Bruised Beauty - A Luke Hemmings Fanfiction

Chapter 3 - Bruises, Cuts, Burns, Crying, and Police

That Monday, right after getting to school, Luke came up to me with a huge smile on his face. I could tell something was up..

"What's going on?" I asked him, knowing there was something he was happy about.

"Nothing, really. Just that I saw your new video. I liked it," he told me. He looked closer at my face, "what is that on your face? Why is it all red? Not like an embarrassed or blushing red, a bruised red.."

*Luke's POV*

"I hit my face against my desk after I fell yesterday. It's not a big deal. I'm used to being clumsy!" She exclaimed.

She pushed her sweatshirt sleeves up. I saw things on her arm, burns and cuts. Not a burn that you would get from touching a hot stove, a burn you would get from fire. Also not a cut that you would get from scratching against something, cuts from her cutting herself. I got worried. Was there something she wasn't telling me?

"What are those?" I asked, pointing to her arms.

"Oh! They're nothing, really. Just me being clumsy again.. Haha," she brushed it off and pushed her sleeves down while laughing.

"No. Eleanor, tell me what's really going on.." I told her.

The bell rung that told us we had five minutes to get to class. She looked at me and said, "I need to get to my locker and get to home room."

"You're coming over and we're talking about this after school! You can't just brush it off!"

"Fine," she walked off towards her locker.

I went to my homeroom. I didn't know it would feel like an eternity from eight in the morning to three thirty in the afternoon..

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After school, Eleanor walked out of the school and towards me, at my car. I opened the passenger's door for her before I walked over and opened my own door.

"So, what's going on?" I asked her on the way to my house.

"Just wait until we get to your house.." She told me.

Once we got to my house, she called her dad to ask her if it was okay or if he wanted her home, which I don't know why she didn't ask before she came. I'm guessing he said yes, because she stayed.

We walked up to my room. I asked her once more what was going on. She didn't want to answer me this time either.

"Eleanor!!" I raised my hands in frustration. She flinched, bringing her hands up to her face and balling them into small fists. She looked up at me with fear in her eyes, starting to relax her arms. She was breathing heavily. She began to cry. I hugged her, knowing what was going on.

"He hurts you," I wondered. She cried harder.

"He fucking hurts you.." I began to cry in frustration and sadness.

"Oh my god. Why didn't you tell me?"

"He threatened to kill me if I told anyone," she cried into my chest.

"That's not a reason not to tell anyone. He could've killed you for another reason! He can't hurt you if the police take him away! Does he hurt Peytlin too?"

"Yeah.."

*Eleanor's POV*

"How long has this been going on?"

"Two years after the divorce."

"Nine fucking years," Luke began to cry into my head. I just nodded.

"He broke your camera, didn't he? You didn't drop it, he broke it!"

I nodded again, and he just shook his head, "I can't believe this. I don't know why you had never told me! We've been friends the whole time it's been going on, longer than that, actually. I don't know what to think right now."

"I'm calling the cops," he grabbed his phone.

"No-" I tried to grab his hand.

"I can't let you go through this anymore. I'm calling them."

"But Peytlin's at home..."

"She'll be fine, I promise."

He called the cops on my dad, and let them know how long it had been going on, plus some of the things he had done to Peytlin and me.

After a few minutes, we heard the cops going past Luke's house. I knew they were going to my house since Luke doesn't live far from us, only about a minute away.

"You want to go?" He asked.

"I- I don't know.."

"We don't have to."

"I will," I told him.

"Okay, let's go," he said, grabbing his keys.

We got into his car and drove towards my house. By the time we were there, the cops were already there, of course. I saw that they were inside. I didn't want to go in yet.

A female officer came up to me and asked me if anyone else would be inside. I told him yes, that my sister was in there. Before we were going to go in, two male officers came out, with my dad in cuffs.

My dad made eye contact with me, then Luke. He yelled, "it was you!!"

The female officer took us inside, and we all went to Peytlin's bedroom after I showed them the way. She would've come downstairs, for sure. Even when the mailman comes, she comes down to see what was going on. Maybe she was scared?