My Teacher, Louis Tomlinson

Chapter 22- A turn for the worse

Skye's POV:

A few uneventful weeks pass. Ashton and I are nearly done with the song, so now it's just about rehearsing it, which requires out of school time. It's great getting away from my uncle for a while, and spending the extra time with Ashton is even better.

Mr. Tomlinson has gone back to driving me home after tea, and I can feel myself wanting to open up to him more and more. We keep the conversation light most days, but it's hard not to notice him eyeing my wrists 24/7. If they look particularly bad, he asks how I've been doing (he does that every day, but on these occasions, he expects an honest answer).

Things have been getting worse at home. Teresa and Gary have been arguing often. The kids take refuge in me. I tell them that everything will be fine, even though these days I'm doubting it.

One particular night, I happened to be alone and I could hear them arguing from the guest room.

"I can't believe you. This is unforgivable!"

"Teresa..." Gary slurred.

"No, don't you "Teresa" me again! You've been unemployed for months, you're an addict and a terrible role model for the girls."

"But baby..."

"No! I can't live like this any more! You need to fix your fucked up life. I'm taking the girls in the morning. The last thing they need is you as a role model."

The door slammed, and I heard Teresa's heels clicking all the way to the girls' room.

~~~

The next morning I overslept. I woke up by being shaken by none other than my despicable uncle.

"Where are they?" He asked.

"What?" I said groggily, not understanding what was going on.

"I said, WHERE ARE THEY?" He screamed.

I sat up, scooting away from him.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"The girls! Teresa! They're gone!" He began to sob. "A-and all they left was a note!"

He led me to the kitchen and showed it to me.

Dear Skylynn,

I'm sorry we had to leave, but it's for the best. Gary knows why we are gone, so all there's left to do is tell you. To keep things brief, I just don't want the girls growing up around Gary until he gets his act together. I figured that leaving you here would be best so that you can continue with your schooling. If you need to reach us, don't hesitate to call.

With love,

Teresa (and the girls)

That's IT?

That's all I get?

I mean I know the reasons already, I heard the argument.

I don't even have her fucking number! Do they even care about me at all?

No.

If they did, they would've taken me with them.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Gary screams.

It's the last thing I hear before I'm knocked into unconsciousness.

~~~

When I come to, it's around 1pm and I'm on the floor in the kitchen with a pounding headache. I don't move for a while, listening for Gary. When I hear no movement or sound, I determine that he must be out and slowly get up, inching my way to the medicine cabinet and grabbing the ibuprofen.

Looks like I'll be taking an absence today.

I made my way to the guest room and gingerly sat down on the bed.

They left me.

The thought rang through my head incessantly.

Eventually, I grabbed my phone. 7 unread messages, all from Ashton.

-heyyy :)

-where you at bruh

-you sick? or is this one of those im-just-gonna-waltz-into-class-20-minutes-late things, ya truent!

-im sorry. that was rude.

-skyeeeeeeeeee

-come backkk. i miss youuuuu

-well that sucked. plz come tomorrow, i dont care if you give me ebola. better yet, give it to the pimp posse XD

As if he could tell I was looking at them, I got another message from him.

-im sorry for being so annoying, im just worried xx

I decided to call him.

"Skylynn?"

"Ashton."

"SKYE! Thank god you're okay. God, we were so worried about you..."

"We?" I cut him off.

"Mr. Tomlinson and I, of course."

"Oh. Well tell him I'm fine..."

"Are you sick? Because you don't sound sick."

"I'm..."

"You better come to school tomorrow. Today was hell without you..."

I heard the door slam and a crash.

"Shit, I gotta go. Bye." I said, straight up hanging up on him.

"SON OF A BITCH," I heard Gary exclaim. "SKYLYNN!"

I carefully got up and crept to the kitchen, where a lamp lay shattered on the floor.

To my surprise, Gary bent down and began collecting the glass himself. He saw me out of the corner of his eye and just about flipped.

"Why am I doing this? You should be doing this!" Gary said, coming at me with the glass and throwing it at me. I used my arms to cover my face, but that meant I didn't see it coming when he smashed the unbroken part of the lamp on me. I screamed in pain, stumbling backwards.

"GO TO YOUR ROOM!" He yelled, and I did just that.

I waited a while before I traveled to the bathroom to remove the glass shards from my arms and clean the blood. Luckily, Gary was busy watching God-knows-what on the TV. When I'd finally finished, I crept back to my room and changed for bed, eventually drifting to sleep.

I awoke to my mattress moving. Someone was getting in beside me. I willed myself not to panic, because I wasn't sure if I wanted to be "awake" for this. I decided that the best strategy would be to pretend to be asleep still.

Gary (I could tell by his terrible scent) crawled up next to me and roughly pulled me into his body. Then, he did the unthinkable.

He started crying.

"Why did they leave me? Why do they always leave me?" He whimpered.

Because you're an abusive dickhead, that's why.

After a good while of crying and feeling sorry for himself, the pitiful noises died down and silence ensued. I thought that maybe he would fall asleep, so I could get up and leave, but of course, luck was not on my side.

I felt his hips roll against my backside and I almost threw up.

It's going to be a long night.

A/N: Shit got real.