Recovery | On Hiatus

Chapter 3

Chapter Three

I LET OUT another whimper as he pulled me off the wall by my shoulders, only to shove me back again right after. This time, though it was expected, my head slammed painfully against the bricks. White doors splashed across double-vision as my ears rang My hand instinctively reached up to nurture my injury, which was clearly a mistake. Darrin took one hand from my shoulder in favor of pulling his fist back and slamming it into my stomach with a growl. I doubled over in pain, but refused to cry out or give in to the nausea churning beneath my ribs.

He used the remaining hand on my shoulders to shove me the rest of the way to my knees, then crouched down in front of me as the cold, wet snow seeped through my jeans. "Jacket off. Now."

I swallowed past the burn in my throat from the cold, unzipping the jacket with shaky hands and slipping it off my shoulders to hand it over. Wrapping my bare arms around my torso for any warmth I could muster, I immediately regretted wearing a white T-shirt in the middle of winter—especially as it was a lot colder here than anywhere else—at below freezing temperatures and thick snow. The memory of the supply closet inside the school with the lock on the inside flashed to the front of mind, but I knew I'd have to find the janitor, and the key, and then find my way back to the closet if I chose to attempt escape. All of this would have to be done while avoiding Darrin, which wasn't an option if I couldn't get even escape him now. I dismissed the plan, although reluctantly.

My brother stood up, swinging my jacket over his arm with a blank expression. A kick to my stomach left me dizzy and swallowing back bile. He shoved my hunched body sideways into the snow, then continued to kick my sides and stomach until I was so numb from the cold that I couldn't feel the pain anymore.

In other words, until he was bored with me.

He wrapped my hair around his palm and yanked me up into a sitting position as I yelped, despite my determination not to. He gave my my head one last rough shove against the wall and held it there. "Thanks for the jacket, Scar. Enjoy your three mile walk home."

I didn't feel it when he released my hair, and I didn't see him walk back to his expensive, crimson BMW he saved money up for years to finally buy. I could still remember when he spotted it online at a dealership six miles from home. He'd been eighteen at the time, and his face lit up at realizing he finally saved up enough money for the first few payments on a new car.

"Scarlet, look!"

I raised my forehead from my arms folded across the back of the chair to see him waving frantically for me to come forward. Seeing his excitement, I used my feet to roll the chair until it slid parallel to his. "Look at what?"

"This!" He leaned back and threw his hands out, palms up to show me the dealership's website. There was some bright red car in the middle of the screen, a little fancier than what I was used to seeing around the city.

"Twenty-six thousand dollars? Darrin, you can't afford that."

He laughed and pointed underneath the price at three much smaller digits. "You don't pay it all up front. They'll let me make payments of . . ." He squinted at the screen, "three hundred and twenty-five a month. That's affordable."

I scrunched my nose in displeasure. "Won't that take your entire paycheck?"

He reached out to ruffle my hair, mischief dancing in his gray eyes, but I quickly kicked at the floor to roll my chair out of reaching distance. I stuck my tongue out at him, to which he laughed and returned the gesture. "I've been saving up for years, Scar." He tapped his temple. "I've got things all figured out."