7. Mary

The task of the day for her was hiding from her brother.

Mary made a huge mistake. She missed the Sunday prayer. She had a tight schedule and was busy with her recordings and forgot– on purpose about going to church because all she wanted to do was to rest. Was it that big of a sin to just want to breathe? Mary wanted to ask this question but her mouth would be shut by a slap. Mary knew she was supposed to get her punishment yesterday night, but to her surprise, her brother didn't come home.

But it's been a day, and Matthew would be here any second. "MARY!" She heard the scream of that psychopath. Mary had locked the door and even turned off the lights, but it was all useless. Her brother had keys to her room and now he was there. As Matthew turned the lights on, she saw the fury in his eyes and the belt in his hand. "Why did you miss the Holy Mass?" he asked in a calm voice, and that voice made her body chill. "I- was- I had to do something." She made a useless attempt to stay safe, and then Matthew moved towards her. "Is there anything more important to you than prayer?" His tone started to get hard. "I will ask the Lord- God for forgiveness- he- he will forgive me." Mary slipped to the other side of the bed but no place in this world could save Mary from her brother. She was now on the floor, and her body was already cold as ice. "You are influenced by the demon, Sister." And when she saw him a foot away, Mary closed her eyes as tight as she possibly could, protecting herself from what was about to come, and then she felt it immediately. The sharp stinging pain as Matthew slammed the belt over her hand, made her want to scream, to cry out this unbearable but she did neither because over time she had learned that it was all pointless "The evil needs to be removed, May the Lord protect you" He kept on repeating the same words and then the hit came again at her head. She felt that warm splash of blood from the fresh cut over her forehead.

Mary was trying her best to stay upright but then her legs gave up as they were attacked brutally. The pain ruthlessly cracked the muscle, traveling it to the bones and she fell to the floor

Mary lost track of time and the count of hits. She didn't remember for how long she stayed there while her brother— that emotionless pathetic creature had been beating her. He was sticking at the same places again and again. Mary never knew what she had done to deserve this madness, but she had no right to talk in front of Matthew. After a long while of suffering and pain, he stopped. In the end all Matthew said was, "May the Lord have mercy on you." Mary breathed because it was all over for the day, and she mumbled, "Amen." and Matthew was then gone.

Mary placed a hand on the bed and pressed on it hard enough to tear the mattress apart. She barely managed to lift herself, supported by the injured hand, and then sat on it.

Mary had a first aid kit just on the side table because it was the only thing that could help her to heal. She cleaned all of her wounds. She never knew how many of them were there. Some of them were from minutes ago, some from last week, months, and years. So she applied the medicine to whichever was hurting her the most and then she laid back on the bed.

For the entire night, she stayed fully awake. The injuries were aching even more now in the morning. She sat up on the bed, dragged her hand to the side table, and took a handful of painkillers. Mary was well aware that the dose of medicine was high and it could even kill her if she didn't stop taking them but maybe that was the real purpose behind it.

Today, Mary needed a hoodie with a mask to cover the wound over her forehead, which her brother had given her. She wore it. Mary hugged herself so tight, she was sorry for herself, and it was the only thing she could do for her.

Trying her best to ignore the pain, she entered university. Today, she left her house early and even skipped breakfast, but this wasn't something that would get her in trouble because all her ill brother cared about was her not listening to him. So every time Mary did something against Matthew or broke the rules he made, she would get punished, other than that she could even die if she wanted to and Matthew wouldn't care

The last day was good, at least it was better than the free days she had in San Diego when she had to move every step on the command of her brother as Matthew was everywhere. Now, the church was far from this university,, unlike the last home, and she was grateful that she wouldn't be interacting with him every hour.

Coming to university was now a way for her to escape him, even if it was for half of the day, she was still happy

Mary enjoyed the lecture with Mr. Asher, he was an amazing teacher, and so was Dr. Sarah. And then there was this weird person whom she never hated. He was just trying to get a little closer and the reason was unknown. Just a moment after thinking about Aaryan, she heard "Diamond." It's not like it was a bad name, but why would he call her by a nickname? Like they weren't even close. As usual, Mary ignored him and started to walk towards the class. "So it's hyperhidrosis season?" Aaryan hopped on her, hanging a hand around her shoulder. He wrapped his hand over her neck, and she slipped away from him. Mary was suddenly feeling nervous when Aaryan was walking this close.

She chose to ignore him because he was too handsome. Even at some point the only reason for her to search about ART, in the first place was how handsome Aaryan was, his perfect almond eyes, those brown and thick slightly wavy hair— "What?" Mary tried to divert her brain from driving towards him "So it's like a disease where a person sweats too much and it's beyond the normal physiological needs and they were hoodie in like hundred degrees because the sweat makes them uncomfortable and–"

"Hey, I know what hyperhidrosis is″ she said rolling her eyes at this dumb kid who was trying to act smart "That's what I thought, like you quite look like a nerd" Mary did not reply his absurd comment and now she was done with him but Aaryan was not "Why are you wearing hoodie and mask? Are you going to rob a bank or something"

"I may need your assistance," she joked. She actually made a joke with this weird stranger. "Let's go" Aaryan never sounded like messing with her as he took steps away from the class. Mary laughed at him. It felt strange to her body, but she was sure it was a crack from happiness that hurt her injuries. She pulled him back from the bag "Let's go, to the class" Mary said and Aaryan smirked saying "Let's go, let's go" and again he was hanging a hand around her shoulder

As they entered the room together the whisperers were back again. Mary was fed up with those people gossiping about them being a couple when there was nothing between them

Soon, Mr. Asher entered the room, and unlike the last lecture, he didn't take them into the world of a nucleus but threw them somewhere out of the cell. "It's time for you to find partners for the upcoming presentation," about half of the class frowned and Mary wasn't one of them. She was the one to get blown out by an attack because she was never comfortable with people around her, and that was the reason for the rumors about her being a sociopath. How was she supposed to blend with people when all she knew was that every person who will try to get close to her, would fall in misfortune, and they would have to face Matthew.

"So we should start from the first student on the list," The professor said. There were two people in this room, Mary was familiar with. One of them was Luna, a classmate of hers from the school, and the other was Luna's boyfriend, James. Both of them were adorable together, and Mary was comfortable– just fine with them. And then Mr. Asher said something that made him completely unamazing for the lecture "Let's skip the complex things. You guys can just make partners with anyone you are sitting with" That could have been wonderful if the person sitting next to her wasn't "Diamond, we would make a perfect couple" Aaryan winked his eyes and that was the first time she noticed that tiny little pretty mole over his eye– "I won't make partners with you" She declared and Aaryan just laughed at her "Okay, tell it to Mr. Asher right now, he would solve your problem" Aaryan should have known, it had to be that way or how could he find out about her anxiety? If he had told her to fail the semester, she would have easily chosen it over calling the professor from the last seat "What if my grades dropped because of you?" she asked genuinely and Aaryan spared her a weird; offensive glance "Dear Diamond, I am the top student of this class" He said tapping hard on the desk with his index finger. Mary laughed in reply "What the heck did you just say?" The chuckles kept on growing big on that obnoxious joke and her body kept on hurting from the laughter "Okay, let's do this" he clasped his hands together "If I get you an A+ in this presentation, you will have to fulfill my one wish" She didn't know whatever the hell this guy was talking about because Aaryan was a member of music band and appeared totally like a irresponsible guy but when he said top of this class he sounded confident and just then she made a mistake "Deal, what do you need?"

"Join ART." his words were even harder to understand now, and Mary realized it might not be as simple as it sounds. "What do you mean by joining ART?" She asked in total confusion "See, ART is a band with me, that friend of mine you met yesterday, Raheel, and—"

"I know ART," she said. She should have given it a thought before announcing it to the leader of a band that she was absolutely in love with their music, but nope, she just said it. "What?" He was shocked; amazed; surprised by the words "I mean- I have heard about it somewhere" she tried to hide the nervousness "O-okay" he said making an O with his perfect and beautiful– lips and then he went on "Our main singer- Taha left the band and we can't continue without him so we need you to replace him" he pointed a finger at her and blinked an eye "Me? Why me?" She pointed the finger at herself as well. "That is a good question, Diamond," but he never replied to that good question. Other than Mary joining the group- which she thought would never happen because all she wanted was to secure a B with this guy, she was puzzled about what he just said about Taha. Mary knew Taha Khattab, he was the singer of the band, and his voice was phenomenal, but him leaving the band just left her startled "Deal?" Aaryan said, moving a hand forward to her. She looked at him for an entire minute but there was no reply on her lip. Aaryan moved his eyebrows up and down, his beautiful eyes looked even more beautiful, and on top of it, that guy pulled a soft corner of his lips making him look absolutely stunning. Mary was just lost in him and never knew when the "Deal" fell from her mouth. He took her hand to shake and Aaryan looked so happy. What was happening? She was confused and excited and she didn't know what she was feeling and that was the reason why she kept glancing at him for like ten minutes