Aria's POV:
It's now the next day and I woke up with a throbbing headache. I get out of bed and head to my bathroom where I then take a long cold shower.
Once I'm done I take two painkillers and make a few cuts for yesterdays event.
2 cuts for being a baby
4 cuts for having thoughts of John
10 cuts for not being strong enough
By the end, I was dripping blood down my arms. I had ran over old cuts which had opened up and are also bleeding. I quickly wash my arms and clean up the floor that has turned red and bandage up the open flesh. I then did my best to clean my burning and bubbling thigh. The burn had turned a mixture of purple, black, and green and revealed flesh. I can easily tell it's infected since the edges of the wound is brown and looks like it's crumbling in.
I look away from my thigh and let my towel drop to the floor. I stare into the mirror as my eyes start to sting and a very familiar warm liquid runs down my cheek. I look so..so....broken.
My whole body is different colors, ranging from deep reds, green, and yellows to blues, purple, and blacks.
I can see each of my ribs sticking out and every bone in my body. Even though I know I'm sickly and deathly thin, I can't help but hear all their words in my head telling me how ugly and fat I am. My shoulders are uneven as I can easily tell which one is fractured, and don't even get me started on all of the words and scars that litter my body. There is isn't one patch of skin that isn't covered in a line, bruise or word. Most in which is down by John and Dan, but the sad thing is, is that more than half the lines on my body are done by myself. All the deep lines, some of which are now permanently a reddish brown and some of which are scabs or opened. They're all over the place. From my wrist to my shoulders, which then go down to my chest and stomach, which go down to my thighs, then legs, and then ankles. My whole body is covered.
Pealing my eyes away from the mirror. I force my burning and aching body to my closet to pick out an outfit. I find some baggy jeans and sweatshirt and through it on as carefully as I can.
I then spray some perfume I found in my bathroom, grab my phone and head down stairs.
I really hope none of them want answers from what happened yesterday.
I walk to kitchen and see all of my brothers besides Rodrigo sitting down at the kitchen table. Even their friends are here. I make eye contact with Felix, but immediately look away and sit down. Right as I find my seat Rodrigo comes through the door not looking to happy.
"What's your problem?" Axel questioned him
"Aria's fucking social worker called telling me that she's dropping in for a surprise at home check. She's coming around noon." Rodrigo snapped.
My eyes go wide as I had forgotten her telling me that. When she comes they're probably going to tell her that they want to send me back. And I can't go back. I won't, I refuse. I'll simply run away and maybe go jump off a bridge while I'm at it.
I didn't realize, but I must have spaced off as I realize the boys are calling me name.
"ARIA"
"Hmm?" I ask moving my gaze from my lap to the men at the table.
"We asked if your alright with that" Elijah informs me.
"Oh, w-well, I guess we can't really do anything about it" I say looking back down at my lap.
The table goes silent yet I can feel their stairs. Luckily the maids soon come through the door with breakfast breaking the awkward silence. However, thinking about the social worker coming just reminds me of why I have one in the first place which just makes me loose my appetite thinking of John.
Breakfast is spent with the boys putting random stuff on my plate and practically begging me to eat. I eventually give in because I don't want to be even more of a trouble and I don't want to be punished for not listening to them.
After dinner I spend the rest of my time in the library reading and fiddling with the piano here and there. However, my decently good mood quickly disappears as I hear the door bell ring.
My eyes widen in anticipation and my body starts to shake from nervousness. Shit. Shit. Shit. I need to breathe. But I can't. I try to take breaths in and out but it doesn't go as planned. I feel a panic attack start to rise so I quickly dig my nails into my hand to feel comfort.
I press hard and long, seeing my fingernails disappear into my skin until a crimson liquid flows out.
Only then do I take my nails out and is able to take a deep and much needed breath.
"Aria!" Elijah yells for me. Unfortunately I know that's my cue to finally face my fears.
I come out of the library, down the hall, and I'm headed towards the door when I see Miss. Julie sat on the couch with all my brothers across from her.
"Ah! Aria, it's nice to see you again!" Julie says standing up from her small couch.
I give her a small but fake smile and wave my hand a little bit to be kind.
"How about you sit down by me" she says sitting down again.
I don't look at any of brothers as I take the seat on Julie's left right besides her and right across from all my brothers.
"So! I was just talking with your brothers and they seem like very nice people." She says looking at me with a big smile in which I nod my head to.
"Have you gotten settled in nicely?" She asks
I go to answer her question when I'm interrupted by the doorbell.
"Whose that?" Caleb asks.
Elijah stands up and walks up to the door to open it. Soon it reveals a shorter, on the chubbier side, lady with a folder in her hand.
I easily recognize her. Judy
She's my former social worker. The one that left me with Dan and then John. She never did a check in with either of them, so why now?
"Ah yes, this is Judy, she was Aria's social worker from the times before."
"Hello Mr.Bianchi, I am Judy Stocks." Judy says with a sickening smile.
"Hello Miss.Stocks" Elijah says politely back to her, nodding his head down in respect.
"May I just say how beautiful your home is. It's absolutely gorgeous!" She says, her eyes glowing at the sight before her.
Elijah gives her a quick thank you and turns back to the couch.
Everyone returns to their original seat as Judy sits in a chair besides Julie.
"So, let's get back on track. How have you been Aria?" Julie asks as she has her pen in hand, ready to jot down everything I say.
"Good" I simply mutter looking down at lap, while playing with my fingers.
"Okay, do you like living with your brothers?" She questions
I nod my head yes
"What do you like about them?" Julie asks clearly trying to get me to talk more.
I don't want to talk while everyone is looking at me.
"I don't know. They're nice?" I say even though it turns out to sound more like a question.
"Could you tell me a little about each of them?"
"Umm, Lorenzo is a business man, Rodrigo does tattoos and I believe owns a gym? Elijah is really kind and likes to hug, Nic is a really good cook and likes reading. Axel is Ace's twin, he is pretty nice and can be really energetic at times while Ace doesn't really like people and likes his alone time. Uh, Caleb tho, he is incredibly energetic and is always smiling and wanting to do stuff. So, ya." I say realizing I just went on a small rant.
"We'll it seems like you know them pretty well!" Julie says, kind of chuckling. I just nod my head and give an awkward smile.
"Have you seen any aggression from them?" Judy asks. Of course the one time she speaks, it's this question.
Do I answer truthfully or lie? I don't want to say the truth and then have to leave. Even though I'm probably going to leave anyways since they definitely don't want me after all the problems I've caused.
"Aria?" Asks Julie
"Oh, u-umm, no" I stutter nervously
"Are you sure? You took a while to answer" Judy says squinting her eyes a bit.
"Once someone shows you aggression, it's likely they will do it again and again, it wont stop. So I'd they are showing aggression, you need to tell us. Because it's most likely not a one time thing." Judy says eyeing me.
I look over to my brothers and see all or them clenching their jaw.
They're angry. I can tell. I lock eyes with Ace. I can tell his eyes hold guilt, yet I can't help but maybe believe Judy on this one. I've seen it far too many times. It starts off as a slap or punch here and there and then it turns into full blown bearings and torture. What if Judy's right? What if Ace starts beating me all the time?
I'm still locking eyes with Ace, the atmosphere is starting to become thick.
"We had a small accident with Ace, but it was nothing we couldn't handle. And I can assure you that I was a one time thing. They are siblings after all, and siblings sometimes have...disagreements." Thank god for Lorenzo. I was about to explode.
"Very well then, as long as it doesn't keep happening I see no reason to long further into it." Julie says with a smile.
After a little while more of talking, Julie suggests for me to show her my room.
"Here it is, sorry it's sort of messy." I say embarrassed while opening my door.
"Oh my, it's gorgeous!" Julie exclaims.
We all look around my room a bit including my brothers and Judy until Judy says "Aria, we would like to have a word alone."
"Just call if you need one of us baby" Nic says while kissing my head before they all walk out of the room giving me reassuring smiles.
"Now that we're alone, is there anything you want or need to tell us?" Julie asks with a soft expression.
"N-no?" I say confused
"Okay, we just wanted to make sure, you seem tense. Just try your hardest to let them love you okay darling? I know it can be hard, but they seem like they truly love and adore you." Julie says while giving me a smile
"On that note, John is having his trial this upcoming weekend. You should attend, but it's up to you if you would like to speak for his behalf. However, you need to know that there is a possibility that they may call you even if you don't want to. Unfortunately, since you lived with John for so long, you would be great to hear from." Okay, well, that took a turn
I feel my face pale as I realize I'm going to have to his his face again. The nightmares have only been getting worst and I can only imagine how much more worse they will get after seeing him. If I get called to the stand I'm going to barf. No way in hell am I going to speak.
As my already kinda poor mood turned horrible, Julie ushered us out the door and down to the front door where we met with my brothers.
"Thank you so much for letting us do this check in. Everything past with flying colors, we are truly happy Aria has you men in her life. One of the things we had talked about when we were alone was John's trial, it is this upcoming weekend, and it would be best if Aria were to attend. But on that note, I best get going. Bye Aria!" And with that Julie and Judy were out the door leaving me behind with only one ongoing thought in my head. How am I supposed to be able to handle seeing John again?
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Rodrigo's POV:
Something's off. I can tell. Once Aria came down with Julie and that bitch Judy, she hasn't been the same. You can tell something's on her mind and it looks like she's getting in her own head way too much.
Before Julie leaves she mentions that we have to go to Johns trial. This should be interesting. I want to see what he is like.
Once Julie and Judy left we all turned to a deep in thought Aria.
"Aria, are you okay?" I ask her. She doesn't respond so I gently put my hand on her shoulder in which she immediately flinches to. Ouch.
"Hmm?" Aria asks still looking at the floor. She looks completely out of it. Her eyes hold a daze and she looks like she's not even on the same page as us.
"Are you okay?" I ask again
"O-oh, U-um, ya." She finally looks up, yet it's as if she's thinking so hard about something, she's in her own world. And not in a good way.
Everyone goes quiet as we all quietly study the little girl in front of us, who seems to not notice our gaze.
That is until she looks up at us for a brief second then turn to go up the stairs to what I assume is her room. To say she left us all speechless would be an understatement.
Sure, I've seen her terrified to bits of us, and I've seen her wanting to be non-social. But this, this is different, and hopefully this trial will give us some answers.
A/N- thank you so much for reading! I truly appreciate all of you! Next chapter will most likely time jump to the trial, so if you have any suggestions on what you want to see happen then, or even in the future, comment them! ❤️