Never Let Them Hurt You

(Annabelle)

I rested in Gerard's arms for a while, holding his huge hands tightly and calming myself down. I was sort of ashamed that I had broken down like that when I told some of my stories from the slave hold. I don't know, I just couldn't really hold back how I felt about that place. I should just move on, and try to forget about it. I had Gerard, now. He was supposed to keep me safe.
I couldn't just forget about it, though. Probably 20 years of my life had been nothing but the horrors of that place. 20 years of torture isn't something you could shake off easily. I hated the fact that that's how it was, too.
I closed my eyes as Gerard caressed my arms, continuing to try and calm me down. I was pretty calm by now, though. My breathing had gotten steadier. Now I just felt like sleeping. But then again, I didn't want to sleep. That just meant another nightmare about that fucking slave hold again. It made me angry, now. I couldn't get away from the god-damned place. I took a deep breath and sat up. Gerard looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. I stood up and he did the same. "Everything alright, Annabelle?" He asked and took my hand again. I nodded. "I just want to walk around for a bit", I sighed and he nodded. "Okay. Let's walk then", he said and I proceeded to stroll out of the room. I led and he followed behind, gripping my hand tightly. I meandered around the house for a bit. It was big enough to be meandered around, I loved it. It was just so... Big. And beautiful.
So that's how we spent around an hour more of our day. Just meandering. Gerard told me a few stories of the rooms and furniture within them. Most of it was historic; a chair was 300 years old in this room, a desk belonged to a war general in that room. I didn't really understand any of the stories he told, but it was nice hearing him talk. I liked hearing his voice, and he sounded genuinely interested in the history behind his household items. So, I simply watched him tell all of his stories with curious eyes and a big smile.
After wandering through the magnificent house we finally came to rest in the big parlor/living room. He draped an arm around my shoulder as we sat down on one of the couches together. He stared up at the high ceiling for a while, almost zoning out before Gerard spoke up.
"Annabelle?"
"Mmhmm?"
I turned my head to looked into his beautiful, unnaturally colored eyes. They shined a deep red. He stared at me and took a deep breath. "I love you".

Notes

Hi guys! I've been away for what seems like ages. I'm so glad to have finally updated :) hope y'all are enjoying the story. Please continue to do all that happy vote/subscribe/comment stuff, it means so much to me :) love you, and thanks for reading! -Shannon xo