{Gasoline - Halsey}
...With your face all made up living on a screen, low on self-esteem, so you run on gasoline...
----
June 23rd
Memories flashed through my mind as I ran, pushing out of Elliot's protective grasp, my feet carrying me to the doorway of the cabin. Paramedics huddled around a figure in the chair. Their faces were masked with concentration as they all systematically moved from area to area, being careful to shroud their canvas from my view as my heart became caught in my throat.
I was a vampire at the threshold of the door, unwelcome to the scene before me, a stranger to the environment I knew I should enter into. Elliot caught up with me, the warmth of his body close at my back as I could hear his breathing, loud and rigid, as he too panicked at the scene before his very eyes. A scene that he had inadvertently shielded me from by taking me away from the club for the evening. Little did either of us know what was to await us coming home.
"You need to go in." He whispered.
"I know." I nodded, yet my feet remained stuck stagnant in place.
Elliot could see my hesitation and chose not to push me any further. I was doing my best to remain upright and not crumpled like a piece of paper on the floor, useless and lacking strength. Whatever was happening within the four walls of the cabin, that I had yet to let my mind process, I needed to find out for myself. Once I could find a way to breathe like I wasn't fighting for every semi-even breath.
"Will someone turn that god-damn siren off? It's a split lip and a broken finger, not a cardiac arrest."
The gruff annoyance in my Father's voice cut through to me and no sooner had the words left his mouth did the huddle of paramedics disperse to see to his demand, revealing my Father's beaten and bruised face in full view.
The sight of him in such a state propelled me through the screen door and into the buzz of movement within the cabin, all eyes turning to me quickly before returning to what they were previously focused on.
"Avalina," My Mother rose from her seat as she came to hug me, glad to have me by her side.
"The wanderer returns." My Dad muttered as he winced through the pain of the paramedic stitching up his lip.
I chose to ignore his comment, focusing on my Mother's trembling.
"Where have you been honey?" She smiled weakly, trying to normalise the whole situation.
When I fumbled over words, my mouth dry and my tongue-tied, Elliot took a step inside the cabin. He had stood like a guard outside the door before feeling the need to stand by my side and keep our secret.
"I was just walking her home from our dance lesson, Mrs.Bennett," My Mother's eyes flickered between us before I began bombarding her with questions about the events that had taken place to result in such a scene.
She lightly squeezed my arm, signalling me to stop and breathe, at which time she spoke.
"It was so horrendous...Your father, he--" She paused. "He and your brother got into a terrible argument."
She dabbed at her face with her tissue tight in her grip.
"You're not telling me Bodhi did this, are you?" I asked in angry disbelief as I shook my head vigorously.
YOU ARE READING
Summer Rain
Teen Fiction"Together we were like summer rain. Rare and indescribable until you feel it for yourself..." When Avalina Bennett and her family spent the summer at the Beaumont Country Club, she was sure her summer had been ruined before it even started. Her br...
