Life Saver

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Avery's POV
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    It's been about 2 weeks since the incident with my dad. I have only seen him once since then, and I had managed to get into my room before anything happened. My bruises have started to disappear, the only notable one being the slight yellow one on my eye. I have been covering it with makeup every day so nobody had noticed it. I have gotten closer with Miss. Paulson over the weeks, she always checks in with me after class. My crush on her has gotten worse, I thought I would get over it but I've just fallen for her more. She always knows how to bring a smile to my face. I swear she is the funniest person I have ever met, she is just so goofy. I was brought out of my thoughts from a door slamming loudly. "Avery get your ass in here." I heard my dad yell. Well shit, I slowly open my door and walk out into the living room. He turns to me with a furious look in his eyes. I immediately know what's going to happen. He pushes me up against the wall roughly. Slamming the back of my head against the wall hard enough that I see black for a few seconds.   "You're a piece of shit you know that." He spat at me. "Why are you even here. It should have been you not your mother." Tears slowly started falling down my red cheeks. "Oh, now you're crying. What a pussy." He kneed me in the stomach causing me to double over in pain. He pulled my hair bringing my face up to his. "You deserve this you know." He then punched me in the face twice causing me to fall to the ground. He kicked me in the ribs several times. "Daddy stop you are hurting her." Immediately my heart dropped to my stomach.

    Ava must have heard him and woke up. He stopped kicking me to look over at Ava. I mustered all I had left in me. "Ava please go back to sleep baby I'm okay...Just please Ava." I pleaded " You don't tell her what to do I'm her father." He said to me. He then started to walk slowly towards her. I used all of my strength to pull myself to my feet. Just as he got to Ava I rammed my body into his as hard as I could. He went tumbling to the floor with a thud. I then grabbed Ava and ran out the door. As I ran down the street I heard him yelling at us to come back. I just kept running as fast as I could.

After a few minutes, we arrived at a little park near my house. I looked around and didn't see him anywhere, I think we lost him. After calming down a bit I realized how tired I was. My feet were raw from running without shoes, my head was pounding, and my ribs felt as if they were stabbing my lungs. I slumped down on a bench and let Ava down next to me. "Avery, why was Daddy doing that to you?" Ava asked me. "I don't know Ava." I whispered back as tears slowly started falling from my eyes. Ava jumped on me giving me a huge hug. I guess I'm going to have to find a place for us to stay the night. I thought back to when Miss. Paulson gave me her number " Call me for anything" she said. I knew I did not have any other option. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. "Ava do you remember that nice lady we saw at the mall a few days ago?" She nodded at me " Well I am going to see if she will let us have a sleepover at her house." She pulled away from me and sat next to me on the bench. "Okay," I then pulled up Miss. Paulson's number, I thought about what I was about to do. I slowly pressed the call button and brought the phone up to my ear. One ring. Two rings "Hello" I heard her soft voice float through the phone, instantly calming me down. "Hi, Miss. Paulson, it's Avery." I said shakily. "Avery is something wrong?" she said concern immediately filling her voice. This brought fresh tears to my eyes. " Yes... is there any way you could pick me and my sister up?" After a moment of silence, she replied "Yeah honey just tell me where you guys are." I let out a breath of relief. "We are at the park down by my house we passed it twice when you gave me a ride." I heard shuffling in the background of the call. " Okay, I remember it. I'll be there soon I'm getting in my car now." She said slightly out of breath, she must have ran out to her car. I heard her car start. "Avery, what happened?" She said after a few seconds. "I will explain it all once you get here." I said sadly. "Okay honey I'll be there as fast as I can." I nodded but then realized she couldn't see me. "Yeah okay thank you soo much." I then hung up putting my head in my hands hoping that when I told her what happened tonight she wouldn't call the police. "Okay, Ava she is coming to pick us up." I grabbed her hand and we started walking to the parking lot to wait for her.