~My Teacher Hits Me~ (Book 1)

Chapter 11: Two Threats, One Day

A/N There are some intense scenes in this chapter, so read at your own risk. I should have another chapter posted soon.

Blake grunted. “How do you like that?! Huh?” He smashed Rylan’s face against the wall of the alley again.

Rylan screamed and thrashed, but she was no match for Blake. He thrust into her, over and over until she felt numb. When he grew tired, he let Rylan drop to the ground. She curled up against the wall.

Blake bent down to get closer to her ear. “It’s been fun cupcake. Now I have to go deal with Blondie.”

Rylan shuddered, wishing she could pull herself up and stop Blake from hurting Dani. She listened as Blake’s footsteps resounded off the alley walls.

Rylan screamed. “Daddy!” She felt blind. Where was she? It was so dark.

Mr. Winchester came  bursting in the room, flicking the lights on. “Rylan? What’s wrong?”

Rylan stared at her father, finally realizing she’d had a nightmare. Then the tears flowed. “Dad.” It came out as a strangled sob.

Mr. Winchester walked over to his daughter and placed his arm around her shoulders. He held her tight against his chest. “Shh. It was only a nightmare. Nothing can hurt you. You’re safe now.”

But he had no idea; he didn’t know that his daughter had been raped and that Blake could continue to harass her unless she did something. Rylan was safe now, but she knew tomorrow would bring with it new trials and terror. So, for now, she allowed herself to cry and hold her father close. The minutes wore on and soon Mr. Winchester soothed his daughter back to sleep. He worried that he was missing too much of Rylan’s life. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.

The next morning Rylan couldn’t move. She panicked when her limbs wouldn’t respond to her commands. Finally, she forced her arms to push herself up and nearly cried out in pain. There wasn’t a spot on her body that didn’t ache. Rylan wanted to climb back under the covers and could have because she passed for sick. But she also knew that it would be admitting something happened. Rylan wasn’t ready for her father to know. She managed to pull faded blue jeans and a long sleeve blue turtle-neck onto her battered frame; getting downstairs was a different story.

Rylan stared in horror at the stairs for a few seconds, and then decided she should stretch a bit before attempting to go down. When she felt she wouldn’t fall, she made her way downstairs. Rylan met her father at the breakfast table, eating toast and reading the newspaper. He glanced up as she entered the kitchen.

“Hey, honey. Did you sleep ok? After the nightmare, I mean.” He asked, concerned.

Rylan nodded. “I slept fine. No more nightmares.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really. I’m just going to get something to eat and head off to school.” Rylan faked a smile before disappearing into the kitchen to grab some chocolate poptarts.

She reached school thirty minutes early. Students littered the front lawn in their usual cliques. Rylan sighed. She understood now why so many kids hated school: early mornings, grueling hours, tons of homework, and bullies. Not everyone had to deal with them, but Rylan sympathized with those who had been bullied. She really hoped Blake, Tyler, and Liam wouldn’t show up. Rylan pulled out her cell phone, about to call Dani when a voice called out.

“Rylan! Over here!” Rylan turned to see Tuck waving his arms frantically by one of the large oak trees next to the school.

She walked over to him and found Dani leaning against the tree next to him. “Hey.” She said. “We weren’t sure you’d show up, but I wanted to get here early just in case.”