of bacon and eggs wafted towards my nose, and I followed the scent to the kitchen.

That was when I saw him.