The Bad and The Broken

Chapter 67

Tap on picture above.

My eyes squinted open, and I wince when my right one starts to throb.

Closing my right eye, I use my left to look at my surroundings.

The room is a light blue color. It's small.

There's a tv on the wall, and a tall, skinny dresser. It smells good. Like one of those apple Febreeze wall plugs teachers put in their classrooms.

I try to sit up, but a right feeling and a sudden throb through my body hold me back.

I look down to see the top of my chest wrapped in gauze all the way down my stomach.

What the hell?

Panic starts to set in a I realize what he could have done to me.

Where am I? Where did he take me? Why is it so nice?

I start to hyperventilate, when it suddenly hit me.

"Dawn it's me, it's Ryder," he says, and my body immediately relaxes into him.

He has me now.

I'm safe.

"Somebody," I try to yell, but my voice just cracks. I try again, but was still unsuccessful.

I need to get out of here, I need to find Jesse and Ryder.

With wobbly legs, I very slowly sit up, and bring my legs to the floor.

I take a few deep breaths, ignore the aching protests from my body, and push myself up.

Using the wall for leverage, I limp to the door, and into the hallway. Everything is blurry, and it won't stop spinning.

Never taking my hands off the wall, I find the stairs. I trip as I start to get dizzier and dizzier.

Shit this is going to be difficult.

"Someone," I say quietly, "Jesse, where are you?"

I hear something downstairs, but my mind can't wrap around what it is. It's all hazy.

"Ryder, Ryder where are you?" I ask as I lean my whole body on the railing and make my way down the stairs.

Once at the bottom, I see two figures in my blurry vision. I look at one with blonde hair and I know is Jesse.

"Jesse," I whisper as I step closer. That's when they see me.

"Dawn, holy shit!" Someone yells, "what are you doing, you're hurt!"

"Lay down, Dawn, you're going to hurt yourself," another says.

With that, I'm swept off my feet.

"No!" I suddenly scream, "get off me, get off me! Don't touch me! Stop!"

"Dawn what's wro-"

"Stop! Stop! Stop! No more! Get off me, stop!" I beg and I scream until my throat is scratchy. I try to push him away but I can't, I'm too weak. My chest rises and falls quickly as I go into sheer panic.

"Dawn, it's okay!" I hear my brother yell.

"No, no, no," my hands tangle in my hair as I try to shield myself, "Jesse no, don't let him, make it stop!"

"Dawn, it's Ryder, it's Ryder, you're okay! We have you! You're okay!" He shouts.

My mind relaxes, as does my heart. Slowly, I allow my body to melt into his hold on me.

"Keep her on the couch, you two. I'm going to put clean sheets on the bed for her," I hear a woman, who I can only assume is Ryder's mom, say.

I feel Ryder sit down, and I'm sitting on his lap. My body pressed against his as he lightly rocks us back in forth.

"You're okay now," he whispers in my ear, "you're safe, I've got you."

With that said, I drift back into my sleep.

Later that night, I awake in the same room as last time. Except this time, Jesse was asleep in a chair next to my bed.

No longer sleepy, I grab the tv remote off the stand next to me and turn on a show called Family Guy.

A/N

Hey everyone. There is something I'd like to talk to you all about.

As you are all aware, my updates are not frequent or scheduled. I pretty much just update whenever I have one ready. I'm getting a lot of hate for it. I didn't want to address this, I was just going to leave it be because I get more love than hate. But it really annoy me how some people seem to think I'm just to lazy to update instead of being busy with my life.

"Why does it take so long to update?"

"If you update so slowly, can you at least make your chapters longer?" (this one has shown up a lot in my messages)

"It sucks that you pretty much don't even update anymore."

If you've read my past authors notes, you know I am very busy. Between work, school, family, and other responsibilities, updating honestly has not at the top of my priority list this past year. Graduating is. My family is. Keeping my job is. So please know that when I do update, whether it be short or long, it took me a long time to make just that one chapter. Most of the time I'll wait until I have 2-3 chapters already written so I can post them all at once for you guys so that you'll have more than one at a time.

I'm not trying to call anyone out, or instigate anything. I just want you all to know that I understand your frustration, and all I ask is that you understand and sympathize with me over this.

Thank you everyone.