resplendent *gawsten* ✓

Chapter Nine

"got b-bruises." i said.

"most lessons do." he said.

"no they d-don't."

"they're supposed to, ta get the message across to ya." he almost shouted. he earned warning glances from the officers behind him. he turned back to me and said, "so, what i understand is, did you not learn anythin' from my last lesson?"

i felt the blood rush from my face. he smirked. "yeah, that lesson. lesson learned?"

"gotta go." i cried before i stood up abruptly. my chair fell, but i didn't stop to pick it up as i ran out of the room. 

i ran right past geoff, who was calling my name, and ran to the restroom. i hurried to a stall and locked it. i had hardly lifted the toilet seat before i started vomiting into the bowl. the lima bean and beige mixed in with the unpleasant feeling of my half-digested food making its way back out of my mouth.

i kneeled there for a minute after i was done with my hands and knees on the dirty floor, bracing my body. my hair hung over my eyes; if it had been any longer, it would have had puke in it.

i sat back against the stall wall and wiped my face with some toilet paper, throwing the soiled material into the toilet. i reached up to flush the it.

fucking

weak.

i brought my knees up and hugged them. i laid my head down on them and cried. my chest was clenching and i thought i tasted rust on my tongue.

i heard the restroom door slam open and geoff's frantic voice call out my name. i sniffed, giving away that i was there. i heard him knock on each stall door until he got to mine, which didn't give way.

"daffodil, open the door." i shook my head. he seemed to understand that i did because he said, "open the door!"

"what's he doin'?" i heard a man ask.

"he might be having a panic attack." geoff replied, then added to me. "listen, awsten, i need you to open the door. we can go home right now, okay?"

i nodded feebly before i remembered he couldn't see me. i whimpered as i pushed myself up to open the stall door. my legs were jelly. they gave out from under me and i fell forward into geoff's arms.

"aws! you-nevermind, let's just get you home." he carefully lifted me so that i was lying in his arms like a dying lover.

"sorry, if i had known..." the officer said when we got to the door. otto shook his head and opened the door for geoff.

"none of us did. if any of us knew, we wouldn't have encouraged him to come."

i looked up into geoff's eyes. they were sour-grey-sky blue. he met my gaze and bit his lip.

"we're going home now." he assured me.

the ride home was pretty awkward. geoff refused to leave me alone in the back, so i went to move to the front seat. otto and geoff exchanged a suspicious look, and geoff surrendered and sat up shotgun. i sat in the middle seat with my arms crossed grumpily.

we got home later than i wanted us to. i rushed to unbuckle and open the door, but it wouldn't budge. i had a double take and tried the door again, but it still didn't open. geoff and otto turned to me.

"child lock." geoff said simply.

open, i signed. their faces visibly fell. i ignored it and went back to trying to get the door open.

"no." otto said. i whipped my head around to glare at him.

"op-open." i repeated.

"you need to explain some things, right now." otto snapped. i intensified my glare and shook my head.

"angel, otto got scared in there," geoff said softly. "said your dad said 'the last lesson'....?"

just bad, i lied. i wasn't going to tell them shit. he did quite the number on me. he's just trying to one-up me. i'm fine, i won.

"talk and we'll believe you." otto said. geoff gave him a wary look but said nothing.

i rolled my eyes. you expect me to talk after what i just went through? no, thanks. recovery is guaranteed with a backslide here and there. it just happened two months ago, too, so of course i'm a little worked up. "i'm fine." i added, deciding to humour them at the last minute.

my boys exchanged another look that i narrowed my eyes at. otto sighed and turned off the child lock. i was out of the car and in the house faster than even i was able to process. i grab a few bags of pretzels and my heb orange juice and booked it to my room. i locked the two leftover locks before i finally broke down.