Bruises- Modern Zelink- discontinued :(

Truth

Zelda was walking home from school when she saw him. Link was lying on the ground outside of his house. At first she assumed that he had just fallen down or something, which would be odd in itself, but when she got closer to him, she realized that something else was going on. Something completely different.

He was on the steps, with his head on the concrete walkway. His nose was bleeding, and the bruise on his face looked worse than before. She ran over and got on her knees next to him. She lifted him onto her lap and raised his head a little.

She started nervously talking, knowing that he probably wouldn't hear her. She hoped that he would, though, because the wouldn't be able to help without hin doing something as well. "You need to clear your throat and cough."

He did as she directed, thank Hylia. She took some tissues out of her bag and told him to cough into them. His nose started bleeding more, so she pressed a tissue against.

"I'll bring you into your house now."
He shook his head.
"No? Okay, we'll go to my house instead. Hopefully my parents won't mind."

She helped him stand up. "Hold this up to your nose, okay?" He nodded and did as he was told. She helped support him as they made their way to her house.

<<×>>

"Hey, Mom? I need a little help." "Sure, I can- who is that? What happened to him? Is he okay?" "Mom, I need help now. You can ask questions later." "Right."

Zelda's mom helped Link to the couch, where they say him down. Zelda sat next him while her mom got more tissues and the first aid kit.

She examined his face to see if there were any cuts. There were none, but the bruise looked terrible. It looked like it hurt a lot. She asked him gently, "What happened?" At first, he was hesitant to say anything, but then he spoke. "My dad... he... *cough, cough* He..." "He did this?" He nodded.

Her mom came back with the kit and a box of tissues. Zelda looked at Link for a moment, then at her mom. "He told me his dad did this." "Oh, no. Well, we can't focus on that quite yet. We need to take care of him." Zelda nodded. "Agreed."

Link held tissues up to his nose and kept coughing into more. Eventually, his nose stopped bleeding and all the blood that went into his throat and mouth was gone.

"Are you feeling better?" Link nodded. "Yes, but my head still hurts like hell."
"What happened?" "My dad... he said I didn't respect anyone that cleans his house cuz I put my bag on the floor, even though he always makes me clean up after him, and he punched my nose and he hit me where he hit me this morning and he kicked outside and my head hit the ground."

Zelda and her mom just looked at each other for a moment, then they looked back at Link. Zelda was the first to speak. "Do you want to stay over here?" "Yes, but I can't. My stuff is over there and my sister and mom need me cuz if I'm not there then he's gonna get mad at my sister or my mom and he's gonna do the same thing to them and I don't want that to happen." Her mom  cut in. "Well, you at least have to stay over tonight. You can't go back there today." "Fine. But I'm going back tomorrow." "I'll get your stuff." Zelda stood up and left. before anyone could say anything else.

<×>

When she reached the house, she stood outside for a moment before knocking on the door. The man who answered the door greeted her with, "Hey, what do you want?" "I want Link's bag." "Why?" He looked past her, at where Link was before. "Where is he?" "That's none of your business. Where's the bag?" "That is definitely my business. He's my son." "By the sound of it, you don't treat him like one." "I do treat him like a son. I care about him. Where did you hear that?" "Link told me." "Listen hon, I ain't giving you his shit and that's final."

Instead of trying talk more, she slid by him and grabbed the bag, which she guessed hadn't been moved.

Before she could get out the door, though, the man blocked it, saying, "Don't enter my house without permission." He grabbed her shoulder and shook her before hitting her. He tossed her out the door and slammed it. He let her have the bag, though.

Zelda fell down from the force that he shoved out with. If he had done it any harder, she would have been knocked out just like Link.

She walked back to her house with the bag, still angry about what the man had done to Link and her. That's no way to treat anyone.

<×>

She opened the door to her house and walked in, holding the bag up. "I got it." "Thanks." "I would say no problem, except there was definitely a problem. He hit me and shoved out of the house. He didn't even seem to care that I was taking your stuff." "Typical. He just cares about his own stuff." "That really isn't a good place to live in, or a good situation to live in." "Eh."

Link looked away, and Zelda walked closer. "Are you okay? You're being awfully quiet." He didn't reply, but when she walked around to sit down on the couch, she saw that he was crying. "Oh, Link." "It's just, I don't feel like I'm able to talk about it cuz I don't want him to find out and beat me up because of it but because I haven't told anyone nothing has changed and he still does it every day," he sobbed. "And I don't want him to do it to my sister or my mom cuz I don't want them to get hurt but I also don't want to get hurt by him and it's just hard! He's so fuckin mean to me and he makes me do everything for him so I hide in my room all day and it's not a good way to live, being scared in your own house. I never want to go home after school cuz I'm scared of what he might do to me, but I have to go home so he doesn't do anything to my sister. He's not always mad though so sometimes I'm safe to go hide in my room and not be scared that he'll hurt my sister but usually I have to let him beat me up so he doesn't do the same to my sister."

He took a deep breath and cried, "I don't know what do!" He buried his face into Zelda's shoulder. It was an odd feeling to have the guy you hate cry on your shoulder, but she was starting to hate him less.

He was a good guy all along.