The Drowning Girl

fifteen

I had a peaceful two weeks, but my relationship with the guys went no where. They still have me kisses on my head, held my hand and put me in their lap. I slept in their beds, but they came late at night and left early in the morning.

Today was normal, at least my new normal. Get breakfast from Marc, listen to Raven and Brandon gripe with one another all while Axel watches and Corey plays referee. I'd let myself lapse into this routine, and it was nice. So incredibly nice.

I tapped my pencil against the desk, staring out the window. The door opened as someone walked in with a note, my eyebrows furrowing as I made direct eye contact with my teacher.

"Rowena, can you go to the front office?" I nodded, confused as I glanced to where one of Sang's boys sat. He must've seen the look on my face as he pulled his phone out while I stood, walking to the front. It was a silent walk with the office aide, somewhat awkward as I came to the front.

I paused outside the office, my eyes wide. My father stood in the front, anger clear on his face as he stared at me. "You're already signed out, let's go."

"No, I –"

"Did you hear me stutter? Let's fucking go!" I felt myself shut down, the attitude I'd grown since living with the boys going out the window.

He walked forward, grabbing my upper arm with such a tight grip I couldn't help the whimper that escaped me. He pulled me along, desperation clawing at every orifice I had. I tried to pull away, but once we reached the parking lot all I felt was pain.

My cheek stung, my stomach burned as he shoved me behind his huge pickup truck he kept. He barely drove it, surprise painting every nerve ending I had as I glanced up from my one knee he had forced me to.

My father wasn't a bad looking man at one time, his eyes the same colour eyes I had. His hair was dark, something I didn't inherit, but as I knelt there and stared at the same damn eyes I had it terrified me even more.

"Where the fuck have you been? You've been gone for what, two weeks now? Have you been whoring yourself out?" I shook my head frantically, pain cracking against my head again as I toppled onto the cement.

The sound of squealing tires sounded through the parking lot at the same time as my fathers boot cracked against my side. I felt something come up out of my mouth, blood dribbling onto the dark cement. I wanted to scream, scream for those boys I was beginning to feel desperate for, but it took everything in me to not let haze take over.

"No." I whispered, my breathing ragged as I pressed my hand onto the cement. I pushed myself up, barely, glaring up to where my father was practically heaving above me.

"You're becoming just like your mother, desperate for attention." My eyebrows furrowed as he spoke, confusion completely lacing me. I pulled onto his truck, his paranoia causing him to pace as I felt anger corse through me.

I was a badass, if I could handle that psycho fucker I could handle my own father.

I looked into the bed of my fathers truck, eyes a tire iron he had thrown in there at some point. I grasped it, pain exploding through me as I forced myself to grit my teeth. I could do this, I could handle this.

The sound of his skull cracking will haunt me for the rest of my life, the way his body bounded off the cement. I could hear my sobs as I dropped it, my own body falling back into a heap. I scrambled back on my hands and behind, an ugly sob filling the quiet air.

"Oh, Dove." I look up to see Axel standing behind my fathers still body, his eyes only focusing on me. "Raven! Over here."

My body is lifted up into a large one that smells like grease and gunpowder, my head turning into the crook of his neck. I can't help the ugly sob that escapes me, nor can I help the sound of sirens that show up not long after.

I'm placed into an ambulance, but by then I'm silent. Half the school is watching the spectacle, the other half is pretending not to. My eyes shut on there own as exhaustion washed over me completely, the engine to the truck starting. The doors shutting made my eyes pop open, a man in a dark uniform with his back to me.

"Hi, can we wait just a minute?" I asked quietly, the feeling of the truck moving making me squirm against the straps. "Hey wait, I need someone with me."

The man turned, his eyes staring at me. I cringed back, his eyes were, they were crazed. Completely wild as he stared at me, the ambulance slow at first before it began to pick up space. I didn't have to guess, I knew exactly who this was.

Terror raced through me as I struggled against the straps. My hands count find the damn clasp that would let me loose, and my terror was just making everything worse. I could hear my breathing get faster, my wounds burning as I pulled and pulled.

"Don't be a fucking idiot, you're not going anywhere." He looked so normal, with a five o'clock shadow and dark eyes.

"Why the fuck are you here!? Let me out!" I screamed my throat horse, pausing as I glared at him.

"I told you to leave them, and you didn't. Look at you now, you're broken again." It felt like I'd been shot, I wasn't broken. If anything I was so much stronger now than before.

"You stupid son of a bitch let me out!" I screamed, surging against the straps. I pulled at them, slipping an arm free as he shot to me.

He pushed me down, struggling with me until I felt a huge pop and burning enveloped my shoulder. I screamed out, the pain letting him push me down and press his forearm against my throat. I gasped, my nails digging into his skin as I desperately tried to get air in.

"Time to go night night."