"Wakey wakey, kids!"

This voice was different. I lifted my head and saw Rose was already sitting while Damien stood near the balcony doors. He ripped the curtains apart letting the painfully bright sunlight in.

"You said it like, Attention soldiers!" I grumbled, burying my face in the pillow.

"Yes. You could've changed your tone according to your sentence," Rose said, softly, agreeing with me.

I turned my head, so it laid on its side on the pillow. Damien stood there, his hands on his hips and his face had a scowl.

I scowled myself.

"Stop looking at her like that," I gritted.

He looked at me and narrowed his eyes.

"Wake up. We have an appointment today," he said, before moving out.

"Grumpy," I grumbled burying my face in the pillow again.

"I heard that!" He exclaimed, from the hallway.

"That's better!" I yelled back in the same tone.

"It's clear who else is Grumpy!" He said again. His footsteps had stopped.

"Rose is," I said, for no reason at all.

"If Rose is Grumpy then Jayden is gay," he said. A laugh escaped my mouth before I could stop it.

"Hey! Don't drag me in this," Jayden yelled, after we heard a door fly open.

"He totally is," I said, picking my head up from the pillow, so my voice wasn't muffled.

"You're making it obvious," Damien said, letting out a chuckle.

"Be proud of yourself, Jayden," I yelled before slamming my head down on the pillow again.

All I got in return was an annoyed grumble.

Rose giggled a little and walked into the bathroom.

Anything to hear her laugh.

I smiled into the pillow and sighed.

'Her laugh will kill you both. Trust them and they will hurt you.'

They won't. I won't let anyone hurt Rose.

'What about yourself? What if she teams up with them and hurts you too?'

She won't.

"What? It hurts? Should've thought before doing what you did. Do you go to school to hook up?" Lucas yelled from behind me, while I cried into my hands.

I gasped when I felt the knife on my back.

"Let's carve slut here, shall we?" He asked, lifting my shirt up to reveal my back.

"You will think twice before even looking at a guy. Bitches don't deserve that kind of attention," he said, digging the knife in. I hissed in pain, bunching up my shirt in my lap.

The doorbell rang, causing him to pull away.

"A bitch is lucky today."

He never got to carve that word into my skin.

"Wake up, Levi," Rose said, softly. I woke up with a gasp.

She was standing a few feet away, in the warm sunlight.

"What?" She asked, turning to me. "Were you seeing things again?"

I said something but it came out muffled and total gibberish.

I slapped my hand onto my mouth.

What is happening?

"What?" Rose asked, worriedly, coming to sit down beside me.

I took a deep breath and looked at her, flinching when the image of Lucas hurting her formed in my mind.

"Levi." She moved forward a little, with teary eyes. "I-I don't know what I should do."

There's nothing you can do to save me from my own mind.

I just stared at her for a moment, before raising my hand and putting it on the side of her face, stroking her cheek.

"Don't worry," I said, smiling sweetly.

She looked at me for a moment before nodding. I stood up and went to do my morning business.

I walked out only to find Rose gone.

'She's already avoiding you. She's got more siblings now, who love her more than you.'

A dreading feeling of loneliness crept over me, slamming me back into realization.

'She wants comfort and you don't provide her with that.'

'Or maybe someone took her out of the room, without your knowledge and hurting her. Like Lucas used to do to you.'

"Rose!" I yelled, running for the door.

"Yes?" A voice squeaked from behind me, stopping me just when I was about to yank the door open.

I looked back to see her standing near the balcony door, her hand to her heart, looking scared.

"God!" I rushed to her and pulled her in for a hug.

"I feel so helpless, Levi. I can't do anything to get you out of this." She looked up after saying that. Her eyes were teary again. "It's like one minute you're better than you've been after Dad and the next you're worse than I've ever seen you. I don't know what your mind is doing to you, Levi."

"My mind is doing nothing," I said, calming myself down by slowing my breathing.

"Talk to me, please," she begged, clutching the sides of my shirt in her fists. "I can't see you being so scared and out of it all the time."

"There's nothing-" She cut me off.

"Then promise you will talk to the therapist openly," she said. "Lucian will understand if you want to keep it a secret. He can arrange seperate sessions for you."

The pleading look in her eyes had me crumbling.

"I will." The words left my mouth, quickly.

She nodded. I stood there for a second, snuggling her and kissing her head, before I pulled away.

"Let's go," I said, ignoring the lack of warmth I felt.

We walked to the kitchen, her hand clutched tightly in mine and with me looking around for any signs of danger.

"Morning, babies!" Asher sang, when we entered.

"Good morning, Asher," Rose said, in her usual sweet voice.

I was busy looking around at everyone, cautiously, keeping Rose behind me.

Someone cleared their throat. I blinked and looked at the source.

"What are you looking for, Bunny?" Lucian asked, not shifting his gaze from my eyes. I looked away when he raised an eyebrow at the lack of an answer.

My mind wasn't really cooperating at the moment. For some reason.

"I uhh..." I stopped.

What did he ask again?

"What-What did you ask again?" I asked. His eyebrow lowered before he furrowed them.

"Why don't you come help me out here, Honey?" Asher asked. Lucian looked at him and they seemed to be talking through their eyes.

I nodded. Releasing my grip on Rose's hand, I walked over to the counter to stand beside Asher.

He smiled sweetly and handed me a glass.

"Can you fill this up and add the water to the pan?" He asked, giving me a really easy task. I nodded and filled the glass with water.

Asher went back to stirring whatever was in the pan, while watching me with a smile.

I glanced at him then glanced back down at the glass to see it was already filled and the water was flowing out.

"Do I just put it in now?" I asked, looking at Asher for his affirmation. He nodded and stopped stirring. I poured the water into the pan, little by little while he stirred.

I stepped back and put the half empty glass on the table.

A sizzle was heard and I jumped. My hand raised instinctively. I was standing too close to the counter. When I suddenly raised my hand, it hit the counter. Hard.

I backed away and clutched it in my other hand. A hiss of pain escaped my mouth before I heard it.

I heard the spatula being dropped in the pan and chairs being dragged across the floor. All of the guys stopped whatever they were doing and stood up suddenly, like soldiers in attention.

I blinked, looking at their faces one by one. All panicked and scared. Except Lucian's. He was still emotionless.

"Ouch!" I whined.

Heavy footsteps thundered down the hall. I whipped my head towards the door as Dad ran in.

"Who hurt my little troublemaker?" He said, angrily, stomping towards me.

I chuckled.

"Just a paper cut," I said, showing him my finger. I don't know how he heard me from so far. Dad instincts, I guess.

The scowl on his face deepened as he narrowed his eyes at my finger then at the open book before me, laying on the table.

"Bad bad paper," He smacked the book twice, then turned to me. "Come on, baby. Let's leave this book alone for a timeout. No one hurts my love."

"But I was doing homework," I said, pointing towards the messy kitchen table.

"Then we will do some other subject." He announced, picking me up from under my armpits and setting my thirteen year old self on his hip. He glared at the book once again and started walking out of the kitchen.

I smiled at him while he looked straight ahead.

"What?" He asked, looking at the smile on my face, his own smile creeping onto his face. A smile so bright, it seemed to fill our whole world with light.

"I love you, Dad," I said, snuggling into him, burying my face in his neck.

"I love you too, my little heart," He said, kissing my cheek.

Small footsteps came running towards us. I lifted my head to see Rose standing just where the stairs ended. She was bouncing on her toes and looking at us hopefully.

"Is it cuddle time?" She asked, pointing at me.

"Every second is cuddle time, darling," Dad said, in a mock heavy voice.

He placed me down and knelt down before us. He opened his arms and we hugged him tight.

"I miss Mom," Rose mumbled.

Dad sighed, before taking hold of our hands. He sat down on the floor and pulled us to sit on his legs. He put our hands on his chest.

"She's right here." He said, as I felt his heart beating against my hand. "All you need to do is hug me really tight and feel Mom right here. The big heart and the little hearts are still beating together."

"Bunny," Someone called out. I looked up from my hand and jumped when I saw all of my brothers and Rose gathered around me.

I couldn't back away though, someone was holding my hand.

"Are you okay?" Lucian asked, rubbing my hand in between his. I don't know what he said.

I tugged at my hand, so he lets it go. He did and I pulled away, clutching my hand to my chest.

They're right here.

My heart was beating fast. Uncomfortably fast.

Everyone backed away and went back to what they were doing after glancing at someone behind me, maybe Asher. Asher went back to cooking, while I stood there staring into distance.

"You know, when I cooked for the first time, something hilarious happened. Do you know what?"

"Huh?" I said, not quite catching his words.

What is happening?

"Forget about your thoughts and focus on my words, honey." Asher said.

"What?" I asked, now breathing heavily. Panic built inside me. It was all so confusing.

Why am I not understanding anything?

I clenched my eyes shut and shook my head violently. It feels like my mind isn't working.

"Hey Hey. Don't do that." Asher said, suddenly. I opened my eyes to see his hand trying to reach me. I jumped and flinched back, panting. My panicked breathing wasn't letting me calm down.

I heard a chair being pushed back and jumped, my head snapping towards my right to see Jayden stood up.

"Calm down, Bunny," someone said, quietly. Jayden looked to my side and nodded, sitting down cautiously.

"Look at me, sweetie." A gentle voice said, making me snap my head to them.

I gulped and looked at him.

He held his hands out and maintained his distance.

"Take a deep breath, love. A deep breath," he said, repeating what he was saying through his actions. He raised his hand and seemed to take a long breath in.

I stared at him for a moment.

"A deep breath." I repeated after him, feeling less panicky. I understood that.

"Yes. That's good. Very good. Now do it." He said, putting his hands on his thighs and bending down to my level.

I nodded shakily and took a deep breath, slowly.

"Close your eyes." He said. "Close your eyes and focus on the sounds you will hear. I will not speak after you close your eyes."

Why is that too much to process?

My eyes darted from his eyes to the counter and back to his eyes. I tried hard to understand everything but all I came up with was jumbled words that didn't make sense.

My almost normal breathing picked up the pace again, along with my heart. I could feel my heartbeat ringing in my ears and an overwhelming feeling washed over me suddenly.

"I don't get what you're saying," I cried out, feeling suffocated and hard to breathe, although my breathing was still fast.

His eyes widened a little as he refrained from rushing forward.

"Honey. Don't panic, okay? Take deep breaths and-"

"I don't get it!" I cut him off.

I clutched my head with both of my hands, my nails digging into the skin and my elbows coming forward to hide my face.

I flinched and tried to scramble away when I felt someone close to me. They didn't let me go though.

Arms wrapped around me, my elbows coming in the way of the hug.

My hands were grabbed and pulled down, so my elbows lowered and my hands were clutched to my chest.

I didn't open my eyes and kept breathing at the same fast rate.

"Deep breath, Honey. You're safe. Close your mouth and breathe through your nose."

Asher.

The deep and gentle combination could just be found in his voice.

He seemed to panic when he said that and I didn't react to any of it.

"Lucian," He called out. "Hold her hand to your chest please," He said. Someone grabbed my hand and pulled it away from my chest resting it on a heart, considering I could feel a heartbeat.

A hand on the back of my head, pushed my head to a hard surface, my ear against it. The sound of a heartbeat echoed in my head.

His heart was beating fast. Really fast. The beat I felt on my hand was fast initially but it slowed down, as the chest heaved up and down taking in deep breaths.

"Can you hold her?"

I felt myself being shifted and taken into strange stronger arms and my head being pushed to rest beside my hand. The hand holding my hand there never moved once.

There was silence except for the calm heartbeat I could hear.

"Close your mouth, honey," Asher said, quietly and soothingly. "Inhale through your nose. One long relaxing breath."

I closed my mouth and took a deep breath, shaking slightly. When my hand shook, the hand that was holding it started rubbing the back of it.

"Good. Now exhale then repeat this." I followed the only voice in my head, slowly being more aware of the words and the voice.

The firm hand that was pressing my hand to a chest.

The lips pressed onto the top of my head.

Slowly my short panicked breaths turned into deep relaxing ones.

"That's good. I'm so proud of you, sweetheart," Asher said, setting his hand on my knee. "Open your eyes now."

I shook my head violently. I don't want to.

"Do you want to sleep?" He asked. I just snuggled into him more and sighed. The arm wrapped around me tightened, pulling me more into his chest.

Feels safe here.