Highly Inappropriate

46.

"W-what?"

I had to fight back tears as I watched the color drain from her face, her hand that was still clasped into mine was now gone, instantly making me crave her warmth and touch.

"Ash, please-"

"Please what, Alex?", she muttered under her breath, her eyes wide in shock as she stared at me in disbelief. "If you're messing with me, I swear-"

"I'm not.", I cut her off, burying my face into my hands. "I-.. ugh! Like, honestly, you really think I'd joke about something like this?!"

She shook her head, silence enveloping us once again.

"As I said..", I trailed off, hesitantly bringing my eyes up to hers. "It's a lot to process, Ashley. But I'm willing to tell you everything as long as you're willing to listen. Please, I-.. I really need you to listen. After that, you're free to walk away or whatsoever. But please, allow me the chance to explain."

I took her lack of response as my cue to finally tell her the truth, but I had to look away cause the look on her face was too much right now for me to handle.

"I was 14 when everything went down.", I started, failing miserably at hiding the shakiness of my voice. "I was going back home after one of my shifts at the library, when I heard screaming as I was about a couple of houses away from mine. It didn't take me long before I recognized Matt's voice, begging for help.. I rushed inside, convinced that I was about to walk into another pointless argument, but shit, was I wrong..".

I bit my bottom lip in the attempt to not burst out in tears as the image I tried so hard to erase from my mind played before my eyes once again, bringing back that familiar pain inside my chest.

"What I walked into was my father, straddling and repeatedly hitting my 10 year old brother, whom by the time I rushed inside was now laying on the floor, unconscious and in a pool of his own blood. In a corner there was my mother, sitting on the floor, high on whatever she was into that day, helplessly watching his own son being beaten to death while her toddler was crying his eyes out. I cried, I begged for her help, for her to do something, anything, but she just kept staring into space, as if I wasn't even there. As if what was happening didn't even exist.", I paused, a silent tear rolling down my cheek and landing on my jeans. "I tried to pull my dad away from him but he was totally wasted, angry and he kept on asking my unconscious brother where our money was, but we had none.. Anyway, I knew I had to do something, and fast, or else I knew Matt wouldn't make it out of there alive. So I tackled him to the ground, which instantly backfired since he was now on top of me, already hitting me wherever he could, saying the most vile and cruel words to me, how we were all a mistake, how everything was our fault, you name it.. After the umptenth punch in the face, everything kind of went blurry. The room was spinning, every inch of my body was hurting, and all I could see was Matt lying next to us and Chase's pleading eyes. That was all I needed to see in order to gather the last shred of strength and fight back."

I cleared my throat, my hand wiping away my tears out of instinct, still unable to turn my head and see Ashley's expression.

"I kicked him off of me with all the power I had, and he went stumbling backwards until his legs hit the coffee table, eventually landing on it and sending pieces of glass all over the floor. I knew he wasn't going to give up so easily, so I quickly grabbed a baseball bat from under the staircase and I started hitting him. I-.. I don't know if I was more upset, terrified, angry or all the above, but for the life of me, I couldn't stop. My intention was to just knock him out and call the police, but my body wasn't agreeing with my mind. After all he did to us, after all the verbal and physical abuse, seeing Matt like that.. I don't know, I guess I just wanted him gone, for good this time. I don't know how much time passed, but suddenly the bat was being taken from my hands, and my eyes met Lena's, who immediately wrapped me into a tight hug as I allowed myself to break down. Paramedics rushed inside, taking both Matt and my dad to the hospital while police officers started questioning both me and my mother, who unfortunately was still in a state of shock or whatever, useless to say the least."