My Hybrid Troubles

Chapter 51

————————Oak's POV————————

I have to force myself not to break down as I sneak out of my parents bedroom. My hands are shaking and my breath is starting to become erratic. I finally make it to my room and use all the locks I have.

I curl in on myself as my sight blurs and breathing has now become uncontrollable. I can't believe what my mother goes through! I hope this doesn't happen very often... How long has it been happening? How can I stop my father, scratch that, how do I stop Mr. Ryder from hurting my mother? Is there even anything I can do..?

My fingers are starting to go numb because with my erratic breathing I don't have good circulation and my face feels like pins and needles. I struggle to find my phone because of how much I'm shaking... I finally get a good grip on my phone and hold it shakily in front of my face as I squint trying to see the keyboard. I type and re-type my password multiple times attempting to get in. Eventually I enter my code correctly and tap straight into my contact app. Still squinting and erratically breathing, I scroll down almost to the bottom searching for the only person that could possibly help me calm down. As soon as I find her contact I tap it and press the message button.

'Hjey'
•Oak

'Oh! Hi!!! What's up?'
•Reiya

'I nedd hlrp. Ples cime... i reely neeed somw hellp'
•Oak

'Sure! I'll be there in like five minutes, what's happening?!'
•Reiya

'Judt neds you help...'
•Oak

'Alright, I'm on my way! Hang in there!'
•Reiya

If I was breathing normally I would have just let out a thankful sigh, but I'm still trying (and failing) to steady my breathing. Luckily i'm on my bed because my fingers go completely numb and I drop my phone.

I don't know how tears are still falling and I don't know how I haven't passed out yet. Suddenly my doorknob rattles and it causes me do half fall, half slide off my bed to hide behind it in case it's Mr. Ryder... Then my phone buzzes scaring me way more than it should.

'Uhm... Oak..? Could you open your door? I'm here'
•Reiya

I shakily rise from the floor and hobble over to my door. Struggling, I unlatch and unlock all my locks then move over a bit to lean on my wall.

*Door opens slowly*

In a whisper "hey... I'm here..." Reiya slips through the small gap between the door frame and door.

"h-h-hey..." through my sobs I'm not sure if Reiya hears or understands what I say.

"Come 'ere" *Reiya holds her arms out for a hug*

I don't even try to hide how much I needed her to comfort me and shakily make my way into her arms. She starts stroking my hair and whispering for me to breathe. I do my best to follow her breathing pattern.

My eyes finally clear enough for me to see accurately and I push the room door closed. I'm surprised by how easily Reiya helped me calm down. My once erratic breathing has calmed down to just heaving breaths and slowly I'm regaining feeling in my fingers. My face is starting to feel normal again but I stay in Reiya's embrace.

"When you're ready you can tell me what happened, okay? And if you don't want to talk just yet that's okay as well."

I just nod and allow myself to calm down, enjoying the warmth that comes with Reiya. I swallow the lump in my throat and slowly leave her arms. Still not wanting anyone else to come in I re-lock all the locks on my door. She gives me a small comforting smile.

"Th-ank you..." I flush pink because of my voice crack.

"No problem!" Reiya's normal cheeriness returning I manage a smile which brightens hers.

"Can... can we uhm, keep this between us..? I don't really like the idea of my anxiety becoming common knowledge, especially because I am expected to be calm and collected at all times due to my title." I know I'm saying all this with no real reason, but it's just automatic after an episode like that...

*Reiya giggles* "Who would I tell? It's not like I know many vampires! In fact I have only actually met four... huh. Never really noticed that. Oh well!"

I can't help but crack a real smile knowing that she doesn't seem to mind my anxiety and she's really good at helping me calm down. Finally convincing myself to move, I sit on the end of my bed then let myself fall backwards to lay down on it. Reiya glances at the locks then me with a barely noticeable look of nervousness which quickly disappears. She then walks over and cautiously perches on the end of the bed.

I get back into a sitting position and huff out a stressed breath, my mother's situation and the fact that my so called father, legitimately disowned me in the middle of a hallway! Reiya softly rests a hand on my shoulder after she relaxes her position a little.

"Hey, I'm right here... and I don't plan on going anywhere. If you need me you just need to shoot me a text, okay?" She playfully shoves me, "Now turn that frown upside down!" She pinches my cheeks and forces me to smile which causes me to laugh.

"Haha, stop! It's weird hahaha" I move her hands off. Reiya dramatically pouts in response and I just playfully roll my eyes, gently shoving her.

"There's a smile! So you do still know how to smile!" She's practically standing now, happiness flooding her features.

I scoot back onto my bed then shift to lean slightly on one arm with my legs off to the side. Reiya joyfully hops onto the bed and sits on her legs where she lands.

"So, I'm already here, there's no point in me leaving so soon after getting here and although I love Mia, I could use a real break. Do you have any movies?!" She giggles and I smile shaking my head.

"I don't have very many but I do have a few..." I get up and open the bottom drawer of my dresser, revealing cases upon cases of movies.

"Eek!" Reiya bounces on the bed and claps, smile brighter than I thought possible. "Yay! Okay, so I will watch pretty much anything except for horror..."

I grab a random movie case and gently toss it to her, "This one look good?" She looks the cover over, nods then tosses it back to me.

I walk to the DVD player, insert the disc, grab the remote, turn on my TV, then jump onto the bed beside Reiya and lay down. I glance at her and then the movie menu pops up. I press play then look back at her. She thinks for a second then lays down beside me.

Staring into Reiya's eyes, a smile shows itself on my face. She looks away shyly and I crawl closer to her. I leave space between us but instead of watching the movie I watch her.

She looks back at me and blushes, "whaaatt?" I smile and shake my head.

I decide to take the risk that's been present in my mind and shrink the gap between us. I gently pull her towards me and begin playing with her hair. Throwing caution to the wind I lean in closer to her, softly pressing my lips to hers. Completely expecting her to pull away I don't hold her tightly but she surprises me by moving closer. I shift to prop myself up on my elbow so I can play with her hair better.

She begins playing with my hair and I can't hold back the weird rumble that rises. Reiya hesitates for a second but continues only for me to be surprised once again by her as her purr joins my rumble. I smile against her lips and can feel her cheeks becoming warm as she blushes.