The Bruises She Hides

Chapter 4

Before I know it I'm sitting in a booth with Fin laughing about old times doing my best to ignore the throbbing of my bruises and itching in my stomach. "You know you should call Izzy before she gets jealous," I nod in agreement and pull out my phone to text Izzy. I suddenly remember my situation in maths class.

"I forgot to tell you but I'm kind of failing maths," I say feeling nervous for some reason.

"Seriously?"

"I'm not exactly Miss Smith's biggest fan you know," I say knowing how much that old hag hates me.

"Maybe if you did the homework you would be?"

"Probably" I mutter in annoyance causing Fin to laugh.

"You know I can tutor you if you want, Izzy's kind of a hopeless case,"

"Hopeless case for what, Finley?" asks Izzy as she sits beside me. She looks happy, great night with Layla I'm guessing.

"Tutoring Dani for maths," explains Fin.

"Ahh, yea nah, there is a bigger chance of me waking up straight then being a maths tutor," We laugh at her joke knowing that Izzy would never consider being straight. We chat for a while longer until both Fin and Izzy have to go. They both offer me a ride home but I decline, wanting a few more minutes to myself before I have to go to that shithole I am forced to call 'home'.

. . .

Not even two hours later I'm not only home but lying on the floor clutching my stomach in pain. The fucker decided to punch me in the stomach for coming home late, though its only like 5:00! I use the stair railing for support and slowly make my way up the stairs and to my room. I lay down on my bed and look up at the ceiling and all I can think is, why me?

After confining myself to my room on Saturday night. I spend all of Sunday cooped in there too scared of what I will face if I walk out. I finish my maths homework that I haven't been able to do all week and flinch every time I hear a door opening or a beer bottle hissing. At around 5 I get a text from Fin.

F- Hey are you free right now?

D- Yea why? Everything okay?

I text back hesitantly, something feels off.

F- Can I come over right now?

Never, I think. I would suggest meeting up at the local park but I'm in too much pain to walk that far. My stomach isn't even close to healing and sometimes even breathing hurts. I listen downstairs and hear slight snoring sounds coming from that drunken bastard. It takes me a while to come up with an answer that won't make Fin suspicious.

D- yes, but sneak in through my bedroom window. My dad drank a lot more than usual and I don't want to piss him off.

F- no problem, I'm on my way.

I go over to my window knowing Fin's only a couple minutes away. A few moments later his jeep parks near my neighbour's house and I see him hop out. His hair is all over the place, it looks like he ran his hand through it a lot, something he often does when he's thinking about something. His normally calm green eyes look angrier. I hope everything okay.

I wave him over with one hand while putting a finger to my lip indicating for him to be quiet. Thankfully he gets my message and climbs up the side of the house.

It a lot easier than it sounds, for Fin anyway, because he climbs on top of the shed and then hauls himself through my window. His 6-foot figure helps him as and in a matter of seconds he is standing in front of me. "Is everything okay," I ask whispering slightly, though I know my dad sleeping. Fin points to my rooms door and I mouth 'asleep' so he understands.

"No it's not. It's just..." He trails off running his fingers through his hair in frustration. "My dad showed up after God knows how long and get this he's thinking of fucking relocating," My eyes widen at hearing this. Fin almost never swears and only does so when he is really angry.

"He said something about staring new and said he's going to go away for a bit to find himself," Fin says. I grab his hand and slowly unclench his fist, playing with his fingers hoping it might calm him down. "He is leaving us some money but expects us to fend for ourselves and make do with what we have. He is leaving tomorrow," Finn exclaims.

"Do you know where he is going?" I ask softly.

"He said he'll figure it out when he gets there, such bull," He mutters under his breath.

"How is Morgan taking it?" Morgan has always been like a brother to me, after my mum's death whenever Fin and Izzy were busy he was there and would do his best to keep me happy. He is in uni and Fin's only a senior how does his dad expect them to look after themselves.

"Worse than me surprisingly. He got into a big fight with my dad which almost ended in a fist fight till I stopped them. He is spending the night at one of his mate's house and told me I should do the same," I look up at Fin and can almost feel him seething in anger. Suddenly something on his forehead catches my eye.

"Is that how you go this?" I say moving his hair out of the way to see a big black bruise forming. I've has worse, its not that bad, I think but am still disgusted with my knowledge of bruises and scars.

Fin looks down ashamed and in a voice I can barely hear says "He was aiming for Morgan," I hug Fin knowing that it must be hard for him. I'm used to it but I'll never forget the pain I felt both psychically and mentally when it first happened. Fin immediately wraps his arms around me in response and I again fight the urge to push him away.

Just as I'm about to ask Fin if he want some ice for it I hear my 'dad' shout "Dani, did you seriously fucking forget to do something as bloody simple as grocery shopping?" My eyes widen in realization. Fuck! Fin tenses beside me and is about to shout back before I quickly put my hand over his mouth and quickly say "please don't say anything, let me calm him down," I whisper. Fins about to disagree but the fucker shouts again "Are you deaf or something, get the fuck down here now!"

I silently plead Fin to stay put and run out of my room. "Sorry dad, I forgot I'll go get some now,"

He grabs a chunk of my hair and brings my ear near his mouth. The disgusting stench of beer makes me want to vomit. "I know you've invited someone over you little whore, if you tell them anything, you know exactly what I'll fucking do" he whispers threateningly but not before punching me in the stomach one again. "Here's the money now go," he says in a much kinder voice while handing me $100 note knowing I'm to scared of him to send it on anything other than food.

I run back up to my room and point to the window. Fin gets the hint and starts climbing out but not before mouthing "meet me at my jeep". I nod and quickly put on my jacket and race out the front door.

As I'm walking towards Fin's car I repeat it over and over in my head. Don't let him know. Don't tell him anything. Don't let him know. Don't tell him anything. Don't let him know. Don't tell him anything. I jump into the passenger seat praying that Fin won't say anything but I know he will.

"Dani, be honest," he starts staring me dead in the eye. "Is he always like that?"

Fin's POV

"No. He..i..was" she stammers a bit but I keep looking at her seriously. Is this why she never wants us over, does her prick of a dad always treat her like that. "When I came home he was cleaning some of my mum's old stuff and I think it got to him because he left after that. He came home hours later drunk out of his mind. The last time he was this bad was when she..." she trails off not able to finish the sentence. Relief washes over me. But the looks in her eyes when her dad shouted, that look of terror I'll never be able to forget.

"Are you sure?" I ask double checking. She nods looking at me nervously. I'm about to giver her a hug when her mood changes almost instantly.

"I'm guessing that you don't want to go home, want to help me with the shopping. Something tells me I won't be able to do it tomorrow". I smile at her happy she's returned to her normal self. Her big brown eyes happy once again.

"Let's go"