Unwanted. Broken. Abused

Chapter 7

<Hope's p.o.v>

Harvey came and untied the ropes, then watched as my shaking hands spelled out the word 'school' in the dust.

He gasped and hid it with a cough.

"Well I guess you better go, then." He said. I scrambled up and ran to get ready.

* * *

I was ready for school and all my whip marks were thankfully covered.

I half ran to school and I only just got there in time.

For first and second period, we had double DT. Great.

I hated DT because I shared the lesson with the one and only Megan Cooke.

She'd trip me up occasionally, or provoke me when I'm trying to get on with my work. Although I was fuming inside, I kept a cool face on the outside.

When those lessons of toture were over, it was break.

Another fifteen minutes of sitting alone, hungry and sad.

Then the weirdest thing happened.

Xavier walked over to me with his mate Blake and asked if he could sit by me. I nodded, my eyes still wide.

Xavier pulled out a notepad and pen.

"You look bothered, Hope. What's wrong?" I looked at him and shrugged.

I took the pen and wrote:

Why do you want to sit next to the ugly mute who nobody likes? Why do you even talk to me?

Xavier read this and cocked an eyebrow. He didnt answer. Instead, he offered me a cereal bar. I took it gladly and munched on it fast.

"Woah there, you look like you haven't eaten in days!" I know this was supposed to be a joke, but I didn't laugh.

Blake spoke up now,

"Hey, Hope, how did you get those bruises?" I glanced down and wrote:

I tripped.

Blake shook his head.

Then Megan walked up to us and she took my school bag. I jumped up and tried to get it off her.

<Xavier's p.o.v>

I watched Hope try to get her bag back, then decided it was enough and told Megan to stop. She shot me a surprised look, but stopped nevertheless.

As she was throwing Hope's bad back to her, and Hope lifted her arms to catch it, her top lifted slightly and Blake and I saw her flesh was an angry red colour, as if someone had peeled her skin off and torn everything to shreds.

I turned to Blake, to check I wasnt just imagining it, and sure enough, he had the same look of horror plastered onto his face.

Hope was walking back to us now.

"Hope, show us your back." I said slowly. Her eyes flashed, but she remained emotionless. She wrote:

Why?

Blake glanced at me.

"Hope... Did someone... Whip you??" He asked. Her eyes flashed again. For a nanosecond, they resembled pain and hurt, but it was gone as fast as it appeared.

The bell went, then. Hope rushed off through the crowd so we wouldn't see her.

There was definitely something wrong. And I intended to find out what.

<Hope's p.o.v>

After school, I rushed out of class and started briskly walking home. I am so, so stupid. I almost let them in.

They almost found out the truth.

And I could not let that happen.

So I had to avoid them as best as possible.

Iscolate them from me, becuase if they knew the truth... They'd wish they never knew me.

* * *

When I got home, Harvey was once again waiting.

He had the whip in his hand and he had the most evil grin on his face.

It looked like I was in for another night of torture.

He once again dragged me down to the basement and he once again tied me to the pole.

But then he didnt whip me.

He just stood there with the whip in his hands.

I relaxed slightly, maybe he wasnt going to do it tonight.

But when I relaxed, Harvey brought the whip down even harder than before.

Or maybe it just felt that way because I was in so much pain.

I had to bite my lip, hard, to stop myself from screaming.

Tears were streaming down my face now.

He brought it down again.

And again.

And again.

After about 40 whips I blacked out.