Beauty & Her Bruises

Chapter Twenty

"Why aren't you at school?" I heard a yell and felt a soft kick in my side. I didn't move though because it didn't bother me anymore. I was so used to him kicking me in the side that it just didn't affect me anymore. My body moved away a little because of reactions but otherwise, I didn't even grimace. I didn't feel another kick or anything so when I opened my eyes, I wasn't surprised when I saw that he wasn't there anymore.

That was surprising to me because I know that he usually didn't stop hitting me until I was almost passed out. On rare occasions, he stopped before that because he relieved all of his rage already. That rarely happened because he always seemed angry and the more he hit me, the more he realized how much he had to blame me for his life.

I slowly got up from my dazed self and felt really dizzy when I finally got up to my feet. I trudged to the bathroom but had to hang on to the walls to keep myself from falling on my face. I turned the light switch on but wasn't surprised when it didn't turn on.

Father probably had all of the electricity running to his room.

When my eyes adjusted to the dark, I could see that I had a gash on my forehead and it was deep, red, and infected. My knees buckled under me for a minute but I regained myself by grabbing the edge of the corner. I wasn't feeling well.

This has never happened to me.

No wonder I didn't wake up for school. I could barely concentrate on what I was doing and I couldn't even walk in a straight line. My knees kept buckling under me from the lack of support I was provided, I kept getting dizzy, and I knew that I possibly had a concussion.

I've never had one before but that could explain why I was acting differently. Father usually never directly hit me across the forehead before because he was worried someone might catch on that he was abusing me. He's been more bold lately with hitting me in visible parts of my body. Last month, he wouldn't have dared hit me in the face but now he's doing it because he just can. There are no consequences anymore because nobody believes me in his abusive ways.

Which is beyond scary to me.

Will I ever be able to escape father? Or will nobody ever believe me that I'm abused? Or will they just be cowards and not tell anyone about it because they're afraid they'll get hurt too? Or is it because they just hate me?

I pulled my hair into a rough ponytail before seeing that it highlighted my scar. I wanted to bring the least amount of attention to my face as possible. I let my hair back down and looked at the bruises from the other night. My eye bruises were healing, my nose was still crooked, there was barely any crack or blood on my lip anymore. I smiled a bit but watched as I accidentally opened the crack on my lip. Blood overfilled it and I instantly started wiping at it. I guess it was a bigger crack than I what I originally thought it was.

No more smiling for the day.

I grabbed onto the wall as I made my way towards my room. I quickly grabbed an old pair of sweatpants and threw on an old hoodie. I tried to run down the stairs but instead had to walk ever so slowly. I tried not to hang on to anything because as I walked towards school, I would have nothing to hold on to. I barely made it down without twisting my ankle and almost fainting on the way down.

I couldn't stay home though.

I looked at the living room and saw father sitting in his recliner. He was staring at me and he had a beer bottle in his hands. Before he could throw it, I made my way out the door and closed it behind me. I didn't slam it shut but instead I closed it so I wouldn't get in trouble for it later.

I stood still at the sight of Ashton's bike outside of my house. I inspected it and saw that he wouldn't have been able to take it even if he wanted to. Father's car was smashed right into it because it was his parking spot. There was plenty of spaces next to it and around it but he wanted to make his point.

I was beaten because I forgot that father's spot was where Ashton had parked.

I walked down towards it and saw that the damage was worse than I had originally thought it was. The headlights were completely smashed, the tires were flattened, and there were more dents in it than I thought could be possible. This bike meant everything to Ashton. Why would he forget it?

"Zara?" I looked to my right and saw Liam and Malcolm coming out from their house. Liam didn't look my way and got in to the driver's side of his car. Malcolm stood still and stared at me as if I was an alien from a different planet. "What are you doing here?" I looked at the bike and then at the house. Malcolm looked at the house and then back at me. His eyes were a complete mystery at first but then they widened when he realized what I was implying. "You live here?"

I shrugged my shoulders and tightened my books and presentation to my chest. Malcolm bit his lip as he passed but in the end, he grabbed my arm. It hurt because the bruises weren't completely healed but I managed to only flinch with my face.

"Do you want to ride with us?" he wondered. I looked at the car and at Liam but he wouldn't meant my gaze. "Don't worry about Liam. We both paid for the car," he whispered. Without another answer for me, he pushed me towards the car and I had no choice but to get inside of it.

I could feel Liam's icy stare through the mirror but I paid no attention to it. We all sat quietly in the car and Malcolm attempted to get the conversation going but it failed miserably. Nobody wanted to talk with this much tension in the air. It was quiet the whole ride otherwise but when we started to get out of the car, Malcolm looked back. At first he was smiling but then it turned to horror.

"What's wrong with your forehead?" he asked. He reached out to touch it but I leaned back so that he couldn't. It was there the whole time, there was no way that he didn't see it when we were talking and he invited me to the car. It was noticeable. He leaned forward and moved my hair away from it.

Oh. My cheeks burned at the thought of how Malcolm wasn't oblivious. My hair was covering it the whole time.

"This looks like it needs stitches," he said. He looked towards Liam and he didn't say anything. Instead, he put the car in reverse and we started to get away from the school. I didn't think Liam would be this easy to persuade. "We're going to take you to the hospital."

"I'm fine," I finally said. "Let me out." I attempted to open the door but Liam locked it. I attempted to unlocked it but he wouldn't have it. "This is kidnapping," I said.

"We're trying to help you," Malcolm said.

"I don't want your help." I saw Liam's glare change in the rearview mirror. His car sped up and he seemed content on getting me to the hospital.

"Just accept it, Zara."

"I don't have insurance or money for this."

Nobody talked for a while but Liam kept driving towards the hospital. I've never been to one but I knew that hospitals were good. Somebody would believe me that I was abused there and maybe they would help me.

"We'll pay for it," Liam finally said. He parked the car and Malcolm and I looked at his very confused. I nodded my head and all of us got out of the car at the same time.

Was Liam trying to help me?

Or was Liam trying to be my friend again?

Was he helping me because I was abused?

Or because it's the right thing to do?

As we sat in the patient room, I couldn't help but try to fall asleep. My head was so dizzy and I was tired of having to worry about sleeping with fear. I laid my head on one of the boys and felt my eyelids get heavy. Although I wasn't sleeping yet, I must've looked convincing because I listened to Malcolm and Liam talk to each other.

"Do you think the doctor will notice the bruises?" Malcolm asked. Liam attempted to shrug his shoulders but it jolted my head. Right then I realized that I had laid my head on Liam and that he was okay with it. "She's getting more hurt everyday."

"I noticed that too," Liam said. They did? "She was going to tell the nurse about the abuse from her father so I told the nurse what she was too afraid to tell her. I knew she wouldn't say anything about the classmates so I brought them up."

As I listened to them continuing with their talking, I realized that Liam's intentions with the nurse were for a good cause. The nurse just interpreted them wrong. He wasn't saying that only my classmates were abusing me, he was just trying to tell her that they were in on it too.

Liam was trying to help me.