Touch Me

Tear Me Down

I didn't sleep a wink, that night. Over the past two nights combined, I've only gotten five hours of sleep and it's starting to show. Though, the dark circles under my eyes are probably the least of my problems, as far as my appearance goes.

Hardly even awake, I got dressed again and washed my face, groaning in pain every time I hit a bruise.
Once I was finished, I picked up my bag, and reluctantly headed out the door. I didn't want to go to school today, but I sure as hell didn't want to see my dad again. School was the lesser of two evils.

The first thing I saw when I exited the house was Kevin. He had waited for me. But he damn near jumped when he saw how just beaten up I was.

"Sunshine.. christ, you look like hell, what happened to you?"

"It's nothing.. Let's just go." I started walking again, stopped when he grabbed my arm and pulled me right back over to him.

"Connor, what happened to you..?" He repeated

"I'm fine okay!? Just- we're gonna be late, we have to go"

"Buddy, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell happened to ya"

"It's not- it's fine, it- ..It was just my dad, it's not a big deal, alright? Can we please go now?" I huffed, impatiently, wanting to get as far from my house as I possibly could before my father caught me

Kevin froze in his tracks

"...McKinley, did he hit you?"

I tried to come up with an excuse, really, I did. But I'm not great under pressure. It quickly became obvious I was attempting to make something up.

"...Come here." He pulled me over next to him by my biceps as he inspected my cuts and bruises.

"Connor, what did your father do to you...?"

I felt as if I was being interrogated.

"It's not a big deal.."

"You're bleeding, it's a pretty big deal..!"

He pulled me away from the sidewalk to grant us a bit of privacy

"Tell me what happened..."

I sighed, reluctantly complying. I just wanted it to be over with.

"He uh.. he slammed me into the wall and h-he hit me a couple of times.. that's all.. it's okay, it was my fault." I explained, trying to downplay it and make the beating sound a little less painful.

Kevin's eyes widened as he suddenly quieted

"Oh my god... Connor.." he pulled me tightly into his arms, making my heart begin to race once again. Kevin Price was holding me in his arms. And Christ, he smelled so good. Just as quickly as he'd pulled me in, the pain forced out a quiet wince. He let go the second he realized it hurt. Honestly, I wished he wouldn't have let go at all. I've never been held like that before. I've never felt so safe as I did in those few seconds in his arms. I wished he would have kept me there, forever.

He looked at me, a deep sadness in his eyes that I hadn't seen before

"Why would he do that to you?"

"....I can't talk about it"

"What do you mean..?"

".. I can't- You'll hate me.... I-I'm going to hell..."

"Hey.. You can tell me, Sunshine. I won't be mad.. talk to me.."

I sat down on the nearby bench, letting out a shaking breath as I stared straight at the sidewalk, ahead.