Chapter 4: Bruises and Reasons

The day after felt like something out of an unwritten memory—warm sun, cold air, and too much silence. Noah walked the streets as if his limbs weren’t sore, as if the world hadn’t shifted beneath him. His body remembered. His heart definitely remembered. But his face... it wore the usual stillness. Except for the eyes. Aurelio would’ve noticed the difference in his eyes. The storm wasn’t outside anymore. It had moved in.

When he reached his father’s house that morning, everything felt colder. Colder than the church walls, colder than the winter sky. The smell of alcohol greeted him first. Then the silence. Then the dread.

His father wasn’t awake yet, and for that, Noah was thankful. He walked to his room, slowly unzipped the borrowed hoodie, wincing a little. His skin bore reminders of the night before—gentle ones, ones that contrasted the purple bruises older than memory. Ones that didn’t hurt like the others.

He folded the hoodie gently and kept it in the bottom drawer so that his dad wouldn't see because he knew his dad never cared about him or his things so checking the drawers was something his dad would even think of He was always drwned in alcohol and drinks... He sat on the bed and stared ahead. That’s when it hit him—what happened wasn’t just heat. It wasn’t just escape. It was a beginning.

But what did beginnings mean for people like him? Someone whose hands knew cleaning up vomit before school, who flinched at loud sounds, who knew how to lie with a smile. Someone who hadn’t known softness until last night.

The door creaked. His father grunted awake.

Noah stood, already ready with tea and lies. Already prepared to say nothing happened.

And he didn’t plan on telling him.

Because not every story is meant to be confessed,and no matter what not to his dad because that would mean a nightmare for noah and though used to that noah still didn't wanted the fragments of last night left on his body to be covered in scars and bruises which will make him suffer mentally physically and emotionally...he wanted the fragments to be a beautiful memory and not the one which make noah crumble in fear trembling and forgetting what warmth was..so he didn't tell this to anyone because some stories -

Some you keep, warm and hidden.

Some, you tuck inside the chest, where someone’s heartbeat once lived.

He whispered to no one, "I won’t forget."

And quietly, bruised in more ways than one, he smiled.

Because sometimes, pain was worth remembering.

And sometimes, the fire in your chest doesn’t burn you.

It teaches you how to live.

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This is the first day of this story and I have already uploaded 4 parts ahhh I just can't stop myself when I get excited so hope y'all like this story and please comment because I feel bad when I feel it no one is here reading my story and I am an overthinker so yeah pleaseee

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