"Why do you not have a shirt on?" Bella fussed over me the moment I stepped in. "And who is this? Why are you carrying him?"

"This is Hunter Poland. He... got injured and I told him I'd help." I shifted Hunter in my arms again. "Could you get the medicine kit?"

"Of course." Bella rushed off immediately. I carried Hunter to my bedrooms and set him on the bed. I rummaged through my drawers to fix some soft clothing. I found a long sleeve shirt and some old sweatpants and a pair of drawers. The last part embarrassed me a bit, but it couldn't be helped. I wasn't about to make Hunter go commando.

"You should get cleaned up before I treat your wounds." I put the clothing beside Hunter. "I'll get the bath ready."

"Er," Hunter looked uncomfortable, "um..."

"Don't worry. No one will see you. I'll make sure of that."

"...Okay." Bella came back with the kit. I put it on the bedside table and got the bath ready. Hunter closed the bathroom door behind him, and I waited while Bella left to get some refreshments.

Ironic how I'm taking care of someone who I didn't want to get involved with in the first place. Well, the moment the game storyline starts and the capture targets fight over him, I'm out.

Bella set a table up for us and left when I told her Hunter didn't want anyone to see his wounds.

"Thanks for the clothes." Hunter said as he walked out. The towel hung around his neck as his sopping wet hair dripped. He also wasn't wearing the pants.

"Why aren't you wearing the pants? Are they too big?"

"No, I thought it'd be easier to treat the wounds if I didn't have them on and I didn't want to get blood on them."

"Oh yeah. Sit here and I'll bandage you up. Bella brought some snacks too if you want some afterwards." Hunter sat on the bed as I knelt on the floor in front of him. Because the cuts were on the inside of his upper thighs, I had to get in an awkward position.

"If you need me to stop, tell me immediately."

"Okay." I got the alcohol wipe and scooted closer between his spread legs. One glance told me Hunter was embarrassed at his face was beet red and his hands quivered.

...I need to hurry up and get out of this compromising situation before someone sees.

Hunter hissed when I gently cleaned the cuts with the alcohol wipes. Then I put on an antibacterial cream and wrapped a bandage around the cuts.

"There. That should do it." I put the stuff up. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Hunter quickly put on his pants while I put the medicine kit back on the bedside table. "Thanks."

"No problem. Cocoa?"

"Sure, thanks." Hunter went to the table and sat down. He munched on a piece of chocolate cake and sipped on some hot cocoa.

"You need to dry your hair or you'll get sick." I took the towel around his shoulders and ruffled his hair around with it. I ran my fingers through it to tame it a bit.

"And you say you don't act like a mom," Hunter teased.

"You better keep your mouth shut or you'll get a nasty surprise when you least expect it."

"Yes, yes." Hunter stretched and yawned. I tossed the towel somewhere across the room. Hunter stood up from his chair. "I need some sleep."

"Do you want me to walk you to your room? It's the one next door."

"It's fine. I can do it. Thanks, Randall." Hunter walked out of the room.

...Great, now what do I do? In the current state I'm in, I don't think I'd be able to sleep even if I tried. Not to mention seeing Hunter in that state brought up a lot of unsavory memories from my past life. Now that I mention it, I'm slowly starting to forget I even haad a past life.

I don't know how to explain it, but memories of my past life used to be so clear and I had no doubt that I was once Rhon Gates. Now, sometimes I can't remember anything no matter how hard I try. Kind of like how you remember a dream right when you wake up but half an hour later you hardly remember anything about it.

However, certain memories were now crystal clear in my mind and they weren't good ones either. I had a sneaking suspicion that the moment I became unconcious those memories would haunt me.

"Do you need anything else, Randall?" Bella's gentle voice roused me from my thoughts. "You look troubled."

"Ah, well, some unpleasant memories came to mind. I'll be fine though. It's all in the past."

Bella looked sad, but didn't pry. That was one of her best qualities, she knew when to leave things alone. And vice versa.

"I'll take my leave." The door clicked as Bella shut it and I listened to her receding footsteps. Oh well, might as well get the night over with.

I laid in bed and mentally prepared myself for a restless night.

Eight year old Rhon Gates (currently Rhonda so there will be she/her pronouns) played with her dolls as her mom and siblings went to a restaurant. Rhonda's father was on a business trip, so she was home alone.

While she liked having the place to herself, Rhonda wanted a friend to play with, so she went outside to a nearby park. She figured she'd play for an hour and go back home.

But she was naive and didn't know about the dangers of the outside world since her family failed to properly educate her about the dangers of being a young girl.

A kind man walked up to her.

"Where is your mom and dad?" He asked. Rhonda, without thinking about it, replied.

"Daddy is on a trip and mom went out."

"So you're all alone?"

"Yep! Wanna play with me?"

(

"Sure, how about we go to a special place?" The man repressed a smirk when Rhonda nodded excitedly.

~4 hours later~ (I couldn't write the details)

"Wah!" Rhonda finally made it back home, sobbing heavily and with an unkempt appeareance.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Her mother yelled. Without giving the poor girl time to answer, she smacked the girl across the face. "Get out of my sight and clean yourself up!" Rhonda cried harder.

"B-But m-mo-"

"SHUT IT BEFORE I GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO CRY ABOUT!"

-----------------------

I woke up in a cold sweat. My whole body trembled as I whimpered in fear. To my surprise, I realized I had been crying in my sleep.

"What the hell." I wiped the tears from my eyes and took in a few shaky breaths. Ever since that day I didn't trust people and it stuck with me even in another life. That event was one of numerous times.

Because I was the daughter of a well known family I had been kidnapped a couple of times. Each of those times... well, I'll leave it to your imagination. Not to mention I had a cousin who actually got paid to kidnap me since I trusted her. Imagine how much that affected me.

Pale sunlight signalled it was early morning. With a groan, I got ready for the day. I'm not about to let PTSD get in my way. To hell with that. This is an entirely different life and I'm in a different body. A strong body capable of defending itself.

"You're already up?" Bella asked when she walked in to wake me up only to find me doing homework.

"Yeah. Woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep." I flipped to the next page in my workbook, "decided to be productive for once."

"Would you like any refreshments?"

"Hot water and a couple slices of lemon if you don't mind."

"Of course." Alone again, I resumed doing homework. Man, there should be a law on how much homework teachers can assign. At least some of this is pretty easy.

"Come in." Hunter poked his head in. I noticed his eyebags, but didn't comment on it. It's not any of my business after all.

"Hey, thanks for letting me stay." Hunter rubbed the back of his head.

"No problem." Hunter came closer. To my surprise, he lifted a hand and brushed a finger against the corner of my eye. I recoiled from his touch.

"You've been crying."

"I'm just tired."

"...Did...did you have a nightmare?"

"Just an unpleasant dream."

"Can I ask you something?" I sighed.

"Go ahead."

"Yesterday, after what happened, I noticed that you were...well...different. Like a completely different person."

"How so?"

"Well... how do I put this... you weren't so... prickly like you usually are. And I thought that maybe it was because..." Hunter trailed off uncertainly. I stopped writing.

"I was nicer because even I have a heart and I'm not about to be an asshole to someone who has been assaulted." I began writing again to signal that the conversation was over. But of course Hunter either couldn't read social cues or completely ignored them because he pushed on.

"That's not it. It kind of felt like you knew what it's like."

"What made you think that?" My tone sharpened.

"I don't know. Just a hunch, I guess. But I thought I'd ask if you have been in a similar situation before." Hunter fumbled nervousl with his hands.

With another heavy sigh, I slammed the pen down. "You know, for a noble, you have no tact whatsoever."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Yes, I have alright? And for the record, I have no intentions of coddling you. It may seem harsh, but if you want to succeed you have to push on. As the saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger... if you let it."

"So that's why you're so prickly towards others." Hunter said. I furrowed my eyebrows at him. Can't he leave it be now?

"I don't need you commenting on how I act towards others."

"But it's holding you bac-"

"It is not. I need to finish my work so scram."

"See? You're avoiding it!"

"I'm not avoiding it I just have more important things to do."

"I may not be smart, but even I know you're affected by it. You're avoiding talking about it, when you were reminded of whatever happened by seeing me in a similar situation you became an entirely different person, you keep yourself socially distanced from everyone else, and it's like you see your life as someone else's!"

"If you were so smart then you'd know how to read social cues and leave me the fuck alone!" I shouted and banged my hands on the desk as I shot out of the chair.

"Well you should start taking your own advice and work through your own trauma before advising others to do the same!"

"I have worked through it and I'm fine!"

"If you really were fine then you wouldn't have had a nightmare! I woke up when I heard you talking in your sleep and I saw how terrified you were! You were crying and-"

"You went into my room in the middle of the night?!"

"That's not important! What's important is that you open your eyes and realize that you're not fine!" Hunter yelled. "You even view your health as less important than a couple of damn papers!"

We stood there for a minute, fuming. Hunter stood his ground as I glared at him.

A soft knock interrupted us. Bella stepped inside with a worried look.

"What's going on in here?"

"It's nothing." I said.

"Like hell it's nothing! This is your-"

"Shut it!" I snapped. "Stop poking your nose into my business."

Hunter huffed, "you're like a stubborn old man. I can't believe you're only 15."

"I can't believe you're older than me," I scoffed.

"Break it up, you two." Bella narrowed her eyes at Hunter, "you should go home now. I'm assuming you didn't let them know you'd be staying here last night."

"...Very well," Hunter said. He gave me one last look and stiffly walked to the door. Before he closed it he said,

"I'm not giving up."