Fuck I'm a mess right now! I swear if Drew got his hands on her I'm going to kill him, really kill him this time. I ran through the hallways like a was training for a marathon, completely out of breath but not from running but caused by the fear tightening around my chest. I nearly tripped when I reached the administration office and flew to the nearest bathroom. I swung open the door yelling my sisters name.

"Here!" She yelled from one of the toilets, her voice still holding complete horror; but that's not what caught my attention, Bella's squeaky breaths echoing from the walls did, the sound sending chills down my spine.

"Fuck!" I exhaled my heart ripped out at the sight of her. Bells sat on the cold tiled floor, her head back against the wall with wide eyes as she tried to catch a breath. She was so pale and seemed completely away from the world, her hands shaking like she was freezing. I could see her struggle to breathe, hell I could even feel it as I felt the air getting knocked out of me.

"Lukas, do something!" Mia yelled, her hand pulling me down on the floor with her. "She isn't okay!" My sister cried; her face completely wet with tears.

I heard her but my gaze never left Bella. Fuck, I don't know what to do either. "I can see she's not okay Mia!" I yelled at her, not intending to be mean but the harsh words unwillingly left my mouth. Fuck! Bella must have heard my voice because out of nothing she reached out trying to grab something. "It's okay. Baby, I'm here." I said putting my hands on either side of her face, sitting in front of her on my knees. "You need to breathe Bella." I raised my voice, slightly shaking her head. I had no idea what I was doing. "Come one, please just breath." I urged when her chest was moving up and down but she was still gasping for air. "Fuck, please breathe!" I felt helpless, unaware of how to get her out of this.

"Lukas do something!" Mia cried next to me on the floor, but her panic was only making my anxiety worse, and I was worried sick already.

"Mia, shut up! You're not helping!" I barked and I probably would have to apologize for it later as Mia's sobs were only sounding louder. "Baby, come on! Don't do this to me!" I cried, feeling my emotions squeeze my throat shut. If this is how I feel I can't imagine what Isabella is feeling right now. I did the only thing I knew, which was to put my lips on hers in a poor attempt to stop her sharp and short intakes of breath. I did it again, tasting the salt from her tears spilled across her lips. I did it once more, trying to calm her down, letting her know she wasn't alone but even though she seemed to be calming down a bit this was far from enough. My hands held her face tightly on both sides. Please Bella! What the fuck do I do! "Mia do you have a paper or a plastic bag!" I yelled, completely succumbed to worry and stress.

"Yes, my lunch is in it." She sobbed, already trying to find it in her bag.

"I'm sorry about your lunch but I need the bag!" She was already emptying her lunch bag onto the bathroom floor before stuffing the back into my hands.

"As if I can eat right now!" She sobbed watching me with wide eyes as I held the bag in front of Bella's mouth, having her breath into it.

Bella's shaky hands immediately wrapped around the paper bag; her eyes still blank as if she was staring into nothing. This is killing me! "Bella, deep breaths! You can do this! This will end!" I tried to calm her down, one of my hands helping her on the bag and my other cupping the side of her face, my thumb caressing her cheek on the rhythm she was supposed to breathe. "Come one, we're going to count to four, breathing in and out for four seconds." I said what I through sounded the right thing to do, I don't even know I just needed to help her. The way she was looking so terrified, cut through me and tore me apart, I was barely holding it together myself while I helped her count to four, not even knowing if she could hear me. After a minute or so her breathing started to slow down and her eyes seemed to be staring at something now instead of into nothing, she was staring at me.

Mia got up, wiping the tears from her cheeks as she went to fill her water bottle on the tap. "Here." She whispered softly while handing me the water. I nodded at her thanking her for being here, for calling me. Bella seemed to have calmed down enough, slowly letting go of the paper bag, her eyes never leaving mine.

"Hi." I whispered, softly pushing her hair from her face with the back of my hand. I was still experiencing fear as my stomach was in knots and my chest was on fire, but I couldn't show that, that wasn't what she needed the most right now.

"Hi." She whispered faintly, her voice hoarse and barely there. I noticed the color still hadn't returned to her face as I caressed her face with the back of my fingers. "Hi." She said again, even more drowsy this time.

She took a few deep breaths, but suddenly her head fell forwards in my hands and her eyes started to roll to the back of her head. "Whoa! Whoa Isabella!" She scared me, her head floating between my hands. "Stay with us!" I slightly tapped my hand against her cheek to see her slowly coming back, her sight focusing on me. Good. "Please, don't scare me like that." I sighed with relief and worry at the same time.

She slowly opened and closed her eyes, completely exhausted by her ordeal. "Sorry." She muttered, her body still weak as she just sat there, immobile.

"Here, drinks some water." I said as Mia was poking my ribcage with the bottle. I smiled at her before taking it, both of us weary.

Bella shook her head, refusing the water as her bottom lip started to tremble, her tiny and shaky hands grabbing onto the sleeves of my hoodie. "I'm sorry." She breathed, still shaking her head as tears escaped from the corners of her eyes. "I'm...I'm sorry for ruining your day!" She sobbed and I wanted to do nothing more than pull her into my arms. So, that's exactly what I did.

I pulled her into my arms, my face snuggling into her hair as she sobbed into my chest. "Hey, hey, hey you didn't ruin anything!" I whispered softly while rocking back and forth. "You didn't ruin anything!" I repeated trying to make the message clear.

I held her, letting her get it all out as I watched my sister wiping away her own tears as she sat back against the wall. She clearly cared for Bella as this affected her so much to the point of sobbing. Mia rarely cries, only when it's serious, this is fucking serious. I poked Mia's foot with mine, letting her know I appreciated everything she did, especially as her lunch was splattered over the bathroom floor, but more so for putting her own feeling aside and calling for help and staying with her when she needed her the most.

"Lukas, take me home." Bells continued to sob into my chest while I held her tight. "Please." She faintly whispered, a cry for help.

"Yeah, I'll take you home now." I whispered before pressing my lips into her hair. "Mia, do you want to do me a favor?" I said while getting up, Bella still in my arms as she firmly hung on to me.

"Yeah, anything." Mia said, caught off guard as she gathered herself and her stuff and got off the floor too.

"Hand me Bella's bag and her other stuff." I said while holding her in my arms, her face tiredly falling in the crook of my neck. Mia grabbed her things helping me to slip Bella's bag over my shoulder and gently threw her jacket and scarf over her. "Also, go grab my stuff in the library. Meet us at my car. It's parked in lot number D." She nodded, making her way out of the bathroom as fast as she could while I started to carry Bella to my car. She was sobbing into my neck, her tears rapidly falling down her face.

For once I didn't have to park the car too far away, the perks of an early class and today it was a blessing. I finally got her into the passenger seat but the panic I was feeling in my stomach still hadn't settled. Who did this to her! I looked at her while taking a seat behind the wheel, she was staring blankly ahead through the windshield, desperately trying to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

"Baby." I carefully started, an attempted to have her look at me. "What happened?" I needed to know what got her so upset and it killed me that she was so scared it caused her to have a panic attack. "Bells." I said, trying to have her talk to me. She needs to talk to me.

"It's all over." She huffed out while shaking her head and my face started to heat up with concern, fear for us.

I swallowed, trying to prepare for the worst while trying to figure out who had gotten into her head with lies this time. "What is over?" I whispered, trying to take her hand. Please don't pull away. She let me take it, intertwining my fingers with hers and it felt like a relief.

"Lukas, they know where I am now, it's over." She sobbed while putting her hands in front of her face. I had a feeling who they were, but I didn't want to believe it, not yet. "The school gave them my address! They're going to come for me and drag me home." She cried into her hands.

All my fear turned into anger as the palms of my hands hit the wheel hard. "No!" My voice echoed through the car, making Bella flinch away from me. "I'm sorry!" I immediately said when I saw the way I scared her, her bloodshot eyes wide as she nearly crawled up against the door. "Baby, I'm sorry." I said softly, holding my hands up in defense as the look in her eyes ripped out my heart. "I'm not going to let that happen, I promise. I won't let them get near you. Okay!" I spoke fast, my pulse quickening at the thought of them getting their abusive hands on her ever again. "I'm here!" I said putting my hands on either side of her face, my thumbs caressing her wet and tearstained cheeks.

"I heard his voice, he sounded so vindictive." She shut her eyes, while her bottom lip trembled. "I don't want to hear his voice ever again. I traveled across the country to get away from them, and still they found me. I'll never be able to leave my past behind." She sighed, trying to control her breathing.

"I'm here! Snowflake, I'm here. I won't let them come near you!" I said, wiping away the tears that where pouring from her eyes.

"You can't always protect me Lukas." She sighed again, her fearful eyes piercing trough me.

"Watch me!" I said within the second, not even having to think about it. At that Mia swung the door open, taking a seat in the back, her cheeks smeared with makeup from crying, and all of my stuff on her lap. "We'll figure this out Bells." I said, before bringing my lips to hers. "First, we're going to go home." I whispered while she pulled away, resting her head against the side window.

I looked at Mia trough the rear-view mirror, her face still filled with worry, as was mine. I had no idea how we were going to do this or where to go from now on but we had to, I wasn't going to bail the moment things got hard, that's the moment I should step up and show Bells that no matter what, she could count on me.

When we got to my apartment Bella was fast asleep, exhausted from her panic attack. She didn't even budge or briefly opened her eyes when I got her out of the car and carried her upstairs, Mia trying her best to carry all of our stuff. Mia didn't even say a word or argue about the fact I brought her to my, well our, apartment. It was home to all of us, and no way I was going back to the only place her parents knew where to find her, absolutely out of the question.

I softly laid Isabella down on the couch and covered her with a soft blanket, my sister worrisome looking at us from a distance. She was still clueless about why Bella had a panic attack. I promised Bells not to tell Mia so she wouldn't worry a while ago, but I think now is a good time to tell my sister about her parents. She might be mad at me for it later, but she needs everyone on her side right now.

"Is she going to be okay?" Mia carefully spoke as she stood there, her head low and her eyes filled with worry.

"I don't know Mia. This is bigger than she can handle on her own." I whispered, pushing my hand through my hair. I have to tell her. I nodded towards her bedroom and Mia got the message.

I closed the door behind me so our talking wouldn't wake up Bella. Ruffling a hand over my face I leaned against the door. "Mia, I need you to listen okay. I know you're not really the best of friends right now and you have your reasons, but she had her reasons too to get a panic attack and she needs us both. Now more than ever." I started while Mia took a seat at the edge of her bed, her eyes staring at me with confusion.

"Lukas what's going on? It was Drew wasn't it? Did he try something on her again! I swear if he did I'm going to kill him!" She raised her voice with panic and disgust, her hands grabbing some fabric of her comforter.

"No." I shook my head before letting it fall back against the door. "He would have been lying in a ditch right now if he had." I sighed, not knowing how to tell Mia so she would understand. "Look, Bella doesn't talk much about her parents... That's because she ran away from home." I swallowed and scraped my throat at the sight of Mia's frown. "We have amazing parents but not everyone has that much luck."

"She ran away?" Mia frowned, completely blindsided by these facts.

"Yeah." I shrugged my shoulders, taking my back away from the door to sit next to Mia on the bed as I could see she was on the brink of bursting out in tears and she didn't even know half of it. "Her parents are alcoholics, both of them. They abused Bells for years." I felt my voice tremble with emotion and hurt, unable to explain further.

"Abused like, calling her names, emotional abuse, right?" She looked as if her heart sank to the bottom of the ocean and so did mine. "Right?" She breathed again, as if she didn't want the other options to be true.

"As in beating her until she's unconscious..." I sighed, putting my hands on top of my head as Mia burst out into a mess.

"No! Why! How could anybody do that! How?" She raised her voice, her anger and hurt not mixing together well.

"I don't know Mia." I whispered, putting my hand around her shoulder to pull her into a hug as she sobbed against my chest. "They found her." I sighed, on the brink of breaking into pieces. "I can't fucking believe the school just gave them her address; they have no fucking clue what they just did!" I scoffed, angry at them for not asking more questions. If someone can't find you, it's for a damn fucking reason.

I felt Mia shake her head against her chest as her sobs got louder. "I was such a bitch to her I didn't even bother to see something wasn't right. I should have asked more questions about her parents; I should have been there for her!" Mia cried, obviously feeling guilty.

"That wouldn't have changed anything, they still would have found her." I shook my head while getting up from the bed, pacing around the room to come up with a plan or solution.

"She doesn't deserve this, any of this!" Mia yelled while she continued to cry, her hands rubbing her face, smearing out the makeup stains on her face even more.

"Mia, I don't know what to do!" I felt my throat pinching shut and tears sting at the corners of my eyes as I kept pacing around the room, my hands vigorously going through my messy hair. I feel so fucking helpless. I should have this under control, protect her from anyone or anything but I don't know if I can. There's only one thing I can do but Bella is not going to like it as she'll think of it as too much to take, as if she's intruding but hell, she can intrude all she want, she's my world.

"Mia, I need you to stay here with Bella. If anything happens you call me immediately!" I rushed out of the room to find Bella's bag next to the front door.

"Lukas, where are you going?" She hurried after me, trying her best to keep her voice low.

"Getting her stuff from her apartment." I said while fishing Bella's keys from her bag and putting them in the pocket of my jeans. "That's okay with you right?" I wasn't planning on asking or arguing, whatever Mia was going to say I was going to do it anyway.

"Definitely okay!" She nodded; her voice just as determined as mine. "Wait!" She said before disappearing to her room. While I was waiting, I watched Bella's peaceful face peeking up from underneath the blanket, beautiful as ever. I won't let anyone hurt you, I promise. "Take my empty suitcases to put her clothes in or whatever." Mia said as she walked back out of her room with two empty suitcases. "It's okay, go. She'll still be here when you get back Lukas." She interrupted my thoughts when I was caught staring at Bella's face. I quickly wiped away the tears that were about to fall down my cheeks and took the suitcases. I won't ever love anyone as much as I love her.

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