MANIPULATED Book A (Sequel to Tempted)

3. Some Answers

"Holy fuck." You say to yourself as you rush over to Anti, who is now sliding down the wall of the room, smearing blood along it.

He looks worse up close. He holds his arms, which are sliced, against his bleeding stomach. His black tee-shirt is ripped in multiple places, some of which are stuck to his skin from being soaked in blood. His right leg, has a large gash along his calf, and a knife stuck out of his thigh.

You, as gently as possible, help guide him to the ground, but his weight overpowers you and he falls into your arms and pushes you with him down to the floor.

You hold his head up, and lean it against the wall.

"Anti, what the hell happened? Please say something!"

Anti breathes heavily and quickly like he can't get enough oxygen into his system. His eyes are open in tiny slits, but you can tell that they are solid black, and it looks like a slight fume is emanating from them in the corner of each eye. He rolls his head to the side, looking at something. Then he suddenly grunts loudly as he yanks the knife hilt from his thigh. He drops it on the ground, and sinks back into a resting position, his eyes closed.

"Anti? I don't know what to do. I need you to help me."

With his eyes still closed, he takes a bloodied hand, and holds onto your shoulder. He slowly inhales, then exhales. As he does so, you see the blood on his shirt start to disappear. Then the scratches on his face, the wounds in his leg, and finally, the bruises on his chest and torso that you can see from the holes in his shirt.

You almost forgot he can heal himself.

You scoot back a little, and give him some space. He remains there, his hair all disheveled, looking down at his chest with his arms sprawled out and palms facing up. His breathing has slowed down.

You just stare at him in awe, not saying a word. You want answers, but you know better than to  push him, so you wait until he is ready to talk.

His eyes are closed again, but you can tell he isn't asleep from the way he clenches his fist, then releases. And jerks his head like he is thinking about something, then pushing the thought away.

You kneel on your feet, and just wait. You feel like you can wait all night.

But soon, he mumbles something.

"Help me up."

You do as he says, and crawl over to help him stand on both feet. Then he immediately stumbles and grasps onto you for stability.

"I got you," you whisper.

"My room," He replies with difficulty.

You help him, one stair at a time. He is able to hold himself up, but he seems to have trouble placing his feet, like his is dizzy.

Eventually you kick open Anti's bedroom door with your foot, and help him to his bed. He sits with you next to him.

Soon after Anti was fully adopted into your lifestyle, you helped clean his room up a little. It still has the occasional knife mark here and there, a few ripped curtains, dark clothes hanging about, and dark paint that styles the walls, but it's Anti's own choice of decoration and decided to leave it be. At least its clean enough to actually walk into.

You look at him expectantly, waiting for something to come out of his mouth. Questions filling your head. He knows it too, so he makes one last final decision and says, "(y/n)...  you're in danger."

"What?" This was not what you expected. "But, you're the one who-"

"Shut up," he hisses. "I know. Just listen. Okay?"