A week later...
"You know I was actually starting regret my decision about moving there, but now..., this is the best decision I've made in my life. Second to getting Marvin of course." Her voice was raspy and weak.
A few seconds later she felt a hand grip hers, quite tightly. Jamie turned her head to see her brothers face, it looked like he hadn't slept anything since he found her that day, and there were tears streaming down his face.
This is my fault, he mumbled to himself as he closed his eyes to get some grip of what was reality and what wasn't. Jamie squeezed his hand and shook her head to say that it wasn't.
He had gotten a job opportunity to travel back and forth between certain parts of Asia and the US, to monitor seismic activity because warning signs had recently been seen by a group of Swedish scientists and they didn't want something happening like the tsunami in 2011. In simple terms he was a geoscientist and a good one at that.
Paired with this job opportunity he had sent in an application to a prestigious school up north, it was this fancy school for rich kids but it had been known for giving out full scholarships to really great students where they would look at academics, athletics, artistic skills or/ and extracurriculars to determine if the student was worthy of such scholarship.
And apparently Jamie had been classified as a "really great student" with straight As, six AP classes, a member of both the track and swimming team that kept her busy five days out of the week, and the volunteer work she did after school. Now this might seem impressive but that's what she did to stay busy because god forbid she had any moment to spare. She would rather work herself to death than spend time with her parents.
In all of this what hadn't been James fault was Jamie actually getting into the school, their shitty parents, and the fact that if she moved to the school (because it had dorm rooms) she would have to stop by their house to get a few things. That is exactly what happened.
She got in. Celebrations at two am that night ensued. Packing started, and the realisation a few days later that she still had half her stuff left a their parents house hit them like a moving truck. James had to work that afternoon and instead opted to send a message to them warning them that their daughter was coming over and packing things in a suitcase.
James: Hello Joshua, Jamie will be coming by the house this afternoon to collect some of her things in a suitcase. She will go straight up to her room and not disturb you in any way.
Joshua: Your mother and I will be out this afternoon.
He had shown Jamie the message and relief had flooded her body. It wasn't his fault that their father, Joshua, had lied and it wasn't his fault that he had to work so he couldn't come with her.
It defiantly wasn't his fault when Jamie entered their house and started to make her way up the stairs only for her to be pushed down the stairs backwards by Joshua who had been hiding behind the wall on the second floor.
It wasn't his fault when she fell down the stairs hitting her head.
It wasn't his fault then Joshua started kicking her, breaking and brushing four ribs.
It wasn't his fault then Joshua beat her with all the force he had.
It wasn't his fault that he found her beaten up, bloody and unconscious two hours later when he came to pick her up.
It wasn't his fault.
He had taken pictures of her ribcage and stomach that had been completely blue, her back that had cuts on it from the rings Joshua wore, her legs, arms and head that had bruised from when she fell down the stairs and finally her scraped up knees and hands from when he dragged her across the carpet. Oh, and lets not forget her black eye he gave her for good measure.
He knew to take the pictures because this hadn't been the first time, but hopefully the last.
So now they were holding hands in a hospital where she had been for the last two days and would stay until tomorrow. What kept her going was the thought that next Monday she would be out of here and at a new school.
YOU ARE READING
A Nerd & A Tortoise
Teen Fiction"My miserable life started the day I was born, and to this day the best part of my life is my tortoise Marvin and my brother James. I was set to loose one of them which would be the turning point of my life, not for the worse since my life already s...
