Page 81 of Broken Beauty

It sounds like a pair of fists are hitting glass, over and over and over again.

I open the door to the bathroom and my eyes go straight to Ash who is punching the mirror in front of him.

There is blood all over the floor along with shards of glass. When my eyes go down to his fists, I want to throw up from how scratched up they are.

The cuts he's made are so deep to the point where I swear, I can see the bone.

Ash doesn't notice I see him; he keeps hitting the glass and grunting hard.

His face is red and the veins in his neck are prominent.

“Ash.” I walk inside the bathroom towards him, not even caring about stepping over the glass. It's a good thing I decided to wear shoes. “Ash.” He doesn't budge, instead he keeps thrusting his fist in towards the broken mirror in front of him. “Plea-“ my voice cracks. “Please stop,” I say at the same time as I put my hand on his shoulder to push him away from the glass a little.

Ash's breathing is heavy and he looks away from the glass and looks at me with a dark look in his eyes.

This look he’s giving me feels familiar, like I have seen him give me before whenever he was really pissed off but even then, Ash didn't have that crazy look in his eyes. My hands shake lightly as I grip onto my sweater.

“Ariella,” he lets out before backing away from me, putting so much space between us when all I want to do is cradle him in my arms.

Who hurt you, Ash?

“Ash-“

“Get out. What the fuck are you even doing here? Who let you in?”

“I came in myself. But Ash, what are you doing? Your hands-“ My voice cracks again.

I don't even know where to look. All of this is so much to take in and I don't know how to process all of the glass and blood on the floor.

I walk towards him to grab his hands but he pushes away from me and hides his hands from me. “Get the fuck out. Who said you can be here?”

“I'm here because I was worried.” My eyebrows furrow. “And I have a right to be after what I've seen.” I look around the bathroom again and it pains me to see all of the glass and blood on the floor.

I feel like the food I ate earlier is about to come up.

“You don't need to be. That's not your job. Now get the fuck out and leave.”

“No,” I argue, standing my ground and not leaving.

Ash raises an eyebrow. “No? What the fuck did you just say?”

“No.” I walk closer to Ash. “This isn't okay, Ash. All of this isn't okay. You're hurt, so bad to the point where I can see your bones.” I reach for his hand but he pushes me away lightly.

“Get the fuck away from me Ariella, go home. You're not needed right now.”

“No. Y-You're hurt. You need to go to the hospital and get stitches or something, Ash,” I say, as tears start to threaten to spill from my eyes.

Seeing him hurt like this scares me so much and I don't want to leave him alone knowing what Ash is capable of.

“Ariella, you're only good for one thing and surprisingly I don't need that right now. So, I'm not going to ask you again. Leave,” Ash says, his words are filled with anger and hate.

But I know he is just saying that to push me away.

It's all Ash ever does.

I ignore him and walk closer to him, grabbing his hands to look at them.

Blood falls from his hands and it drips onto mine.