This chapter is dedicated to unicornrainbowcloud  for always voting and supporting the book. This is the update that I promised<3 Hope you love it. Mwah xx

Ellie's P.O.V

Have you ever been haunted by your very own thoughts?

It's depressing, When you want sleep to visit but you're brain keeps on thinking and thinking.

You're trying to do everything you can to ignore the thoughts that keeps running in your head but yet you couldn't do anything to stop it and is stuck on doing it.

That was what I was feeling at the moment. After I passed out, I woke up  in the bed completely scared and covered in sweat.

I couldn't go back to sleep because of fear that they would kidnap me and my thoughts were keeping me company.

I noticed that my clothes were replaced with clean ones and my cuts were no longer bleeding but left with dark red lines. My face was throbbing and my feet were aching badly.

I noticed that there was only one cut that had stitches. It was on the side of my left wrist and was dragged in straight line.

It was about four inches long and had 7 stitches. I let my thumb hover on it gently and felt the rough fabric of thread carres it.

I smiled softly despite being tired. I still felt thankful that I managed to escaped.
Thanking the heavens aboved, my mind drifted off to Valentino.

How could Val do this to his very own bestfriend? It's not Alec's fault that people like him more than Val.

I sighed, How can I tell Alec the truth? Will he believe me? What will his reaction be?

I felt the familiar sting of tears and I let out a breath before resting my head on on the headrest.

I don't want Alec to suffer. He already has his own issues and this will add up more to his problems.

I can tell that this revelation would crush him and I know somewhere in my mind that he would completely shut himself out.

The thought of Alec in pain started to make me cry. I tried to stop it by closing my eyes but it continued to pour out of me.

I sobbed quietly as the fear of waking someone up entered my mind. I don't want to burden them anymore.

I suddenly felt weak, numb, and useless. I felt the betrayal catching up to me and felt scared.

Never in my life did I feel so depressed. I pulled the blankets up and wrapped it in my body. I pushed my body to lay down before continued crying silently.

I closed my eyes tightly trying to fight of the flashbacks that I recieved. I pulled my knees near to my chest and hugged myself.

I was so caught up in my crying that I didn't notice that someone was now crouching infront of me.

I let out a gasp of surprise as my dark blue eyes met dark obsidian ones.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, tears streaming down my face.

He wiped it softly with the pad of his fingers,"Stop crying Red." Chase said, his usual blank eyes now held a certain softness in them.

"I'm caught up in making a decision." I said roughly.

"What type of decision?" He asked, an all knowing look present in his face.

Ignoring his words,"What is the hardest decision you'd made?" I asked.

He paused,"The hardest decision that I made was whether I was gonna save myself or let my mother die in the fire." He answered.

The vulnerability and sadness that were present in his eyes made a new set of tears stream on my face.

I pushed myself forward and started to hug him.

He didn't hug me back.

"I was seven when our house was set to fire. I woke up by the sound of my mom crying and it took me a minute to notice the heat and the smoke that was making it hard to breath," He paused as if reminiscing it.

"She wrapped me in a wet blanket and lead me out of the room. The fire was getting stronger and it was getting harder for us to breathe. We were almost out near the stairs and when suddenly the ceiling fan gave up and it landed unto both her feet." He explained further.

I was tempted to ask where his dad was but refrained myself from doing so.

"I tried to help her but it was no use. She told me she couldn't feel her feet anymore and the fire was almost unbearable at that point."

"I remember her taking my hand gently and she smiled at me even though she was in pain. She told me that, She's sorry because she couldn't stay any longer and that no matter what happens she'll always be watching me." At those words left his mouth, he wrapped his arms arounds me returning my hug.

I held my gasp of surprise. I never knew that behind Chase's blank facade was a broken boy.

"I started crying and disagreed but my mom told me to go. She said that it was an obligation of every parents to make sacrifices for their children and I tried to think of so many ways to help her but what could I do? I was just a child and knew nothing. I told her I'm sorry and started making my way downstairs. I took one last look at my mom and she uttered her final words which was 'I love you' before the ceiling totally gave up. I screamed so hard and was about to run up to her but I lost my footing and fell down the stairs." He said.

"I-i actually thought I would die that night but I think it wasn't my time yet because one of the firefighters found me and managed to bring me out. All I remember was blurry images and me handed to the paramedics." He finished.

He was still hugging me and I felt something wet drop on my shirt and it took me a minute to realize that he was crying.

"There is nothing more painful than hearing your own mother cry and wither in pain." He muttered hoarsely.

My throat became dry and I was left speechless at Chase's revelation.

"Thank you," I muttered softly,"for sharing this to me." I said before pulling away.

Chase gave me a sad smile,"I just want you to know that every sacrifices is consist of the hardest decisions." He said.

I nodded mutely,"It was Annie and. . .Valentino." I whispered,head bowing down.

It was more like mumble since I was gauging his reaction. Scared that he might think I'm lying or making up stories.

"I know,"was his only answer.

My head snapped to him so fast that I was suprise it was still intact and not broken.

"H-how?" I asked, speechless.

"This last few weeks, We all noticed that Val was hiding something. He became secretive and was always busy or caught up on something. When we would hang out, He would recieve a call and then he would urgently tell us that he had to leave," He explained,"We had a few guesses and suspicious that he was the one who kidnapped you since he was the only one that went missing when we found out that you were kidnapped. " He finished.

I gaped,"You're an observant person." I said.

He grinned," You could say that, but what are you gonna do about Alec?"
He asked.

"I'm not sure really, I want to tell him the truth but I'm scared that he might push me away or he won't believe me." I said, my eyes casting down.

He chuckled,"Are you kidding? Alec cares for you so much that you have him wrapped under your little finger." He said.

Looking up,"He's not whipped." I said suddenly.

He let out another quiet laugh,"Trust me he is, if only you had seen the look on his face when he found out that you were kidnapped. He went ballistic ordering us around to check the whole school for any evidence or clues that might gave away who did it or where you were. When we found nothing, We started to search around the town and I didn't know how long it was but my legs were starting to cramp. He was about to give up but then Jeff called informing he found you. I never knew he could drive that fast and I was really sure my heart was about to leap out at the state he was driving in." He said, shaking his head.

"I'm gonna tell him the truth first thing tomorrow." I said before yawning.

He stood up,"Don't worry, He'll believe you. Go take a rest now, It's almost three a.m and you need all the rest that you can get." He said, ruffling my hair.

I grumbled sleepily,"Thank you for the talk Chase." I said, before laying down.

I felt my eyes shut immediately and found myself falling deeply to the darkness but I think I heard a reply that sounded like,

"Anything for you Red."

♡♥A/N NOTE♡♥

COOKIES! I apologize deeply for the late updateee x

What do you think of the chapter?

I'm honestly seeing Chase from a different light now. Never knew beneath his dark looks is a heart of a broken boy.

QOOTD: Have you fallen inlove with someone you're close with?

Thank you for reading and I love you cookies xx
-ElaBearXx