Everything She Is

Chapter Two : Nolan and Naomi

Her POV,

I slowly opened my eyes as I felt something hot on my skin. Feeling my head pound, I looked around to see soft rays of sunlight coming from the window that was situated on the wall in front of bed.

My cabin didn't have any window. Or bed.

My heart sped up when I noticed that I was, in fact, not in my cabin and somewhere else. Events from last night started playing in my mind like a hurricane and my heart sank when I realised that they caught me. Again.

I'll try again.

Shooting up from the bed, I tried to scramble out of it to go to kitchen and make breakfast for them but fell back with a pained whimper as pain shot through my whole body making it ache badly. With great difficulty and a lots of tears, I managed to get out from the bed and rushed to find the kitchen in this new place.

Please god, please keep them sleeping. Please. I am not ready for another beating yet.

I went out of the room I was in to see a staircase leading downstairs and opening to another room. I climbed down the stairs silently, careful not to wake up the guy sleeping on a couch in the room.

Thank you, god. Please, make him sleep for some more time. I'll quickly make their breakfast.

I found the kitchen on the left side of that room and quickly went there and tried to find the ingredients to make them breakfast. Tears gathered in my eyes when I couldn't find anything. Placing my hand on my forehead, I tried to calm myself willing my body to get ready for another beating.

"What are you doing here?" I jumped up and hit my head with a cupboard when a scary voice boomed from behind me.

I turned around and bowed my head down. Only then did I realise that I was wearing a nice shirt and pants. They covers me wholly, not even my toes were peeking out from the holes in the pants.

"I don't appreciate people ignoring me." The scary voice came again and a hand came under my chin to lift my face up.

I closed my eyes as tightly as I could and waited for the first blow but it never came. Slowly opening my one eye enough to be able to see, I saw a young guy standing in front of me with a frown on his face.

He had brown hair that came up to his forehead and a big scar running down on his right cheek. He was very large, no one would be able to see me if I stood behind him. And he looked scary.

He must be new. I thought. I had never seen him before.

I looked down to his hands to see them covered with lots of black colored tattoos that disappeared in his shirt.

His body is scary, too.

I stood there silently and casted my eyes down as he glared at me and waited for the impact of a hit to come but nothing came.

"Do you not know how to speak?" He barked. I blinked.

The guy ran a hand on his face and groaned. "f*****g speak."

I flinched at his harsh tone and shook my head. His raised his hand to hit me and I quickly covered my face with my hands to save it from being hit. It was still very soar from yesterday. I yet again waited for the impact to come but nothing came. Instead the guy removed my hands from my face and stared at me with confusion.

"I am not going to hit you. I just wanted to know what you were doing here since I clearly remember putting you in my room last night." He sighed when I stared at him.

I instantly flinched when his fingers touched my neck and pain shot through that area. "f*****g hell." I heard the guy mutter and looked at him to see him staring at one of my old wound from when I was still living with my family. "I am going crazy. Shit." He looked away clenching his jaw.

"What is your name?" He asked me turning his face up to look me and I blinked again. Why was he not hitting me? They always hit me when I didn't make breakfast on time or whenever they felt like it.

I heard him sigh, "Are you mute?"

I nodded.

He looked at me with wide eyes. "Really? Like you can't speak?"

I nodded again.

"But she could. She used to speak till my ears couldn't take it anymore. Huh! She isn't her." I heard him muttering to himself.

"Can you write atleast?" His let out a sigh of relief when I nodded. "Write your name in a paper then." And went out of kitchen only to come back with a pencil and a paper in his hand.

I just looked at his hand holding up the things for me to take and then shook my head.

"What the. . ! What the f**k am I supposed to call you when you won't f*****g tell me your name?" He shouted and I flinched away from him, afraid he might hit me for disobeying him.

"Oh for f**k's sake, stop flinching every time I speak or move." He shouted once again, making me back away from him to the farthest I could go.

Groaning loudly, he glared at me and pulled out a black phone and put it on his ear. I tried to listen to what he was saying in the phone but he was talking to silently.

"You." He glared at me after putting his phone back in his pocket. "Come with me."

Dragging me out of the kitchen, he planted me on a big soft ball that was in the room he was sleeping earlier and he himself sat down on a chair next to it. And glared at me.

All he did was to glare at me.

Atleast he is not hitting me.

I continued to stare at him as he sat there frowning and doing something on his phone. A loud ringing sound was heard and the boy jumped up from his seat, muttering, "Thank f*****g God" and opened a door. He came back with another big guy causing me to shrink in my seat to get far away from them.

That's why he wasn't beating me. He was waiting for his friend. Closing my eyes, I prepared myself for the worst of punishment but nothing happened. Thinking I still had time before getting punished, I slowly opened my eyes only to shrink further back in my seat.

The other guy was crouching down in front of me with his face too close, I could only see his red rimmed eyes.

Looking at my startled state, he moved back frowning and looked at the scary guy. "She really looks like her."

"She is not her." Scary guy angrily bit out.

"Jaso-"

"I said, she is not her."

"But look at the similarities."

"This girl is mute. And she doesn't look more than fifteen years old. N- she was our age."

The less scary guy looked at me again and then at the scary guy, "You're right. I just miss her so much. Maybe that's why I am this desperate for her to be this girl." And sighed.

"We ourselves saw her burnt out body."

"Yeah." Less scary guy whispered looking down.

What were they talking about? Was there another girl they kidnapped like me?

I slowly got up, feeling brave when they I saw they weren't paying attention to me at all and tried to run away from the opened door. A hand fisting around the back of my shirt made me lose my footing and I stumbles back into someone, pain shooting in my back at the harsh contact. "Where do you think you are going?"

It was the scary guy.

I quickly looked down, hastily wiping my tears. I heard scary guy groan in frustration and flinched. "I swear to God if you flinch away one more time without any reason, I will make sure to give you a reason." He threatened.

"Stop scaring the girl, Jason."

"She is getting on my nerves.

"No way, that's your job."

"Shut the f**k-"

"Will you stop swearing? Can't you see how she flinches away everytime you swear?"

"She flinches all the time. It is not my fault."

"Shut up, Jason."

"Who are you to tell me to shut up in my own house?"

"The more mature guy."

The hand that was clutching my shirt tightened even more making the rough fabric brush against skin, making me whimper out loud as the pain became unbearable.

Scary guy- Jason, turned to give me a sharp glare making me cast my eyes down and shrink away from him.

"Get out, Jason." Less scary guy told him.

"What?" Jason settled his glare on less scary guy. "This is my house."

"And I am telling you to get out of it."

His glare became murderous but he did as less scary guy told, removing his big hands from my shirt and stormed out of the door I was planning to run away from.

Less scary guy turned to me when we heard the door slam shut and smiled. His smile looked like Willy Wonka's.

"Hi, there. I am Nolan."

An image of a little boy flashed in my mind at that name and a tear escaped my eyes. I stared at him waiting for him to continue but he just stood there looking at me weirdly. Then suddenly he jerked and let out a small "Oh" and nodded.

"I'm sorry, I never talked with a mute person. Do you know sign language?"

I stared.

He sighed. "Guess not."

"Can you hear me?" I nodded.

"Were you mute by born?" I shook my head.

"I see. Do you, uh- have lived in town all your life?" He asked uncertainly.

I shrugged. I really don't know where in the world I am right now. "Look, the guy who brought you here last night? He may look scary but he won't hurt you. I won't hurt you. In fact he saved you last night from dying out there in cold. You don't need to be afraid of us, okay?" I stared at him.

No one should be trusted. The guys that took before said exactly same things. They told me they saved me from dying, that my daddy sent them to take care of me but after sometime, they started hitting me and made me do all their house works. They even r***d me at times and beat me to the point I wouldn't wake up for days when I tried to run away from them. No one is good, everyone is bad here, everyone wants to hurt me, everyone is going to use me, no one should be trusted.

"s**t!" I heard the guy swear and catch me in his arms as I dropped down unconscious. "You're having a panic attack. s**t, s**t, s**t! Don't close your eyes." I felt him lift me up and lay me down on something soft. He touched my arm but I flinched away from his touch crying hysterically. Hearing a voice telling me to take breaths, I did as they said and slowly, very slowly opened my eyes to see that I was lying a couch and less scary guy was kneeling down beside me looking at me like I was made of glass. I stared at him through glassy eyes and heard him sigh.

"Will you tell me your name, please?" I shook my head.

"Listen, you have to tell me your name and where you came from, so that we can send you back to where you came from."

Send me back? I knew it, I knew they were Simone's men.

I shook my head rapidly. "You don't want to go back?" I shook my head again.

"Oh. Okay then." He sat down next to my couch and grinned, "I am Nolan."

Nolan. Nolan. Nolan. Nolan.

"Mommy, Nolan is pulling my hair." A little girl cried out.

"No, I am not." Another boy, her twin brother, shouted immediately.

"Hey, don't bully her." The same boy glared through his tiny eyes at another brown haired boy their age.

"I am not. She fell by herself." The brown haired said stubbornly.

Images of these kids started passing through my eyes as I looked at the guy sitting next to me. Same blonde hair, same smile, same colour of eyes, everything of his resembled the little boy in my mind.

Is he- Is he. . . ? Oh god.

Slowly, I raised my hand and touched his cheek. I looked at him, looked at him closely and was taken aback by the similarities between my brother and him.

Could he be my twin brother? My Nolan? The brother I thought I lost nine years ago?

"Um, what are you doing?" He asked frowning at my hand running on his face.

I retreated it back and stared at him.

"You touched my cheek." He looked at me thoughtfully. "Does that mean you trust me in your language?"

I so badly wanted to ask him if he was my brother. Why wasn't he recognising me? Did he forget me? Or did he really find me to save me from Simone? These guys haven't hit me yet, does that mean I am finally out of Simone's reach? Did my dad send them as my protectors?

Deciding that I should trust him, seeing as he hadn't hurt me yet for running away and not making their food on time, I slowly nod at him.

"Great." He clapped his hands enthusiastically, "Now, tell me your name." I refused. If he was my twin brother, Nolan, he would know my name, wouldn't he?

"What am I supposed to call you then?" I shrugged. "Hm, do you mind if I give you a name?" I shook my head.

He looked thoughtful for a second as he stared at like he was looking at a memory and then opened his mouth to tell me my new name but was interrupted by a door slamming loudly.

"Why the hell is she lying on my couch?"

I quickly started to scramble off the couch, ignoring the pain in my body but Nolan stopped me and glared at Jason. "Can't you see she's injured, you heartless imbecile?"

"Then take her to your place." Jason shot back. I nodded vigorously. Yes, that would be perfect, Jason scared me so much and he always glared at me and shouted at me.

"You know I can't." Nolan sighed and then looked at me. "Naomi. Let's call you Naomi."

Naomi.

"Naomi, get up baby. You have to go to school." I heard a lady's voice.

"See Naomi, I saved a seat for you. Come sit with me." I heard a little girl's voice.

"Why are you playing with her? Stop playing with her. She's ugly." I heard a boy's voice.

Naomi is my name.

Was he really my brother? I looked at him blinking and then looked at Jason.

Jason.

"Why are you playing with her? She's ugly."

"I did not bully her. She fell by herself."

"I am so unlucky that I have to sit with you. I knew no one would sit with you."

Jason was my tormenter. My childhood bully, the guy who sent me to his hospital often. The guy I feared and hated the most.

Now I understand why he looked so scary. Jason was scary and if he was my bully, Jason, of course he will look scary.

"No f*****g way." Jason suddenly thundered and glared at me hard. "She is not her. I am not allowing anyone to call her Na-. . . her name."

I frowned. He still didn't like me. For the first time in a long time, I felt safe, I felt safe because I knew my twin brother was with me and because I knew he wouldn't let anyone hurt me. Not ever Jason, his best friend. Feeling safe and brave, I ignored Jason's glare and turned to Nolan.

For the first time in a long time, I smiled a huge smile and nodded at him. I would like him to call me Naomi very much.

As Nolan smiled back, a door slamming shut was heard once again.