Rina POV: “Good morning”

???: You are no “daughter” of mine. You’re…

Just say it. Say what you wanna say!

???: Nuri, how could you do this to me!?

I know what you think about me! What you say when you think I’m not listening!

???: Get away from me! You fucking…!

Don’t look at me like that! Just say it!

You’re a freak!

…!

My eyes shot open. Vision swimming, head aching; I could barely make out my surroundings. A blackened room, laser lights gliding softly across the ceiling, the low drone of the speakers… I was in my new apartment. I wasn’t back in…

I suppressed the thought with a swallow. Don’t dwell on it…I was safe right now, that was all that mattered.

Relief flooded in, but it was short lived as a fit of coughing wracked my heaving body. Augh, I felt like I got hit by a truck. Everything hurt… Nothing new there, but this was worse than usual.

I tried to sit up, but my limbs were still shaking. I winced at the movement, and realized my fists were clenched tight. Now that I was more awake, I noticed my hands actually stung like hell. Don’t tell me… I lifted them to my face. Fucking great, I dug my nails into my palms…again… My sheets were soaked with sweat too! What a great fucking way to start the day!

I did what I could to prop myself against the wall and took slow, deep breaths. I clutched my knees while waiting for the aftershocks to pass.

I’m okay now… I’m okay. Just breathe, Rina. It’s gonna be oka-...!!!

The blare of my text notification nearly gave me a heart attack.

I sneered at my phone, sight turning red. Who was the piece of shit texting me at the worst possible-! …It was Em… He was wishing the group chat a good morning…

I stared blankly at the screen, my brain completely stopped up. As I sat, motionless, another text came in; this time it was from Nia. Her message was a spam of random happy emojis and a misspelled “good morning!”. Another ding. She sent a correction to spell it properly, but she’d misspelled it again. A snort **** itself out of me as I watched. She tried a third time, and still somehow failed, then settled on saying “GM” with an annoyed face next to it. Em responded with an “LMAO”.

That was my line, I was the one laughing my ass off here. I couldn’t keep the smile from my face.

I texted them back, wishing them a good morning as well — which they both reacted to with a heart emoji. Nobody sent any other messages, yet I read the short exchange back over and over again as I sat in bed… I felt my breathing start to hitch, and wetness trailed down my sore cheeks.

Ahh, man am I a mess. One actual good night sleep with them and I’m already like this? I was so pathetic… If my nightmares were gonna be this bad from now on then I’ll need to find more excuses for sleepovers…

Eventually my tears dried, and I slid myself to the edge of the bed; I left my legs hanging as I considered my options. God damn did I feel like crap. I was not looking forward to morning cardio… Maybe I should just stay home and crank a couple out instead…? Nah, I wasn’t in a good mood right now. Sad fapping might just make me even more miserable. I could just do that after I got home, assuming I perked up… What would I fap to anyway…?

I couldn’t help but sigh as I reflected. A morning like this and I was still thinking about sex? Something must really be fucked in my upstairs. Heh, guess that’s fitting given what’s going on downstairs…

I sighed again.

Aight, enough sitting around moping. Regardless of how I felt right now, it was time to get on with the day. Things would get better…sooner or later…