Tortured Souls (Rebels of Sandland 2)

Holy shit.

I thought I was crying when I read the message, but the video damn near broke me. I replayed it over and over again. I even Googled the words and cried harder at what they were telling me. He was a broken boy, and I was a broken girl. He wanted to heal me, but he didn’t know how.

I wiped away my tears so I could see the screen of my laptop. I tried to stop my hands from shaking so I could type a sentence.

LadyStoneheart23- Tell me something that made you smile today.

I didn’t know what else to say. But this was my way of reaching out to him. My own olive branch. I couldn’t just leave the message as read and not respond. I wasn’t totally heartless, despite feeling like my chest was a hollow void of nothingness most days. There was still something there, and he’d just ignited a small spark within me.

The dots instantly started dancing about to show me he was responding. I held my breath, waiting for what he’d say.

Legion – You.

You made me smile.

Thank you for reading my message. X

I stared at the screen, not sure what I should type back. I was lost for words, drowning in a sea of emotions and feeling totally and utterly drained.

LadyStoneheart23- Every journey starts with a single step. I took a step today. You did that for me. Thank you. X

Legion- Anything for you, little warrior. Anything. X

With a heavy heart, I logged off. I didn’t want to go into the main chat. I’d got what I came for. I’d needed to share and unload some of my grief. But instead, he’d shared a piece of himself and that was enough. His honesty had given me what I’d needed. It was okay to be angry, to not know how to react. But I needed to remember that in my darkest times I wasn’t alone, and I could do this. I could find my way back. It was time for me to try and start living again.

This was what I’d missed. What I’d grown envious of to the point of wanting to fuck shit up over.

Our parties.

Knowing the lads had started them back up without me had hurt, I couldn’t deny that. But tonight, it was all about my comeback. This was what I’d been waiting for and I might sound conceited, but I couldn’t give a fuck. It was what the people wanted too.

I hadn’t expected to see Emily chipping in to help set things up, but she did. The girl swept the floor in the main area of the waterworks like she was preparing for a visit from the queen. I kind of felt sorry for the broom with how hard she was working it. I guess she was trying to distract herself from her Dad’s trial. It was into its second week and the publicity on that thing was brutal. The press was dragging her dad, Alec Winters, name through the mud, and Emily’s too. But Ryan was doing a good job of taking her mind off it. Ryan, and the broom she was currently abusing.

“I think you missed a spot,” I said, tutting and pointing to the part of the floor she’d swept for the twenty-fifth time.

She stopped and wiped the sweat from her brow and blew her hair out of her face.

“Don’t you have a bag you should be punching somewhere? Or a person? Maybe you could practise on yourself?”

I threw my head back and laughed.

“Nice to see you still have some fight left inside you. I missed sparring with you, Winters.” I held my fists up and punched the air and she huffed out a laugh.

“I missed it too. I like giving my brain a workout, thinking up new ways to insult you.”

“I like a woman with brains.” I shrugged.

“You like a woman if she’s breathing. Brains doesn’t even come into it.”

I faked a shocked look and went to give her a cheeky response, but Ryan cut me off.

“I’ve just got another text.”

I turned and watched Zak and Finn walk towards us, getting their mobile phones out of their pockets.

“Yeah, me too.” Zak sighed and rubbed his hand over his face in exasperation.

“I changed my mobile number three days ago and they’re still texting me? Why?” Finn asked, sounding exhausted. I think the paint fumes were getting to him. He needed to take a break from his Effy masterpiece.