Begin Again - Start All Over Differently

Evan, being left speechless by Evelyn, was having a lot of first times with her. He wasn't used to being at the loss of words and it was the third time, she had him landing in a zone where he actually was having a hard time collecting words to form a meaningful response.

"The dogs," she murmured, "let's go and check them." She seemed least bothered about the blood that had been escaping her hand and absolutely forgetful about the fact that her knee was hurt. As soon as, she put some pressure on her feet, her knee couldn't withstand it and she was about to fall when his hand circled around her stomach.

She froze for a moment before she tilted her head to look at him. Though the visible apprehension in her eyes left him wanting to take his hand off her skin, he couldn't do it. Taking his hand back meant letting her fall and he wasn't going to let that happen.

Supporting her back with his other hand, he straightened her. "You sit in the car. I'll see them."

"No, I will come as well." She was quick with her response. "I am fine," she added when he kept staring at her wordlessly and she could make out that he was getting annoyed.

She watched him slightly rolling his eyes before he shifted his hand to her waist and held his left hand out for her to hold.

Her lips instantly curled up at that and she gave her hand in his.

The dogs were still there, lying beside the road. The number of horrific injuries Evelyn witnessed that day on their bodies took her back to her past. She hadn't been able to properly look at their wounds when they ran past her but now, that she could see them, they hit her hard.

Their burnt skins sent a shiver down her spine.

The visible red marks due to the beating left her in tears.

Their painful cries that fell in her ears were probably going to give her nightmares for an indefinite time. And their cries… were so less audible and Evelyn knew why. That was the extent to which they had been threatened and made to believe that any sound coming from them was a crime.

How could she not understand that?

Who knew that feeling better than her?

As haunting memories of the past took over her, her vision blurred.

"You okay?" Evan grew concerned as she stumbled in his hold. He looked at her, clueless about what was happening. She had suddenly paled.

His voice pulled her out of the nightmarish moments she was re-living. She blinked, hiding the terror in her eyes. "I am. Let's call someone who can help. You know anybody?"

Evan nodded. While his hand still stayed holding her, he pushed his other one in his pocket and pulled out his phone.

<>

"Are they going to be fine?" Evan asked the animal rescue team he had called up.

"Let's hope they do." Almost the entire team looked infuriated at the condition the dogs were found in but they didn't lose their calm. They had been dealing with such situations from long enough that they had almost accepted that some people were… inhuman.

Evan turned his head toward Evelyn whose gaze didn't leave the dogs until they disappeared from her sight.

"Evelyn," Evan whispered, which had her tearing her gaze from the void she was staring in.

She sighed, "Drop me home," and began taking small steps toward his car, by still his support.

<>

"What had happened to you back then? Is it just about the dogs, or is there anything more to it?" This time, it was Evan who broke the silence. She had been unusually quiet during the ride. Her silence felt weird to him even though he knew, it was not supposed to affect him.

Evelyn did not speak for several more seconds. "I don't have an answer to that."

"You don't have an answer or you don't want to answer?" He rotated the steering while taking a quick peek at her.

'You have lost it.' He muttered mentally as he felt a rush of relief when he glanced at the small smile crept over her lips. Evan Parker's heart was feeling different emotions and he was getting mad at himself over the same.

"What do you think?" She proposed a question in response to his question as she adjusted on her seat to comfortably look at him.

Though he was supposed to look ahead… his eyes kept going back to her. Her constant gaze was distracting. "Stop staring."

"Why?"

"That's creepy." He lied. It wasn't creepy but certainly made him conscious of he didn't know what.

"It wasn't creepy when you were staring at me until a while ago?"

At a loss of words, again. Evan Parker was at a loss of words again.

"Your home," he murmured. They reached. He thanked every God he knew the existence of and every other, he didn't.

She looked out and then at him. She would have laughed at his face if it had been some other day. But it wasn't the time when she could do that. Her heart was getting heavier moment by moment and all that she wanted to do was… vanish from his sight, and shut herself, somewhere where nobody could see her breaking down and hear her venting out.

She picked her bag and got herself out of his car. He came out and waited until she reached his side.

"This might sound weird," he paused, unsure about if he should really say it or not but then, he shrugged the thoughts and just went ahead with it, "it's uncomfortable when you don't talk." He shoved his hands in his pockets, while he confessed it to her.

'Damn you, Evan Parker. There is no need for you to blurt everything that's inside you.' He mentally smacked himself. What was he doing? The boy apparently didn't know himself.

Her face went blank momentarily before it slowly glowed at his comment. She took a step toward him. "Do you have a past, Evan?"

He gave her a small nod. "I do."

"So do I. This was the answer to your question. A very indirect one, I admit but this is it. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."

"Do not forget about the dressing of your hand. I could take you to the hospital but you denied but don't neglect it."

She smiled at his concern. She had to get back home for she didn't know if Vanessa was still awake. Though she had messaged Melissa on her way back and Melissa had informed her that Vanessa was yet to sleep. Her injury wasn't more important than her sister's comfort so when Evan had told her that he would take her to the hospital right when they had sat in the car, she had refused.

"I won't."

With that, she made her way inside her home and he made his way toward his.