WE STILL EXIST

Chapter Seventeen- Bruises Fade

NOAH BLAKE

I wake up to yelling through out the house.

My mother is naming off every curse word known to man as my brother yells how much he hates living here. The noise bounces off the walls and ultimately makes its way to my room on the other side of the house from where they are.

A knock at my door makes me sit up, my father walks into my room with a glass of water and sits at the end of my bed. He looks exhausted, this yelling has probably been going on since early this morning.

"Hey, sunshine," he greets me.

I smile, "hi dad."

He takes a deep breath, "your brother got drunk last night and threw up all over the kitchen."

Gross, "that is didgusting."

"Yeah. Your mother is not very pleased as you can tell," he winces at the pitch she is now screaming in.

He hands me the glass of water and stand up from the bed. Looking around my small room, I see him stop by my dresser.

His hands reach out to my necklace laying out, he grabs it between his fingers.

"I got this for your mother on our first wedding anniversary." I set the water on my side table, "she gave it to you when you turned sixteen."

He shakes his head, "she wanted you to have it for goodluck."

"Good luck for what?"

He sets it back down on the dresser, "to find lasting love."

"Well that didn't work out to well," I fight back the urge to roll my eyes at my own stupidity.

"That Avery kid, you two are alright?"

I lay back down not wanting to relive the last seventy two hours. His hands on my body still in the forefront of my mind.

"We've just been fighting a lot and we haven't world anything out." My body turns to face my father, "we haven't spoke to each other in two days."

"What have two been fighting about? Was it what we talked about a couple of weeks ago on our hike?"

I sigh, "yes and no."

"He has been kind of controlling, I told him that I needed space or to even just do stuff on my own and he freaked out." He looks at my concerned, "I wish he would just talk to me about it instead of ignoring me."

"Avery hasn't hurt you, right?" My eyes water, "no."

My father walks over to my bed and sits next to me, "thay boy hasn't laid a finger on you?"

"Not a pinch, push, or slap? Anything at all?"

I shake my head rigorously, "no, dad."

This could be a good time to come clean, he could help. He is my dad and would do anythign for me, I know he would. However, this isn't his battle.

"You tell me if he does, Noah." I put on the best smile I can, "I will, dad."

"Good." He grabs the empty glass on the table and walks out of my room, "you should stear clear from your mother today."

I laugh at his words, "god idea."

Two days ago, the morning after the party, my back pack with the healing lotion apperard in my room when I got home from Maddie's house. I don't know how it got there, I am assuming Avery dropped it off when he got back.

He is the only one that knew about it and would want me to use it. Esspecally after the punishment he gave me in the woods, those bruises were really bad on my face.