I'll Spend Eternity Proving to You How Sorry I Am

It was midnight and the thunder and lightening was keeping Jared up. Normally he would’ve slept perfectly through the night, and the storm. But tonight is not like all the other, every time he finally got to sleep and then thunder would boom in the night and he would wake up hearing Ann scream. But then he would shoot up in bed then remember that Ann is no longer in that damned cell. It’s been a month since he brought her back upstairs. He sighed, removed his sheets exposing his bare tattooed chest and his green plaid boxers, and got out of bed. He then slowly opened the door that connects to Ann’s room. He smiled at her sleeping body, but cringed when he saw that her back wounds were not healed all the way yet.

He lightly tapped on Ann’s exposed shoulder until she woke up. She mumbled something, sighed then tried to get comfortable again. “Ann, it’s me; Jared” Jared said softly and as sweetly as possible
“Is everything okay?” Ann asked in a mumble but Jared heard her just fine. Her voice always made his stomach feel weird, in the best way.
“Ummm I can’t sleep. I keep having nightmares, so ummm I was wondering if I could spend the night with you. I mean it the nightmares are about you so I know that if I sleep next to you then I will sleep better” Jared whispered
“Mmm” Ann said as she moved over so that Jared could join her on her full size bed as she took up the whole middle of the bed.

He smiled and climbed into bed. Once the sheets were over him, out of instinct and almost absent-mindedly he pulled Ann close to him so that his chest was touching her back. His arm was draped over her waist but at the same time making sure that she was close to him. At first he thought that Ann would pull away but he soon noticed that she was sound asleep. Once he closed his eyes, he knew he was going to sleep throughout the rest of the night. Ann soon rolled over in Jared’s arms so that she was snuggled into his chest, she felt warmer that way even though his skin was cold. Jared just held her close to him anyway. The both of them slept pretty peacefully that night, neither of them noticed the storm outside as they both were now in dreamland.

Ann woke up first and almost jumped out of her skin when she noticed that she was cuddling in Jared’s arms. She loved being in his arms, they felt loving, but at the same time she was so afraid to be this close to him because she wasn’t this close before and she got almost beaten to death. Once her heart slowed down she couldn’t help it but trace her fingers over his tattoos. Jared made a sound that Ann took as a moan and thus she stopped what she was doing, she was scared. It took a lot for her not to shake. “Why’d you stop? It felt nice” Jared mumbled, slowly waking up
“Y-you m-made a so-sound a-and I g-got scar-scared” Ann stuttered
“Why are you stuttering?” Jared asked now opening his green eyes
“I’m afraid” Ann said was quietly as possible, but Jared heard it clearly.

Jared just closed his eyes again, hearing that felt like a knife to his dead heart. “I am so sorry. I can’t express that enough. And it kills me that you are afraid of me. I know that what I did still scars you, a month later. I know that it’s going to take a while for you to trust me, but I really want you to be able to. The nightmare I had last night scared me, I couldn’t sleep. In my nightmare you were still in that damned cell, and just the thought, even for a second, that you might still be down there shook me to the bone. And sleeping with you in arms, I don’t know but it just felt… right. Like you are suppose to be in my arms, forever. I never felt this way towards anyone before and that scares me.” Jared said truthfully.

He’s never admitted any of this to anyway before, not even his mother. Ann just lay there, in his arms staring at his tattooed chest. “Sweetest Ann, please tell me what you are afraid of?” Jared basically begged, still while holding Ann close to him.
“Well j-just how close w-we ar-are. I mean I wasn’t this close to you before I got sent down there, and just being closer than before just scares me. And I just can’t help but think of when I was down there for doing less then what we are doing right now. I-I’m just st-still af-afraid” Ann said
“Afraid of what?” Jared asked
“You” Ann breathed.

Jared felt another stab into his dead heart. He caused so much damage to this poor girl, that it kills him. Jared took Ann’s hand in his and held it to his chest. “I know that sorry won’t heal the damage that I have done to you. But I promise you that I will never, ever do something like that again. It kills me to know how much damage I did to you. I care about you more than I have for anyone else, and that scares me.” Jared said as he let go of Ann’s wrist but she kept it on his chest as she started tracing the tattoos again. He slightly shuttered from her fingers lightly tracing his tattoos. “I like being in your arms too” Ann said really quietly still focusing on the tattoo she was currently tracing.

Jared smiled at this and couldn’t help it but kiss the top of Ann’s head. “I think we should get dressed for the day, and then go find some grub to eat” Jared said. Ann nodded her head and waited for Jared to get out of bed before she did. She blushed as she saw him standing there in just his boxers, so she turned her head and then got out of bed. She got dressed into a green plaid miniskirt and then a nice shirt that exposed her back. Joan still had to put ointment on her back to help it heal and try and make the scares disappear. Ann, however hate wearing the low back shirts, she hates it because it makes everyone look at her back and it makes her feel uncomfortable.

Ann walked out of her room and saw Jared standing there waiting for her. She lightly smiled at him but hung her head as she shut her door behind her. She hung her head but held Jared’s hand the whole way to the kitchen. “Good Morning children?” Joan said
“Morning Joan” Ann said
“So you okay with call me in Joan?” Joan asked with a smile
“It took me some time but yea I’m okay with it now” Ann said
“Are you ready for the ointment?” Joan said
“As ready as I’ll ever be” Ann said and then held onto the counter. Joan got out a tube of ointment. She put a small amount on her finger before she lightly spread it slowly onto Ann’s back.

Ann squeezed her eyes shut and winced when Joan applied the ointment on the area that still hasn’t heal all the way yet. Ann’s knuckles turning white as she was gripping the counters with more force to prevent her from screaming out. “Its okay honey, almost done” Joan said soothingly. Joan was done a minute later. Ann’s breathing was uneven and when she sat down on a stool her body was shaking, ever so slightly. Jared just hung his head, ashamed of what he did. “So what do you guys want to eat?” Joan asked the two of them.
“How about some corn chowder?” Jared suggested
“Awesome, I’ll just go reheat it for you” Joan said with a smile
“Ummm Joan, I was wondering when I can stop wearing these open back shirts?” Ann asked

Joan looked at her from over the stove that was on the island as she started to reheat the corn chowder from last night. “Why? I think you look beautiful in them” Joan said
“I don’t like wearing them. It exposes my back and that causes everyone to look at me, and I don’t really enjoy the looks they give me” Ann said
“What kind of looks do they give?” Jared asked concerned and angry at the same time.
“They give me looks of pity. I don’t need their pity nor do I enjoy it. I would really like it if I could pretend like my time down there didn’t actually happened. And I know that it only reminds Jared of what he did, so I would really like it if I could not wear them anymore” Ann said as Jared sat there, almost choking on the glass of the blood that his mother placed in front of him.

“After everything, you still care about what affects me. You are simply an amazing person. No one, not even a vampire, has ever cared about me the way you do” Jared said
“Well that’s what friends do. At least that’s what I thought they cared about each other” Ann said
“Wait you think I’m your friend?” Jared asked with a smile, but Ann took it as a bad way and hung her head and just nodded her head. Jared noticed this and felt yet another stab at his dead heart. “Ann, it’s a good thing. I’m happy. You didn’t do anything wrong” Jared said lifting Ann’s head so that he could look at her and show her that he was in deed smiling at the fact that they are friends.

“You see, I always thought it would be cool to be friends with a vampire, as lame as that may seem. And after you said sorry for the 100th time I forgave, actually I forgave you when you said it the first time, I just waited a little bit before I told you. And the way we were this morning, I would like to think we are friends or my mind would be forced to think that you might be playing with me” Ann said
“What about this morning?” Joan asked concerned and curious at the same time.
“Well I couldn’t sleep well last night. I would fall asleep and then it would thunder out, I would wake up thinking that I heard Ann scream. So I spend the night in her bed, with her in my arms. Don’t worry we were still in clothes. And she said that I could, so it’s not like I forced her to it” Jared said
“I thought you said she never screamed when you beat her?” Joan asked

“She didn’t” Jared said looking down
“Then what did you do to make her scream?” Joan asked with a tone that was not too pretty. Ann wanted to tell her its okay but she knew that it wasn’t so she just kept her mouth shut. “Well when she told me that if I gave her another round of beatings then she would find the strength in her weak body to commit suicide. She said that it would be better to rid her ‘ugly’ presents from my beautiful castle. I thought she was beautiful, and I got pissed and I kinda slammed her back into the wall, and hard. I was just so pissed that she would do that! I didn’t want her to rid herself. And well when her back slammed against the wall she screamed out in pain” Jared said looking down and almost sulking in his seat.
“Jared I swear to hell that things like these make me want to beat you myself! Now I want you to sit there and think, think real hard. You almost beat Ann to death, yet she let you wrap her arms around her and share a bed with her for the night. And she said that you’re friends with her. It seems like she might value you more than you value her. And if you want to make up for what you did and repay her in anyway possible I would not want to lose her.” Joan said.