Stormy Nights

[adellejefferiesxox]

That was really good. You nailed the emotions and reaction from the characters perfectly. The portrayal of Aden’s revelation was very realistic and was easy to imagine happening. I like reading fics where I can see what’s happening in my head. The way you’re writing the characters dialogue which conveys the characters behaviour, personality and how they respond to certain situations has been in done in a way that’s just brilliant.

Your chapter was a fairly accurate portrayal of a guy revealing to his girlfriend that he suffered sexual abuse as a child. It’s good that Belle is a person who won’t see Aden as a “weak” individual as a result of being abused.

The stuttering and unsteadiness of his voice transmits just how difficult it is/was to tell someone you love, in this case being Belle; what happened in his childhood. I’m glad you didn’t go into too much detail about the abuse his grandfather inflicted on him, this chapters focus was mainly Belle’s support and Aden coming clean to the girl he admires and loves the most.

“He-e used to come into o-our room when-n we were a-about to go to s-sleep and-d and he-e would-d,” Aden stopped

This sentence says it all, you don’t to be spoon feed the information to know what’s coming next and the stuttering of his voice reinforces that message to the readers. I like how Belle didn’t interrupt Aden; she just listened and let Aden continue what he wanted to say. But in a sense, I guess Belle was speechless and wanted Aden to be able to say what he needed to say. At the beginning you mentioned that Aden will become even more dependent on Belle – as she seems to be the “strong” half of the relationship.

I think Belle will be Aden’s clutch in order to deal with his past and present feelings of his childhood which seems to be impacting on him as a person. Aden seems to be struggling with his romantic relationship with Belle which is perfectly normal for someone who has been through what he has. But hopefully now Belle knows the truth Aden can take another step forward into reclaiming his life and learn how to love himself and gain some self respect and that way the path of Belle and Aden’s relationship will be a positive one. But by the looks of it, he has a long way to go before they will put this in the past.

Another brilliant chapter, but I wish it could have been longer! *whines*

Update when you can - xox

[yaz88]

Not an update sorry =( just answering a few questions =)

Carina.vanessa.adellefan -

Thank you for you review, I'm glad you enjoy writing them cos I enjoy reading them =P There amazing and I love them

Oh Yaz iLove you, iDo, iDo =)

Thank you SO much. 2 days in a row. Impressive =)

Oh i know, i'm amazed =P, you'll have the next chapter up either today or tommorow as well i hope =D

But now you are saying that there will be twists? iCan't wait =)

Yes there will be , you'll never have imagined one of them in a million years either , there coming up soon as well

adellejefferiesxox-

Yey! Im glad it came across as how I wanted, I was worried it would come across as too insensitive or something :S but it's good it didnt =) Your review was also amazing they make me feel happy =) and want to write more so thats good =)

At the beginning you mentioned that Aden will become even more dependent on Belle – as she seems to be the “strong” half of the relationship.

Yes he will, it wil become clearer why in the next few chapters , thats all I'm saying

But by the looks of it, he has a long way to go before they will put this in the past.

Is the end of the story long enough =P cos there's things along the way that hinder his recovery

Another brilliant chapter, but I wish it could have been longer! *whines*

Update when you can - xox

*groans* I know! Im sorry I do try , I really do, the next chapter is about 2 1/2 pages on word so a little longer than the others, but where possible I will try and extend them =)

And you should have an update in a little while or tomorrow afternoon, it depends =)

xx

[Inactive User]

This is really good. I love it More soon please.

[yaz88]

Thanks for the reviews

Wooo, 3 updates in 4 days wow, that must be a record

I didnt think I was gonna update today because I'm tired but then I was in the mood for writing so I finished the chapter . You got lucky

Anway next chapter -

Chapter 8

The water swirled all around me, dragging me down deeper into its depths, I tried to swim upwards but something seemed to be holding me down, I struggled and screamed only to swallow mouthfuls of water, I was choking, I couldn’t breathe…

“You deserve this Aden, after what you made your mother do, you deserve to die a slow painful death…”

I shivered, no… no not that voice again, please anything but that…

My lungs were threatening to burst; there was nothing I could do as I pulled swiftly downwards by an unseen force, manic laughter in the background haunting my thoughts, no please…

That was my last thought before the darkness came crashing down and took me away, forever…

***

Aden shot up straight, gasping for breath, no, why does he have to come back, I thought I was rid of nightmares for good and now they’ve only seem to got worse.

“Babe?” Belle asked sitting up in bed after his reaction woke her up. When she got no reply she looked at him and saw pure undiluted wild terror bright in his eyes,

“Shhh… Aden, it’s okay, your safe, shhhh” She comforted, she didn’t know what his nightmare had been about but after what they had talked about earlier she had a pretty good guess.

After Aden had calmed down Belle asked,

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, I’m fine,” Aden replied exhaustedly.

“You’re not,” Belle countered, “Obviously something’s disturbing you or you wouldn’t have reacted like that.” Aden shot her a glare but she carried on regardless, “Was he in your nightmares,” When Aden turned a shade paler she knew she had guessed right, “It’s alright Aden, I’ll help you, you don’t have to go through it all on your own.”

“I don’t need help; I’ve told you, I’m fine.” He replied, colour flooding back into his face as he began to get angry.

“I don’t believe you Aden, I know what you’re like, you need help but you won’t accept it; please Aden, please for me, let me help you.”

Her words struck deep in his heart, she was right he did need help but years of pushing everyone away he couldn’t just start now, what was he supposed to do?

“Just go Belle,” He whispered, pushing her away like everyone else, “Please, I just want to be alone, I need to think.” He looked up at her with confused pained eyes and she knew not to push it any further he needed to think through by himself so she gave him a kiss on the cheek before turning and leaving the room.

---

Why… why did I have to push her away, the only one that really cares about me and I treated her like everybody else, I wish I could change, I wish it never happened, I wish he never existed, then we wouldn’t have a problem, God my life’s such a mess. Belle’s right as well, I do need her help just after this long of saying no I can’t bring myself to accept, to accept it would mean to give in, to show weakness and I can’t do that, it would be like letting him win, urrgh what am I gonna do?

Aden sat on the bed pondering over these thoughts when he heard Roman call him from downstairs so he reluctantly got himself up and dressed before dragging himself down the stairs.

Everyone was sitting at the table eating breakfast when he got there; Roman was the only other one dressed, Nicole and Belle were still wearing their pyjamas. Aden grabbed himself a bowl of cereal from the counter and sat down with the others at the table.

“So, everyone sleep alright?” Roman asked, the other three nodded and Belle shot Aden a disapproving look as he did so, she knew full well he hadn’t slept well at all, he just shook his head slightly back at her, he didn’t want anyone else knowing, Belle had got it right earlier, it was his grandfather that was troubling him but that wasn’t all, after his near-death experience with the storm his dreams were now haunting with drowning and both of them combined, it was no wonder he reacted like that earlier.

“You two doing anything today?” Roman asked Belle and Aden.

“No, why?” Belle replied, taking a piece of toast from the pile and buttering it.

“I’m taking Nic into town today and I just wondered if you two wanted to come along?”

“Nah, you’re alright, we might just go to the beach or something; you two go and have fun, good luck.” She replied, laughing at the thought of Nicole taking Roman round the shops, he was in for one long day. Roman chuckled,

“Right, well this should be fun, come on then Nic,” He said while getting up from the table.

---

Once they had gone Aden and Belle were left alone and this time there was nowhere for Aden to hide.

“So have you thought about things yet?" Belle began.

Aden sighed; there was no way he was getting out of this now,

“Yeah, ummm”

“Here, let me help, what were your nightmares about?”

Aden gulped, straight to the point she was,

“I was drowning and being pulled down by something then I-I heard him, he-e told me I s-should die-e because of what happened to Mum-m and it was my fault-t and I was finally getting what-t I deserved.”

Belle stared at him, shocked she knew his nightmares were about his grandfather but she didn’t realise that his recent experience with the storm would affect him either. Aden looked close to tears so she moved round to his side of the table and pulled him into a hug, murmuring comforting words into his hair, he didn’t even try to resist, just willingly relaxed into her arms revelling in the safety and security they represented.

---

It was the same as last night, the water, the pulling, the voices, only this time the dream was so much more vivid, as if he was there again and a disturbing presence that only made it much more horrifying.

***

The water swirled all around me, dragging me down deeper into its depths, I tried to swim upwards but something seemed to be holding me down, I struggled and screamed only to swallow mouthfuls of water, I was choking, I couldn’t breathe…

“Aden…” the voice called. Huh? What was that?

“Aden…, come here” There it was again, that voice, I recognised it from somewhere but I couldn’t quite remember…

“Aden,” the voice had turned from sickeningly sweet to angry and violent.”Come here or you will pay.”

The water seemed intent on making me die a slow, painful death as I was still alive and I got pulled deeper and deeper until I could no longer see the sunlight shimmering on the top on the water. The darkness surrounded me welcoming me into its depths but something was keeping me from entering.

“Aden…” The voice called again, “Come here, you need to be punished, you’ve been a bad, bad boy…”

Oh God!! I finally recognised the voice, No not him, please anything but him.

The darkness finally won as it swept over me but it seemed I was not free from my demons there as his face flashed as clear as day in front of me, his evil eyes gleaming…

***

He screamed.

Next Chapter -

Aden wakes up from the nightmare

Who ends up in hospital?

Please comment

xx

[HighwayUnicorn]

Deleted.

[adellejefferiesxox]

Why… why did I have to push her away, the only one that really cares about me and I treated her like everybody else, I wish I could change, I wish it never happened, I wish he never existed, then we wouldn’t have a problem, God my life’s such a mess. Belle’s right as well, I do need her help just after this long of saying no I can’t bring myself to accept, to accept it would mean to give in, to show weakness and I can’t do that, it would be like letting him win, urrgh what am I gonna do?

I really liked Aden's thoughts here - that was really well written. I love it when Aden talks about the importance and how much Belle means to him. It's so sweet

Poor Aden, the nightmares are really effecting him. But Belle will stick by him hopefully.

Update soon xox.

[yaz88]

*Hides* IM SORRY!!!!!!!!!! but you know a month later and I finally update, sorry I had a jam packed half-term then a week of mock exams then I just haven't got round to it but since Carina has updated her story so much I decided I better get going and sat down and wrote a whole chapter Hopefully the gap between updates while be shorter now, I hope =D

Thanks for the comments guys really appreciate them.

Chapter 9.

Belle shot upright in bed after a blood-curling scream awakened her, she turned to see Aden thrashing about in his sleep, his face scrunched in pain and terror, terrified whimpers and screams emitting from him.

Suddenly he bolted upright, sweat pouring down his forehead, his breathing shallow, fast and ragged. His face still held that same terrified haunted look and his eyes burned with long-held pain.

“Aden?” Belle asked, worry seeping through her voice, she gently placed her hand on his shoulder but pulled back when he violently flinched away. Oh no, he’s had another nightmare about him, what am I going to do? Look at him, he’s a mess and he won’t let me in.

That wasn’t Belle’s main worry at the moment though, Aden’s breathing was still not under control, it was worse than before and Belle realised he was hyperventilating, she had to do something fast, before he passed out.

“Shhh... Baby, shhh… its okay…” Belle murmured gently into his ear, placing her hand on his shoulder, holding firm when he tried recoil from her.

“Aden… I’m not ever letting you go so stop trying please; baby, just relax, you’re safe here.”

Aden tense muscles loosened up slightly as he recognised Belle was next to him, not the horrid presence from his nightmare but, try as he might, his breathing was racing out of control and nothing he did could rein it back in. He was starting to panic now which only served to make it worse and his only lifeline in all of this was Belle whispering words of safety and comfort into his ear and her soft, gentle hands rubbing away the tension in his chest. He still felt restricted though and attempted to remove his tight vest top that clung to his muscled chest.

Belle was interrupted in her massaging of Aden’s chest when he struggled to remove his top; she grabbed hold of the bottom and helped him throw it off. He gulped in air in an attempt to regain his breathing but it was like he was sucking in nothing, he still gasped furiously trying to get the much needed oxygen back into his deprived lungs.

Running out of ideas, Belle shuffled of the bed, cringing internally as Aden immediately got worse the second she left him, and rummaged around on the shelves until she found what she was looking for, a discarded brown paper bag that had been left lying around, she remembered seeing it recently. She returned to the bed and placed the paper bag over Aden’s mouth and nose before beginning to mumble into his ear again to coax him into breathing, slowing the sound of his inhaling and exhaling through the paper sound less strained and hard and became more easy and relaxed until some colour had flooded back into his cheeks and he was breathing gulps of air in without a problem restoring health to his rundown lungs.

“Thanks babe.” Aden rasped gratefully, his throat still hoarse from before. Belle sighed thankfully; he was going to be okay, settling into his now relaxed chest.

“Anytime,” She smiled up at him, “I’m just glad you’re okay, you had me worried there; I thought I was going to lose you.” A hint of sadness crept into her voice at the end, one that Aden didn’t hesitate to pick up on. He hugged her tighter to him, ignoring the burning in his chest from his still injured ribs, rocking her slightly in his lap.

“I’m not going anywhere babe, I’m sorry I scared you, I scared me too.” He laughed slightly, the scariness of the situation not quite worn off. Belle turned her head to look at him and was about to speak when the door burst open revealing a tired, grumpy looking Nicole and a worried Roman.

“Everything okay in here?” Roman asked, letting a sigh of relief when he saw no one was in any danger.

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Aden replied.

“What?!! You got me up at 5o’clock in the morning for this!!” She exclaimed in outrage, “I need my beauty sleep you know!” She turned and was about to storm back to her room when Belle stopped her.

“Wait!” Nicole paused while Belle looked tentatively at Aden, silently asking permission to tell them. He gave her a slight nod of his head before sighing deeply and resting his head n her shoulder.

“No, everything’s not fine; well… it wasn’t a minute ago. I woke up and Aden was having a nightmare, he woke up a few seconds after but he seemed to be trapped in that world still and his breathing was all over the place, at first I thought it would return to normal but then it just seemed to be getting worse so I found a paper bag and made him breathe into that, then finally it got better and he started to relax.” Tears were starting to form in the corner of her eyes, “I… I thought I was gonna lose him, I was so scared.” Belle buried her face into Aden’s shirtless chest as Roman and Nicole looked over, faces strained with worry and guilt respectively.

“I’m sorry” Nicole whispered, “I didn’t realise.”

“It’s okay Nic.” Aden reassured, his face contorted with grief and sorrow, the events of the morning were catching up with him as his eyelids began to droop. Roman seeing this said,

“Come on Nic, let’s leave them to sleep, they’ve been through a lot.” He ushered her out the room before turning back to Aden, who was on the verge of sleep with Belle dozing happily in his arms,

“You’ll be okay, mate?” Roman asked concerned.

“Yeah-h…” Aden sleepily nodded.

Roman exited the room, shutting the door just as he saw Aden fall back asleep on the bed, Belle resting comfortably in his arms.

---

It was late morning before Belle and Aden had awoken, she'd then rushed around in a panic as work started in less than 30 minutes leaving Aden to rest as he had only recently got out of hospital. Belle got there just in the nick of time and was ordered out into the diner immediately, collecting and taking orders from the hungry lunch-time customers.

It was late afternoon when Belle got off, Aden was still at Roman's and she planned on going there afterwards; she wanted to go back to the beach house first and catch up on a few things.

She was rounding the last corner thinking about what had happened earlier, she was worried about Aden, he was having nightmares often now, but none of his reactions had been as violent as the one earlier, she just hoped they didn’t get worse. She stepped out into the road on the last crossing she had to make before reaching the beach house; her mind racing with events from before, she never realised what was happening;

Never realised the speeding car zooming towards her,

Never realised the terrified look on the driver’s face as they tried to brake in time,

Never realised that today could've be the last time that she ever saw Aden,

She never realised until it was too late…

Next Chapter -

Is Belle going to be okay?

The big twist you NEVER saw coming

xx

[HighwayUnicorn]

Deleted.

[yaz88]

Woo! An update plus the gap between them is a bit shorter than usual

For anyone that is wondering about the edits on the chapters, its just spelling and the odd word i forgot to put in, the only significant change is the last chapter, the ending changed so that only Belle goes to work, i forgot to include that Aden was still injured the first time round lol

Anyway next chapter

Chapter 10

“Roman?” Aden yawned, having only just got up, he had slept through the day after hardly getting any sleep the previous night.

“Yeah mate?” Roman replied, looking up to see a slightly perkier looking Aden stumbling down the stairs.

“Where’s Belle? She’s usually back by now.” He asked, a trace of worry lining his handsome features.

“I’m sure she’s fine, she’s probably just gone back to the beach house for a bit; she’ll be here soon. Anyway what’s got you so worried? You’re not usually like this.” Roman asked, returning to the counter where he was preparing dinner.

“I know…” Aden sighed, “It’s just… I’ve got a bad feeling, I dunno why, something just doesn’t feel right.”

Roman gulped, hoping he was wrong, the last time someone had a bad feeling, Aden was found half-dead on the beach. “She’ll be fine, look, if she’s not back in an hour, we’ll go look for her.” He looked up to see what Aden’s response would be; he looked deep in thought but nodded slightly in reply. “How are you feeling anyway? You looked pretty rough earlier”

“…Yeah, I’m okay, sorta.” Aden distantly replied, and Roman sighed knowing he wasn’t alright, he was still in pain, it wasn’t that long since he had got out of hospital and now he was plagued by nightmares.

----

“Name?” One of the nurses asked as the casualty was rushed through the hospital corridors.

“Belle Taylor, 19 years old, involved in RTC; side of car hit her as she was crossing the road, unconscious from arrival, most likely from hitting the ground more than the actual impact.” The paramedic listed off.

“Right.” Rachel nodded, she was the doctor in charge of Belle’s case, “Get her into recess and do a full body and head CT scan, an x-ray for any internal damage, and give her 10ml of morphine, I’ll be back in a minute.” She called to the doctors and nurses rushing to Belle’s side.

“Hey,” Kelly, the receptionist called as Rachel rushed down the corridor and round the desk, reaching for the phone. “What’s got you all worked up?”

“I need to call Aden, Belle’s just been brought in.” She replied breathlessly, hurriedly dialing Roman’s home number.

----

RingRing…RingRi…

Roman reached the phone first as he was closer, but both of them had instantly dived for it the moment they heard it ring, desperate for an news, it had nearly been an hour since Aden had wondered where Belle was and as the growing feeling in him got worse by the minute he couldn’t help worrying what had happened to her. A few more minutes then him and Roman were going to go out and look for her.

“Hello” Roman answered as soon as he picked up the phone. There was a reply on the other end before Roman started speaking again,

“Oh, hi Rachel, what’s up?” He asked as Aden watched him intently, as soon as Roman said Rachel’s name, his heart dropped and suddenly he was drowning in the sinking feeling that had been threatening to consume him all evening.

His worst thoughts were confirmed when Roman’s faced suddenly dropped and shock filled his eyes.

“We’ll be right there.” He finally replied before hanging up and grabbing the car keys.

He turned to Aden,

“Aden, we gotta go mate, Belle’s in hospital, she was hit by a car.”

No… He sat there in shock, although he had already known it from the minute Roman answered the phone, hearing him say it just made it all so real and he couldn’t deal with that.

“Is… Is she okay? I m-mean… she’s not d-dead…?” He asked, pure pain burning in his eyes as he looked up at Roman, causing him to grimace at the sight of it.

“I don’t know mate, Rachel didn’t tell me anything other than that she had been hit, come on, the sooner we get there, the sooner we find out.”

With that Aden dragged himself off the sofa and followed Roman out the door, dreading what lied in wait for him at the hospital.

----

“There’s no sign of any head trauma and her scans came back clear. She got a few cuts and bruises from where she hit the floor but other than that she’s physically fine, she’s just lucky she only got hit by the very edge of the car and not a full on impact or it could have been much worse.” The nurse explained her condition to Rachel who had come to see how Belle was doing.

“She’s still asleep, it’s her body’s way of coping with the shock plus the fact that judging from the bags under her eyes she probably needs it. She’ll wake up when her body’s good and ready, until then you’ll just have to wait.” The nurse finished, Rachel nodded before heading back to reception, she was expecting Roman and Aden pretty soon, in fact she didn’t even get to the end of the corridor before she knew they had arrived.

----

“Where is she?!” Aden shouted at the receptionist after she had ignored him the first few times he had asked. That finally got her attention and she turned to him,

“Who?” She asked worried about the way the young man in front of her was reacting, he seemed on edge and panicky.

“Belle, Belle Taylor.” He panted, having run straight from the car the second Roman pulled to a halt with fractured ribs and a sore chest, but he didn’t care he had to know.

The receptionist turned to the computer searching through the records and was about to reply to Aden just as his attention was captured by Rachel hurrying up to him,

“Aden!” She exclaimed.

“Where is she?! Is she okay?” He asked quickly, the panic he was trying to hide seeping out through his wavering voice.

“Yeah, she…” Only Aden didn’t hear the rest, he was staring straight past her down the long corridor, eyes focused on something far away.

No… No, No please no…

His breaths came in short gasps as reality sunk in, the world started to spin around him and he could faintly make out Rachel asking if he was alright but he couldn’t concentrate on anything, it was all too overwhelming. The breath had been knocked out of him, he fumbled round for something to grab onto as he suddenly felt faint. His chest was tight and restricted, sharp pain shooting through his already aching ribs and weak lung; his vision was blurring before him, though one image was still as clear as day before him. Then suddenly he was swimming in the darkness, trapped in his own nightmare, screams and terrified whimpers surrounding him.

“Aden?” He heard both Rachel and Roman call before collapsing to the ground as his whole world went black, his one last thought,

No, it can’t be…

Next chapter -

What caused Aden to react like that?

Comments are really appreciated and thanks for all the one's I've had so far, they mean a lot

Xx

[HighwayUnicorn]

Deleted.