I Will Fight For You

Chapter 19 - "I will put a tracking anklet on you if you do that again."

[Cass's P.O.V]

I couldn't breathe. I could feel the panic building up inside me.  The steady beeping of the machines scared me more than anything had in a long time.

Suddenly, the scene switched and I was in a courtyard. I looked behind me, to see the large foreboding and familiar building. I turned back to see a few kids, maybe a few years older than my nine years, walk towards me leering.  

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? You're tiny, aren't ya ,ya squirt?" the ten year old boy sneered. I really didn't understand why they would gang up on me. We were all the same here.  

"Just leave me alone," I managed in a brave tone though I was shivering on the inside.

That was when the first hit came.  

The pain was so blinding I couldn't move my body. I looked over to the small figure sprawled out on the ground a few feet away from me and the only thing I could think was, “Please be alive.” 

I jolted up in my bed. 

As I struggled to catch my breath, my room door was flung open and Chase walked in, his eyes wide with panic.  

"You were screaming," he said as he came and sat on my bed, looking me over with worried eyes.  

"Just a dream, I'm fine," I tried to reassure him and, I think, myself.  

 "No, you're not, Cass. Please, let me take you a doctor," He practically begged me.  

I felt my temper flare up. He'd been trying to convince me to go to the hospital for days now.  

"No, absolutely not. I'm fine," I threw off my covers and clambered out of bed. I ran my fingers through my hair, as if it would calm me.  

There was no way in hell, that I would see a doctor.  

"Cass," Chase stepped forward and started again in a pleading tone but I cut him off.  

 "I need to leave, I need to breathe."

I lightly pushed him away from me and grabbed my phone and my hoodie. Shoving past a worried Chase, I ran downstairs and out the door. I stood out in the freezing cold and shivered, realizing it probably wasn't the best idea to be out without a thick jacket on.  

I looked at the display of my phone which read:  

Saturday  

20 January

5 43 am  

I needed to go somewhere. My first thought was Dean, but I dismissed the thought immediately. I didn't want him to see me like this. My next, and only, option was Carter. There was no one else I would allow to see me like this.  

In the two weeks since Carter had arrived, I'd been to his house a few times. It was about six blocks away so I started jogging, once I'd switched my phone off.  

Twenty minutes later, I stood in front of C's house. It had two floors but it was slightly small compared to mineI stepped up to the door and pressed the doorbell. As the ringing sound chimed through their house, I turned around to look at the snow covered scene, freezing my ass off.  

"Cass, honey?"  

I turned back to see Joanna, C's mom, standing bleary eyed at the door.  

"C-can I come i-in?" I stuttered.