A flashlight in the shadows.

Chapter 8: My hero.

I dreamt of paint brushes that night. It felt like I was part of the paint, and Bennett painted me to the canvas. Weird, right? I got up earlier than usual, which was surprising. When we got to school, I saw Bennett speaking with his friends. I hadn't seen Carson all day, so I wanted to ask him if he'd seen or spoken to him since last night. I waited until his friends left for a few minutes to tap him on the shoulder. He spun around and stopped smiling when he saw me.
"What're you doing here?!"
"Uh, it's school?" I stated, laughing a little.
"You need to go!"
"I just needed to ask you if you've seen Carso-" but he spun back around just in time to see the group of douche bags stroll around the corner, all rough housing. They stopped when they saw me and yelled,
"Yo, who dat?" Said James, one of the schools best jocks, but a major asshole. Bennett shrugged and said,
"Ah, a nerd who wants me, the usual." They high fived and Tobi, another dick-hole at our school, smirked and said,
"Yeah, but she ain't no regular bitch, she fine as hell!" Yet another high five and Bennett nodded.
"Yeah. She's straight super model status, know what I'm sayin?!" He high fived Tobi and turned to me, smiling. "You should probably get back to your book club, nerd." I felt a tear push against my eye, but I held it back.
"You know what? Fuck you and your act, if these are your friends, then they should at least know who you are." I walked off then, leaving them all with an open jaw, except for Bennett, I left him looking like his dog just died. And he's the one who killed it.
The rest of the day was uneventful, save for the fact that Kendra had a date, and I was going to have to walk home. Hannah has her own car, but she's only allowed to drive it after school to town. It sorta defeats the purpose of having a car, but that's her parents rules. I walked to the library to return the book theif. I smiled at Mrs. Damon and set the book in the return bin.
"May I use the library phone?" I asked, because mine had decided to die when I needed it most. She nodded,
"You sure may." I thanked her and walked around the corner, but was not pleased, nor really surprised, to see Bennett standing near it, reading. An actual book, nonetheless. I tried to be subtle about ringing the phone, but he noticed me walking over and stood up, setting the book gently aside. I put a quarter in the phone and dialed janes number, trying to ignore Bennett.
"I am so sorry, Sarah! I don't know what I was thinking!" I leaned against the wall, facing away from him. Jane picked up,
"Hey, sup?"
"I need a ride home."
"K, be there in...5 minutes."
"K, love you." She hung up and I walked outside, Bennett following me.
"You need a ride? I can take you, please, let me explain!" I whipped around and faced him, almost loosing what little cool I had left.
"There's nothing to explain! You decided to pretend you didn't know me, and you let them insult me!" Jane pulled up and I got in the car, him walking next to me.
"I'm sorry Sarah!" Jane frowned and pointed.
"What should I do?"
"Drive." I said, rolling up my window. She started driving away.
"What was that all about?" I shrugged and sighed,
"He pretended to be a complete retard for his friends, and they called me things, and now I'm upset with him."
"Ok..." She didn't push it much farther then that. I sighed,
"So, what're your plans for tonight?"
"I'm going out with Fred."
"Hankson?" She scowled and laughed.
"No! Jacobson."
"Ahh, well, have fun." She pulled up to our house and waved goodbye.
"Love ya!"
"Bye!" I waved and went inside. Dad wouldn't be home until later, so I locked the front door. I sat at the living room table, working on my chemistry homework. After about twenty minutes of working, I'd finished all of my homework and checked the time, 5:30. With nothing else to do. I decided to make some sugar cookies. The doorbell rang, and when I went to answer it, I saw cc standing on my doorstep with a piece of paper. I frowned and opened the door. She smiled at me, waved, and said,
"Uh, um, Bennett says to say he's sorry for being a s-e-l-f-I-sh and stupid guy, and he's...hopes you can forgive him." I sighed and looked over towards her house. He was looking out of their living room window at me. I rolled my eyes and bent down to cc.
"Sweetheart, I'm going to tell you a secret, can you keep a secret?" She smiled and nodded,
"Yes!"
"Ok," I leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I'm not really that mad at him, but it want him to work for my forgiveness." She frowned and whispered,
"What does that mean?"
"It means he'll buy me chocolate, and when he does, I'll split it with you, ok?"
"Ok!" She smiled wide, again showing her missing tooth. I looked around and smiled.
"What're you doing for the rest of the day?"
"Nothing." She sighed. I smiled and asked,
"Do you wanna help me make some sugar cookies? You can have some."
"Yeah! Let me ask mommy quick, be right back!" She ran to her house and returned with a smiling face after two minutes, "ok, let's go!" I giggled and we left inside to make the cookies. I took out a large bowl and a stepping stool for her to stand on.
"Ok, hand me the butter."
"K, is this it?" She asked, handing me butter. I smiled and nodded.
"Yup, now, do you wanna crack an egg?" Her eyes widened and she whispered,
"You mean it?!" I smiled and frowned,
"Yeah, why not, haven't you ever cracked one before?" She shook her head no.
"Mommy's never let me crack the eggs."
"Well, I'll show you, here." I handed her an egg and stood behind her. "K, so you take the egg and crack it on the side of the bowl like this," I tapped it and it cracked up the middle. She smiled. "Now you just pull the two ends away from each other, like this," I showed her and the big yellow yolk plopped into the bowl. She clapped. "Ok, now try it on your own," it took her three tries to get it right, but once she did, she smiled like she'd just got a gift from god.
"I can't wait to tell mommy!" I giggled and we finished mixing the dough. She took a little bit. I smirked and picked her up.
"Who said you could eat the dough?!" I tickled her and she started laughing. I got out a bowl of sugar and some cookie presses with shapes on them.
"Ok, which ones do you want?" I asked.
"Hmm, the fairy and the cat!"
"Ok, I'll take the dragon and the smiley face." We spent the next thirty minutes pressing the cookies and cooking them. While we were waiting for them to bake, we made frosting for them. We ended up mixing all the food coloring, making an ugly shade of brown-purple. She loved either way, and after we had frosted all the cookies, I packed some in a dish for her and handed it to her.
"You get to take all these home, you did a great job!" We high fived and the doorbell rang. I checked the time, 8:00. I answered and saw Bennett standing on the front porch. Cc walked up behind me.
"Do I have to go?"
"I'm afraid so, sweetheart, remember our secret, ok?" She smiled and nodded one last time before running to her house. Bennett bit his lip and looked at me. I crossed my arms and sighed.
"Yes?"
"I really am sorry, Sarah."
"I know. I have some homework to do." He nodded and sighed,
"Bye."
"Bye," I shut the door and went up the stairs to wash my face. I borrowed Jane's skittle bar of soap to use on my face. She'd gotten it from one of her past boyfriends. I rubbed a towel in my face and was about to shave when I heard a noise. It was the door opening and closing. I frowned and inched toward the stairway.
"Hello?" No answer. "Daddy?" No answer. I was just at the edge of the stairs when a large figure bolted out and pinned me against the wall. I tried to scream, but a hand cut me off.
"No ones here to save you now!" Carson whispered in my ear, nipping at it. I kicked him in the junk and ran to my room, where the nearest phone was. I'd hooked it up on the charger, and was about to grab it when I felt a sharp pain in my side. He'd grabbed a hair dryer from my bathroom and swung it, connecting it with my side. I fell on the bed, gripping my side. He crawled over me, pinning my arms to the side and stuffing a wash cloth in my mouth. He then trailed wet, sloppy kisses down my neck and pulled off my jacket, slowly unzipping it, just to make it slow. I squirmed and kicked, but he punched my sides, slowing my progress down. He unbuckled my pants and slipped them off, leaving me in my black underwear and green tank top. He slipped off his shirt and began unbuckling his pants. He had them slid half way off his body, and I was able to kick him again in the balls. He groaned and gripped my hair with one of his hands, slamming my head against the head board. I felt woozy. Then, I heard a thud of a bat connect with Carson's lower back.
He yelped in pain and rolled off to the side.
Bennett went over to him, bat still in hand, and hit him in the shoulder. I pulled the blanket over me as best I could, but still felt like I'd be seeing stars any minute. Carson got up, swinging his fists at Bennett, who side stepped them with ease. He caught one and kicked up, connecting with Carson's solar plexus. Carson's eyes became wide and he dropped to one knee, catching his breath. Bennett grabbed hold of Carson's hair and drug him to the stair case, where he kicked him down. Carson tumbled down the steps and landed with a loud thud, groaning in pain. Bennett stood at the top of the stairs and yelled,
"If you touch her or her family and friends again, you'll get it a hell of a lot worse, got it?" He nodded and limped to his car, speeding off once he'd regained his regular self. My vision was going blurry, but I tried to put my clothes back on. I rolled off the bed and crawled around, looking for something to cover up in. Bennett turned around, saw me, and grabbed a bathrobe. He wrapped me up in it and said,
"C'mon, you're coming to my house tonight." He picked me up bridal style once I was wrapped up. My head was swimming, and I felt like I'd pass out. I tapped Bennett's chest and tried to say something.
"Bennett..."
"Yes?"
"Tell-tell dad..."
"I know, just rest your head for now."
"Tell dad..."
"SHH, time to sleep." He opened the door to his house. I heard some distant voices, although I couldn't tell you what language they spoke. The room started slanting every which way, making me even more dizzy. I felt the room rising, which I guess meant that we were going up stairs. I felt a wet towel being placed on my head. I sighed and fell asleep, the last thing I saw was Bennett's worried expression. 'Its an act, he doesn't really care about you, just his ego,' is what I thought to myself before darkness took over.

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Thanks everyone, have a good day, hope you liked the chapter! Enjoy the next one, bye! L: