Alora.
The mall was all shades of amazing and beautiful and I found myself drawn to every single thing I saw. The cotton candy had been the best thing I ever had and I wasn't going to tell Lana it definitely tasted better than her cooking.
Ares didn't leave me alone anymore like he had done before and I realized talking to someone else made him mad, especially when I didn't know who the person was. Ares didn't like strangers, I noticed that and while it hurt me that Cameron had been driven away by Ares, I still didn't want Ares to be mad at me anymore.
Whenever he yelled or grabbed onto me like that, it scared me. And thankfully, the scene was quickly forgotten as I was too interested in everything that was happening around me.
This was the first time I had ever been let out. This was the first place I was ever visiting outside the woods, my parents house, Jax's house and Ares estate.
And I wanted to touch every balloon, go into every store and eat everything in sight.
"What's that?" I asked, pointing at a really huge teddy bear that was even walking about just as Ares threw away the straw from the cotton candy, a frown upon his face.
I didn't know what compelled me to give Ares one, but I wanted him to know I was grateful for being let out for the first time and for getting the cotton candy for me when it was obvious he hated it.
And to my surprise, he accepted it.
I smiled as Ares rolled his eyes. "it's just a stupid mascot for the teddy bear shop down the hall. Come on. We have a lot of things to do." Ares said before pulling towards one of the stores with female clothes.
My eyes lingered on the mascot for a moment before I ran after Ares into the store. There were a lot of racks with so many clothes and most of them were revealing. I frowned.
I hoped Ares didn't get me anything that showed off my scars.
"Welcome to Tafi's Closet." A woman greeted me, she was young with a black hair and heavy make up on her face. There was a bright smile on her lips but it didn't teach her eyes.
"Can I get something for her?" Ares said, pointing at me as I stood a little behind him. The woman ram her eyes from Ares to me before she nodded and walked away.
"What kind of clothes do you need?" Ares asked, looking around the store confused for a second before he faced me.
"I don't know." I whispered, looking around the room when the woman came with some clothes in her hand.
"I've got some casuals and some for outings." She said beaming at Ares who nodded before walking off to a chair then taking out his phone.
The woman frowned a bit before she forced a smile on her face then turned to me.
"Don't just stand there, come try it out." She said before heading towards the end of the store. I frowned, turning to Ares whose eyes were buried in his phone.
I sighed before following her as she led me to a small closet where she said I should change out of my dress.
"Try this skirt first and this blouse." She said pushing some clothes at me a little too roughly making me stumble a bit.
"But it's a bit short." I said, eyeing the tiny piece of yellow skirt in the hanger.
The woman rolled her eyes. "I can see why he brought you here. This dress is ugly." She said, eyeing my dress as I frowned.
"Lana got it for me." I whispered before she scoffed and walked off, telling me to hurry.
I stared at the yellow skirt and bright blue blouse that looked short also before I pulled the curtains close, looking around the closet for anything suspicious before I pulled out of the dress.
My eyes found the mirror in front of me as I stared down at my full body. My skin was mostly pale making each scar very obvious. My ankles had red circle permanent marks from the shackles, including my wrist and though my feet were buried in the soft slippers I knew I had cuts underneath them.
My arm was marred with scars as well as my thighs mostly from Jax gripping onto them tightly. And the most obvious mark I had was my brand.
Jax property.
I ran my fingers through it, feeling its rough surface. It used to be red at first when I was branded but over the years it had gotten black.
The memory of me screaming as I was held down before the hot iron smeared my skin flashed across my mind and I looked away from the mirror, backing it.
I pushed one of the bangs of my hair that had fallen out, from my face. My hair was pulled backwards neatly by Carmen with some hair pins and the one close to my eyes was sticking out awkwardly. I remembered Ares helping me with it and a soft blush came upon my face.
Ares confused me.
One minute, he was roughly pulling me away from Cameron and yelling at me and the next he was getting me cotton candy and helping me with my hair.
But I guess he wasn't the only one that confused me.
I confused me too.
Like the time I had held his hand at the doctor's office. I was scared of Ares but in the moment I wasn't, instead it was like…
..I trusted him?
No!
That is dangerous, Alora!
Remember what Jax had done to you
Tears filled my eyes as I remembered what Jax had done. During our time in the woods, I had been so happy and glad to have a friend. But all of that had meant nothing to Jax as he was only securing what was his.
That was all I ever was to him.
A slave, a property and a toy for his leisure.
"How long is it going to take you to get changed?" The woman groaned from outside the closet and I feared she was going to come in any moment so I blinked back my tears rapidly before I got dressed.
Like I thought, the blouse was short, barely covering my stomach but thankfully the skirt was high enough to hide my brand but apart from that, my stomach was opened and the skirt stopped above my thighs.
I felt uncomfortable, almost every part of my scars were visible and I didn't like it. I preferred clothing that covered them.
My scars were nothing to be put on display or be proud of.
I was about to take the clothes off when the woman pulled open the curtains suddenly, a gasp escaped her lips at the sight of me before she grabbed my hand and pulled me out.
She looked at me thoroughly from my face to my arms, torso and down my body. I felt uncomfortable under her gaze as she folded her arms in front of her chest.
"Your scars are so ugly, it doesn't suit the outfit." She frowned, sighing in frustration.
Her words cut through like a knife, piercing through the small happiness I had gathered over the past minute and making me miserable as I looked to the floor, my eyes welled with tears as they dropped to the floor just beside my feet.
Every part of me shattered and I rubbed my arms suddenly feeling very shy and sad.
"Whatever, come on." She said as she grabbed my arm and pulled me towards where Ares was seated. I suddenly felt irritated by her touch as it bit uncomfortably into my skin before she let go of me and stepped back.
"The yellow doesnt compliment her skin because she's too pale and those scars are terrifying so if you wanted her in anything revealing, it's not going to work because it doesn't look good." She said to Ares and my heart bled at her words.
I suddenly felt Ares' gaze upon me and I wanted to sink into the ground out of shame. He was going to see my scars and think it was disgusting too, I couldn't bear to look at him. I didn't want to see the disgust and irritation in his eyes.
I couldn't bare to see it and more tears ran down my cheeks as I suddenly didn't feel like getting any more clothes anymore. My heart was broken, I mean it was in pieces already before but now it was like it was being grinded to powder and it made me feel powerless and weak.
So I ran.
I didn't want to see Ares, not the woman. I didn't want their disgusted faces on me. I was so tired of people looking at me like a piece of stain on a beautiful dress. And every part of me bled of pain.
I ran as fast as my legs could carry me out of the store and into the mall. There were people everywhere and I bumped into quite a few.
Despite not knowing where I was going, I didn't bother to look up. I knew they were all looking at me the same way, and I didn't want to see it.
I couldn't bear the sight of a hundred disgusted eyes at me.
"What's that?" A woman said from behind me and I ran faster taking a sharp turn at the end of the hallway. The floors were slippery and with my slippers, it was hard to maintain balance.
The skirt was also really short so I had to keep pulling it down so my butt wasn't exposed. I don't think I could bear that shame coupled with this.
"My goodness. Those scars!" A girl gasped and covered my face in my palm before I pushed past the Mascot I had seen earlier. It felt so soft underneath my palm and it fell against the floor.
I didn't turn to apologize as I felt eyes boring into me before I came across a hallway with very few people in it. I finally looked with my teary eyes, the blurry images adjusting slowly until I realized I had stepped into a hallway with stores that had so many instruments I didn't recognize.
I wiped my eyes as I looked into a shop that had a piano and my heart leapt with joy as I stepped into it.
"Hi, do you want to get something?" A man said, he was a bit old with a hat upon his head and a cheerful smile on his lips.
I pointed at the piano at the center of the room. It was big, almost as big as the one in Ares' forbidden room and my fingers itched to touch it. I smiled as the old man led me to the piano.
"This was the piano played at the coronation of Queen Anne in 1953." The old man was saying but I paid no attention to him as I touched the piano, a smile broke off my face as my heart thumped loudly in my chest feeling its smooth surface under my palm.
"Do you want to play it?" The man asked and I looked up at him, nodding quickly before he smiled and pointed at the chair.
I almost squealed in excitement at the thought of playing the piano again. Ares had banned me from playing his at his home and my old broken one was still lost on the river after Jax threw it out of anger.
I missed the sound of the melody, the tone of each key pressing against my fingers. I took a seat, as the man opened the piano, revealing its black and white keys.
Raising up my fingers against it, I saw my scars as I stopped for a moment, looking down at it before my fingers started to shake.
I suddenly didn't want to play anymore.
"Go on. I'm your audience and i hate waiting." He laughed, revealing a row of dark brown teeth.
I raised my shaky fingers to the keys again, hovering over it for a second as I tore my gaze away from the scar on my wrist before pressing the keys.
**It's seriously annoying how everyone is looking at Alora's scars like it's disgusting and it all started with that girl at the store! I dislike her so much and now she has made Alora sad. Thankfully, she ran out and found an instrument shop with a piano to relieve her from the heartache. What do you think was Ares' reaction to Alora scars? What are your thoughts on this chapter? Let me know in the comments too🥺♥️more uploads if you do😉 See you soon😉 Jane♥️