Left Out (Demi Lovato)

Chapter 33: Father

"Hayley, you're going to be going to your uncle's house today," he said, a sly smile on his face.

"NO!" I screamed. "YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"

"Just come-"

"NO! MOM WOULDN'T MAKE ME!" I screamed back.

With that, he picked me up, threw me over his shoulder and carried me out to the car.

"NO!" I yelled the whole way there. "NO, DADDY, NO!"

"Hayley! Hayley, wake up!"

I groan and open my eyes. My heart is racing, my throat sore, and I'm covered in sweat.

"Hayley," Demi soothes, "it's just a dream."

"But, it's real." I start to cry, leaning into Demi's shoulder.

"You're okay, Hayley," Demi assures, "but, do you think you could tell me what happened?"

I shrug. "Maybe later."

"That's okay," Demi responds to my answer, hugging me tighter. "As long as you're alright."

I nod, tears still rolling down my face. The truth is that I'm not okay. I used to have that dream all the time. The dream had gone away for a while, but Demi talking about my parents last night, just brought it back.

I look at Demi and ask, "Can I go take a shower?"

Demi nods. "Do you think you'll be able to walk?"

"I can try."I sit up in bed. I slide to the edge of the bed and onto the floor, landing on my feet. I take a few wavering steps but manage to make it to the bathroom. I turn around and see Demi behind me.

"How about I run you a bath, so you don't have to stand the whole time?" she says.

I nod and sit on the toilet seat to wait for the bath to be filled. Once it's full, Demi helps me undress and get into the bathtub. "Thank you," I say, smiling as Demi leaves the room.

Although, I really want to cut, I don't want Demi to know and I cannot end up back in that psych ward. I resist the urge as I sit in the bathtub, trying to wash off the sweat resulting from last night's dream.

I hear a knock on the door. "Are you almost done, Hayley?"

"Yeah," I reply, "just a minute." I climb out of the bathtub and get dressed in an over-sized t-shirt and some shorts that Demi left in the bathroom. I start to drain the tub and leave the room.

"Are your ready to talk about your dream?" Demi asks, lifting me up and laying me on the bed to help me relax my aching legs.

"I guess," I reply, slightly nervous, but Demi seems to know what she's doing. "I can tell you a bit about my parents first. My mom, she was amazing. She would bake the most delicious food and always protected me. My dad was pretty cool too, until Mom died. I don't know how she died," I continue, "I was too young to understand. But, after my mom died, when I was three, my dad started to hit me. Eventually, I think he thought I was too much work for him. So, he brought me to my uncle's. My uncle was worse than my dad. My dream was of my dad bringing me to my uncle's.

"Then, when I was around nine years old, Child and Family Services caught on to what my uncle was doing and brought me into foster care. I lived with four different families while in foster care. The first two beat me and the third hated me.

"I guess you could say that I was never really a happy child after my mom died. I always wanted to know why, but no one ever told me," I finish, exhausted.

Demi sighs and lays back, taking it all in, "Wow," she finally says, "that's tough. But, I won't give you up that easily."

A smile slowly fills my face as I look over at Demi.