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๊ง๐ก๐จ๐ฉ๐ž ๐›๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐๐ฌ ๐ž๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ๊ง‚
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๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ฉ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ฉ๐ก๐ข๐œ ๐๐ž๐ฌ๐œ๐ซ๐ข๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฉ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐š๐›๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž. ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ž ๐๐จ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ ๐ข๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐จ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ž๐ฅ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐จ๐ซ ๐ข๐Ÿ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐š๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ.

GRACE HADN'T GONE TO SLEEP LIKE SHE TOLD ELIJAH. She just didn't feel like having company. So, she just sat on her bed, staring up at the ceiling as she just let her mind be blank. Well, it was blank before someone decided to knock on her door. She rolls her eyes as she glanced over, seeing Klaus standing there. "Have you come to annoy me yet again?" She asks with a sigh as she sits back against her pillows.

"No, I came to see if I could get any information out of you since you're almost a bottle in." Klaus teases as he walks into her bedroom. Grace only rolls her eyes playfully as she rests her head back. "Aren't you supposed to be asleep, love?" He asks as he swore he heard her telling Elijah that she wanted to go to bed.

"I just didn't want Elijah to bother me again." Grace admits and she saw Klaus smile, chuckling lightly. "You really don't take no for an answer, do you?" She asks curiously as she squints her eyes at him.

"Oh, come on love. I told you a bit about my past, it's only courteous for you to do the same." Klaus tells her and she only scoffs, crossing her arms against her chest.

"I never asked you to tell me about your life." She points out, never once had she asked for his life story. He just decided to be annoying and give it to her anyways.

"I insisted." Klaus replies.

"You shouldn't have." Grace retorts with an annoyed sigh.

"Now, you know that wine never goes good with keeping secrets in." He says as he crosses his arms against his chest, leaning against the bed.

"And how do you know I have any secrets to tell?" Grace teases as she raises an eyebrow at him, smirking lightly. But it dropped when he opened his mouth to speak.

"Because I can see a broken soul when I look at you." Klaus admits as he sits beside her on the bed. Grace doesn't say anything, just keeping her mouth closed as she really didn't know what to respond with. "The scars, the fact that you try to never show fear, how you are so protective over Hayley if someone so much as touches her." He points out as he tilts his head, watching as her eyes looking in a million different places. Her jaw clenches as she felt herself breathe a little heavier.

"Because I have to." Grace states firmly as she looks at him, she would never let a soul touch her sister. "I have to take the darkness so that she can live her life in peace." She says and Klaus had respect for her for doing that but it's also an awful way to live. He would know. Letting your life be consumed by darkness, was never the way to go. Because eventually you will feed into it and who you are as a person will disappear forever. "Hayley knows about my past but not all of it. She doesn't even know most of what happened while I was with her and her family." Grace admits as there were a lot of secrets that she was still keeping from Hayley and she would keep them until the day she died.

"You say her and her family, but you have the last name Marshall." Klaus points out as he figured the girl was adopted since she had the same last name but Grace only shakes her head. They were her family, but it was never official.

"I could never legally be adopted by them. You needed consent from your biological parents which I was never going to get." Grace admits as she remembered having the conversation with Hayley's parents but it just wasn't possible. "So, instead. I legally changed my name when I was eighteen. Because I wanted my name to be mine. When I achieved what I wanted, I didn't want my father's name to be on that achievement." She explains, she did not want her father's name following her throughout her life. Not even if she could make it her own. It would always haunt her. And it would be easier for him to find her. "I worked hard for it and I was going to take what I earned as my own." Grace says as she takes a deep breath. She remembered how when Hayley's parents had kicked her out when she triggered her curse, Hayley wanted to go off on her own. But the girl was still going and Grace wasn't going to let that happen.

So, even thought she got through college. She had two jobs to help pay for them to get through in life. At least until she finally got a job at a law firm after her countless years at school. It wasn't easy. It wasn't luxurious. But they were together. And that's all that mattered.

"Why did you run away in the first place, love?" Klaus could take a guess but he wanted to know her take. He knew why he ran from his father for a thousand years. Everyone had their reasons. Sometimes it was their anger. Sometimes it was the pain that got too much. Sometimes it was even being lonely and just wanting to have a friend. Any reason could be enough to run away for good.

"Isn't it obvious?" Grace asks him as she shakes her head, picking at the lint on her pants. "You said it, you've noticed the scars." She says as she glanced at him for a moment before clearing her throat. "My father was abusive for most of my life, even when the violence wasn't towards me but to my mother." Grace says as she remembers even from she was very little, her father would always pick a fight and hurt her. "When I was fifteen, I just couldn't handle it anymore. I had to get out." She says as she rests back against the couch, looking towards Klaus who was just watching her curiously.

"You know, my father was always a cruel man. I don't think he ever had a good bone in his body." Grace tells him as she truly could not remember one single memory, even before the abuse started, where he was a decent guy. All she could remember was the screaming and the fights and the torture. "It just never turned physical until I was eight years old. And then it continued, more of the violence moving from my mother onto me." She says as she clenches her jaw, feeling tears brim her eyes. "Every thing I did, everything I said was fuel to him. To his anger. Everyday I would come home from school and expect a beating." Grace admits as there wasn't a day where she thought that he would spare her. Of course, somedays he did but those were miracles. "Hayley knows he was abusive but I never let her know how much. She only knows about ten percent of what I went through." Grace explained to her that her father was verbally and physically abusive. the most she would tell her was that he would hit her and sometimes cut her skin. But that was already enough for the woman to hate him. So, she didn't feel the need to burden her with anymore.

"He once locked me in my room for a whole week. No food. No water. No sunlight. I was completely isolated." Grace states as she remembers back to the dark room. She swore she was going to go insane, trying desperately to keep her mind busy so that she felt safer. But the darkness and the quiet. All it did was make her be alone with her mind. Be alone with all the abuse and the pain. She relived it. Over and over again until he finally opened the door. "He only let me out once he knew I needed water to survive." Grace admits as she knew her father truly care if she had died. Why would he? She would always be a burden to him. "He didn't care if I died but it would mean he wouldn't be able to hurt me anymore. Use me as his toy." The cat only plays with the mouse for so long until he eats it. Once the mouse is dead, the fun is over. He would prolong the death for as long as he possibly could.

"He would burn hot poker sticks in my sides... My arms..." Grace brought the sleeve of her shirt up, showing him only a small fraction of the burns on her arms. Klaus had to look away for a moment to collect himself. This was the time for her to talk to him, to tell her story. He didn't need to get the attention by crying. When Klaus glanced back, he saw her covering her arm yet again before pulling her arms to her chest.

Grace remembered the agonizing screams that would leave her body. No matter how much she tried to indure it, to try and take the pain and show no fear. Eventually she would break because he would just keep it on her skin until she did. He always needed to win. He always needed to know she was suffering.

"Cut me with a knife until he was satisfied with how much I was bleeding." Those were most of her scars that were littered around her body. Burn marks and knife cuts. He would dig so deep into her skin that she swore he would hit an artery. At least that's what she'd hoped for. That he would make a mistake and she could bleed out on the floor. Watch with a smile at the man tried to save her life. Because there was no fun in having a dead daughter. Not when she got the last laugh.

Grace tenses as her mind goes somewhere else. To a place that was the complete opposite of the physical abuse she suffered on the surface. That pain she could bury deep and be fine with but that wasn't all that she had to indure.

"He would touch me.." Klaus felt like being sick as he heard her. He couldn't even imagine doing the things she was describing to his soon to be child. Even though he was abused himself, what happened to her was even worse. And Klaus never thought that was possible. How could anyone hurt their child? "He would make me do things or he would do things to me." Grace felt her voice waver as she tried not to think back on it. She could handle thinking back on the pain, the scars but the rape... Grace had tried so hard to block that away forever. "His hand first went on my thigh when I was only nine years old." She cries, she couldn't help herself. Grace felt like breaking down but she kept herself together, covering her mouth for a moment. Klaus was ready to hunt this man down and make him pay for what he did to her. She was a child. A child. And he had raped her. "It just kept sliding higher and higher.." Her voice was barely coming out as she lifted her hand to her eyes, covering them for a moment.

Grace could still feel his hands roughly grazing her skin. How he would grip her thighs tightly and rip them open. How no matter how hard she cried whilst he thrusted into her harshly, he wouldn't stop. Because he got a thrill out of it. Out of watching her scream in pain, try to move out of his grasp. That would only make him go harder. His hands grabbing her ass or her boobs, telling her that she had gotten all of her mother's good parts.

She didn't know how many times he had raped her. Grace knew some of the times it was during the middle of the night when she was sleeping because she would wake up to either her underwear being on the floor and the sheets being pulled off of her body. Or she would wake up whilst he had his hand in her pants. But after so long, Grace became numb to it. She would no longer scream, she would no longer panic against him and try to break free. Grace would just lay there and accept her fate. Because there was nothing that she could do. She just decided that maybe she wasn't worth saving. Maybe she had deserved this.

One good thing came out of it though as when she stopped responding to him, he did it less and less until it became only once every two weeks. That was her bliss. That was the happiness that she got to experience in her childhood. Her father giving her two weeks before he assaulted her again. It was like the vacation that she never got.

"And you wanna know what my mother did?" Grace questions, laughing at herself but there was not one ounce of humour. Instead she was just pitying herself because every damn day she thought her mother would stop him. But she didn't. "Nothing." Her voice was like bricks as Klaus only stares at her. He could feel his jaw clench as he felt rage in his body. He knew that feeling. Having family just stand by and witness your abuse. His mother stood by. Elijah stood by. Everyone did. "Absolutely nothing." Grace mutters as she moves her eyes down to her hands, picking at her fingernails. "She just watched." She felt disgusted by her mother, by her actions. But even then, she felt remorse for her. Because he probably resumed the abuse on her once Grace had ran away. And for that she felt sorry. But she could not feel ounce of guilt for running away because she had to save herself since no one was going to do it for her. "For eight years that I suffered the violent and sexual abuse of my father she just watched. She never once tried to intervene." Grace states as she just fiddles with her fingers, somewhat drifting off into the void as she talked about it. "Because it took the focus off of her. If he had me, she wouldn't need to worry about his temper latching onto her." In some ways she understood why her mother never stood in, she didn't want to continue getting abused. But what kind of mother just allows their child to take their place? Hears their screams and doesn't even try one time to stop him. "The funny thing is, that's not even a sliver of what he did to me."ย  She admits as there was a million different things she could name, but they would quite literally be sitting on this couch forever.

"Is that what you wanted to know, huh?" Grace asks Klaus as she looks at him and she could see the look of remorse and guilt in his eyes. He felt guilty for pushing her too far because she was reliving all of these memories right now. But Klaus also knew that in the long run, her telling him would benefit her. Because she didn't have to keep it all inside anymore. "I have demons in me too, Klaus." She admits as he wasn't the only one who had a past, something and someone haunting him. Grace had plenty. "You wanna know why I seem to have this sort of vendetta against you?" Grace asks as she scoffs, shaking her head as she runs her tongue over her bottom lip. "It's because of your behaviour, every single man's behaviour towards me has reminded me of my father." She admits as she rolls her eyes. Every time a man even talked to her, she was always looking for the piece of her dad. Even when she talked to Elijah, she didn't necessarily see her dad, but she saw someone else who she trusted. Who told her that he would always protect her. Who would never lie to her. And he broke that promise. "The way they talk or move or flirt or use every little thing against me. Which is why I do not trust easily." She explains and Klaus understood that, if he had known that, he wouldn't have been so condescending towards her.ย  "And it isn't even all because of my father." Grace admits as she brings her hand up to her neck where she used to wear the charm necklace everyday for a year.

"It's because when I finally let myself open up, just a tiny bit, because I felt something for a boy when I was a teenager because I was a lovesick fool." Grace starts, feeling her anger getting the best of her which makes her stop for a moment. Her fists were clenched together so she just closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. Klaus moves his hand to her shoulder, resting it softly. "When he told me that he loved me, I believed him. Even after he betrayed my trust and ripped my heart out of my chest." Grace says as she shakes her head. She was too quickly to trust him and that cost her a piece of herself.

Dylan Thornhill. He was her highschool sweetheart. The man was everything a girl could wish for. Smart. Charming. Handsome. Kind. Loving. Loyal. Loyal. At least that's what she thought he was. Until she saw the truth.
-

"Hey, babe. I wasn't expecting you." Dylan says as he walks into his bedroom, seeing the girl sat on his bed, her legs swinging back and forth. But the blonde didn't even glance up at him, only staring down at her shoes. "Is everything okay?" He asks cautiously as he places his bag down on the ground. "Grace, did something happen?" Dylan was worried that something may have occurred but she only glanced up at him, tear stains on her cheeks.

"Was I a dare?" Grace asks him and Dylan visibly freezes at her words. His eyes widen as he just stared back at her in shock.

"What?" He says after a moment, faking confusion but she could see right through it. Grace had overheard his friends talking about it, talking about how they couldn't believe he was still with her when it was only supposed to be for a month.

"Did you only ask my out to complete a dare? Was I just part of a game?" Her voice was more firm but it was still cracking, the tears still leaving her eyes as she felt so betrayed.

"Grace.." Dylan says softly as he shakes his head but she only holds her hand up.

"Please. Please, tell me that it wasn't." She begs, looking at him, pure sadness and heartbreak in her eyes. "Please tell me that you really do love me and that it wasn't all just a trick. That you really didn't just ask me out because people dared you to ask the weird girl out." Grace cries as she shakes her head, staring at her boyfriend who only frowns, and he didn't even need to answer for her to realize that she was right.

"I can't tell you that." Dylan admits with a sigh as he looks down at the ground. Grace closes her eyes for a moment, shaking her head as she cries softly.

"Oh, my god. I am such an idiot." She mumbles as she sniffles, realizing that no one would ever truly like her. "I thought you actually liked me." Grace says and Dylan's eyes widen.

"I-i do!" He says loudly as he takes a step towards her but she only steps back. "I swear to you, I do." Dylan promises her but Grace only sniffles again, wiping her tears away.

"If you did, you would've told me. Y-you would've asked me out because you wanted to not because you were forced." She replies and Dylan clenches his jaw, bringing his hand up to grip his hair for a moment.

"Yes, it was a dare but my feelings for you are real." Dylan tells her but Grace only scoffs.

"No, it was just for you to win some petty cash." She retorts as she grabs her bag off of the bed, standing up to walk out but he only grabs her arm to stop her.

"It may have been like that at the beginning, but I feel for you Grace. I love you." Dylan assures her with love in his eyes as he gazes down at her. But Grace wouldn't let him get away with it, she wouldn't be used like a trophy.

"You used me. I gave you everything I had, all my strength, all my heart, all my sanity. And you just set it on fire. That is not love." Grace states as she shakes her head, glaring up at him and that's when she saw something behind his eyes twist.

"Can you just listen to me, for once!?" He snaps as he glares harshly down at her. Grace had never seen anger come from him before, but something inside her told her that this wasn't normal rage.

"What? Listen to you come up with more lies?" She questions with a scoff, rolling her eyes. Grace didn't even have time to process what happened next. One minute she was looking at him at the next, her head was whipped to the side, a stinging sensation in her cheek. Grace blinked a few times, not quite understanding before it finally clicked in her brain. He had slapped her. Grace had never experienced it from anyone but her father. She was shocked to know that some teenage boys could act just like he did.

"Do you need to get your fucking ears checked?" Dylan sneers as he grips her arm tightly, letting out a scoff as she only trembled, her eyes wide. "I'm telling you that I love you." He says as he pulls her against his body, wrapping his arms around her. Dylan plants kisses on her head and neck but Grace could only stand there and stare at the wall. She could barely even hear anything at that point. It was like she was sucked back into the void of the dark empty room. And Dylan didn't even notice or apologize for what he had done
-

Klaus sighs as he looks down at his hands, closing his eyes for a moment. He hears the girls soft sniffles and he wanted to comfort her but he knew that she most likely did not want to be touched. "Even then. I believed him when he told me he loved me." Grace says as she wipes away her tears. "But when I even questioned him about it, I saw my father." She states as she moves her hand up to her cheek. "Because he seemed like a nice boy until he finally snapped and hit me." Grace could still vividly remember that moment, the moment that she knew she would have to once again suffer through abuse. Because she couldn't run this time. She couldn't just leave Hayley.

"I could handle it." Grace says as she knew she could fight through the pain. She'd handled it for eight years, what was a few more until Hayley graduated. "But when he tried to put his hand on Hayley, that's when something inside of me was taken." She states, her voice lowering as she felt something inside her open. Grace had never told anyone this because she knew if she did, everyone would find out what she did. Hayley would find out what she did. But what she did had to be done. Grace saw red that night and couldn't stop it. It happened and now it was history. "And I did something that even Hayley never found out. No one ever found out." Grace mutters as she stares at her hands. Klaus glanced at her confused before he noticed her hands shaking. It wasn't hard to realize what she had done. She would do anything for Hayley. And that included murder. Grace bites the inside of her cheek, picking at her nails.

"So, you think I'm broken?" She asks as she looks at him, her voice cracking slightly. Grace could tell he wanted to say something but decided to stay silent. He didn't want to interrupt her because he knew she needed this. She needed to finally get it out in the open. Because truth be told, she has never told anyone this much detail. "That I need to be fixed?" Grace questions, taking a deep breath as she shakes her head. She brings her eyes down to her hands, feeling her body physically shaking. "Well, there isn't any fixing whats inside of me, Klaus. I just have to mend the cracks just enough to make it through this life. To protect my sister." She explains as she gulps, trying to keep her breath calm but it was becoming erratic. Grace hasn't felt this kind of emotion in a long time. She's always pushed it down and if it ever slipped out, she immediately covered it with a facade. Grace couldn't have people knowing what she was really feeling. Because that was a weakness.

"I can handle my pain." Grace admits as she nods her head, clenching her jaw as she furrows her eyebrows. She sniffles as she just stared at the floor. She had been handling her pain for fifteen years. Grace could keep going forever because she was not going to let it consume her. And there was no way in hell that she was going to let it consume Hayley. "But she shouldn't have to." She finishes, taking a deep breath as she squeezes her eyes shut. Grace never once wanted Hayley to know everything that she has gone through. That is simply too much for her to handle, especially since Grace as acted completely fine. How can someone be fine after they've suffered through all of that?

But she wasn't fine. Grace would have panic attacks by herself ever since she was fifteen. She would never let Hayley see one because then the strong front that Grace has put on for so long will come crashing down. But Grace needs Hayley to believe it because if she doesn't, then she will crumble.

"No one deserves that, especially a child." Klaus speaks up once he realizes that she wasnt going to talk anymore. She doesn't glance at him, only keeping her head down. "I know that there is nothing I can say right now... You opened up to me and there is truly no word that I can say that will ease your pain." He admits and he wasn't even going to try because words didn't always fix things. Quite frankly, someone else could never actually heal your pain. "But if you can't tell Hayley, at least let me carry some of that weight for you." Klaus says as he carefully rests his hand on top of hers. He saw her flinch for a moment before she relaxed underneath his touch. "Don't you feel relieved? Having some of it off of your chest? Finally being able to talk about it instead of it boiling up inside of you?" He asks and he could see the hint of a nod that she gave him. Grace could feel herself be able to breathe more but she couldn't handle all of these emotions at once. "I know you may not like me and you don't have to. But I'm gonna be here for you, whenever you need it. Just call me and I'll come." He squeezed her hand, simply gazing down at her as she tries to take deep breaths. Grace finally looks at him after a few minutes, a ghost of a smile on her lips.

"Thank you." She says, her voice barely above a whisper but he had heard it. Klaus only nods his head as he lets out a small sigh. Grace only closes her eyes, feeling the tears escape her again. A soft cry leaves her lips as she leans against his chest. It caught Klaus a little off guard but he immediately wraps an arm around her, holding her close.

"I got you, love." Klaus assures her as he allows the girl to cry against him, her hands gripping at his shirt. He rests his head on top of hers, frowning as he hears her broken sobs. "It's okay." He tells her, even though he knew that was far from the truth. Klaus didn't think she'd be okay for a while. But maybe she could be on the road to get there now since she finally allowed herself to unload her pain. "Shh." He sighs as he rubs her back, feeling her soak his shirt with her tears but he didn't care. "Just let it out." Klaus says as he presses a kiss to the top of her head. He then sat in silence, holding the girl close as he allowed her to completely breakdown.

He knew this was what the girl needed. Even if she couldn't admit that she needed help, that she needed someone to talk to. Klaus was just glad that she was finally maybe able to open up about her past. But she would never truly get closure. Dylan may be dead but her family wasn't.

And closure for her was not going to happen until her father was dead.

โ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽโ˜•๏ธŽ

I didn't want to write anything else in this chapter because I didn't want anything overshadowing Grace's past.
Please if you are experiencing physical abuse, mental abuse or sexual assault, please talk with a trusted adult, therapist, friend, or a local help line. Things may seem impossible to get out of, it may seem like the pain will never end. But there's always light at the end of the tunnel. You just need to use the strength that you have, to escape.
I know I am just a writer on this app and this is just a story you are reading. But my dms are always open for people to come and talk to me. You could even just come and rant it all out in a paragraph just to get it out into the world because it's better than keeping it all inside.
If you are also experiencing depression, anxiety or another mental health issue, I am also here if you want to talk about it. Because I am someone who has suffered and is still suffering from depression. And I know somedays it's literally impossible to get up out of bed.

I really hope everyone can find happiness in life. I really do.

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