Her Story | Book One

Chapter Ten | Panic

A long breath fell from her lips as she rolled onto her back, her mind spinning. The pain in her leg was intense, growing worse with each second. She'd banged her head on the desk, nearly knocking her out cold. She almost thought her mother had given up before a boot slammed into her side.

Brook coughed, the force of the impact literally robbing her of air.

After a couple more blows to her side, she managed to grab Taras pant leg and yank her foot from under her, sending her crashing to the ground. Brooks fingers wrapped around the handle of the scissors and the thought of them barely crossed her mind before she'd slammed it into her side.

The gun disregarded, Tara released a groan as she pulled the scissors from her side, pushing herself into a sitting position as Brook brought herself to her hands and knees, shaking her head as she blacked out for a moment.

"Please, stop." She pleaded, her tears flowing. Her hand gripped her side, where her pain seemed to be worst - aside from her leg.

Tara didn't hear it, tackling her daughter and the two rolled around, sending fists flying into each others faces. Tara held the upper hand with Brooks severe injuries.

At one point, Brook even managed to smash one of the principals awards against her mothers face, which left her dazed enough for Brook to reach for the scissors.

Only, Tara reached for the gun.

And Brook was swinging her arm up the second the gunshot went off.

Tara scowled down at Brook as the scissors barely grazed the skin on her arm, Brooks features mirroring her shock as she dropped the scissors.

"Disrespectful brat." The older woman grumbled as she gripped onto the edge of the desk. The sound of banging on the office door was distant in her mind as she stared down at her daughter.

Brooks hand fell to the wound on her stomach, pulling it back to reveal the blood on her hand as her mother nudged her side with her boot.

"C'mon, get up." Tara said, nudging her roughly.

And Brook didn't feel it.

Only when Brooks hand went limp and the pool of blood around her daughter grew, did Tara come crashing down from her mountain.

And she realized she'd just killed her oldest child.

*

"Brooklyn Leighton." His voice was calm, collected. On the outside, he probably looked like a man coming to visit his grandmother recovering from surgery.

However - on the inside - he was panicking beyond belief.

"Only direct family is allowed, sir." The woman frowned at him. "I was instructed not to release information regarding her by her family."

"Her family were the ones who put her here." He breathed, running a hand over his face. "Can you at least tell me if she's okay?"

"Sir, I could lose my job." She breathed, glancing around the area. She sighed, releasing a long breath before continuing in a whisper. "But I hear she just got out of surgery. She's stable."

A breath of relief fell from his lips and he nodded, his nerves somewhat eased. "Thank you. I'll wait here until she wakes up."

Matt moved to the waiting room, where he had been for the last ten hours. Only when the nurses swapped shifts did he decide to bug them again.

He was ripping his hair out - he'd heard the police talking, and it didn't sound good. He hated being in the dark.

He'd broken a lot of laws getting to her after what happened. When she had cut their call short, he'd knew something was wrong and he sped to the high school. He was almost positive a cop had tried to pull him over.