One in a Million (UNEDITED)

Chap 23: Selflessness

In the last chapter~
-Imani's uncle sends her to the store
-Mrs. Garden sends Nick and Dylan to the store
-They found Imani in the store but think that she doesn't look well.
-They find that she is lying and found the scars from the past couple of days

Nick's POV

Her wrists were bandaged up and her arms had slash markings all over it. I did the same to her other arm and the same thing was found. All I could feel at that point was rage.

I was about to go off but Imani looked so guilty.

Damn

I sighed and got the medical kit from Dylan. I told him to wait by the toys for me and he obeyed. I sat down next to her, picked her up, and laid her on my lap as I got to work on her arms.

"I just have one question, " I stated. She turned her head and looked at me. "Why did you lie?"

"I-I don't want to, " she started. "B-but it's not easy telling people the truth about this, " she smiled pitifully.

"It's not easy to go up to people and say, 'Hey, you know some days I don't go out? Yeah! That's because I get beaten so badly that sometimes I can't get up the next morning! " she rambled.

When she processed what she said, she covered her mouth with her hand. Tears were threatening to spill from her eyes.

My mouth hung wide.

What the f*ck?

"I-I didn't mean that!" she explained quickly. "I-it was just a random example!"

"You are getting beaten?" I questioned angrily, ignoring her attempt to cover it up.

"N-no! I'm not! I just-" she stuttered.

"Imani, you keep lying to me!" I snapped. "You literally just said that you were!" I countered. She just hung her head down. She didn't say anything

"What? You're not gonna say anything anymore?" I questioned. She shook her head.

"I'll ask you one more time, are you getting abused?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"Then what the hell are all of these injuries you have all over your body?!" I disputed.

Silence.

"Are you in trouble?" I tried.

She shook her head. It was starting to get annoying.

I don't want to scare her but I'm really pissed off right now.

Breathe, just breathe, I sighed.

"I dislike liars, Imani, you should know that by now. I just don't understand why you are not telling the truth, I just want to help you," I attempted again. She didn't look up at all.

With a heavy sigh, I leaned on the wall and slid to the floor to try and get my thoughts together.

After a couple of minutes, she finally spoke.

"Do you think I like lying?" she uttered. I looked up and she was shaking. "It makes me sick to my stomach, " she cried. The tears were streaming down her face.

"I truly d-don't want to lie to you, h-honest! " she confessed. "But the last time I told another person about this s-she..." she choked.

"What?" I inquired.

"S-she...she died!" she sobbed. Her legs gave out and she fell to the ground as well as my jaw.

"She died! And it was all my fault!" she cried.