Little Miss Perfect

Ch. Thirty- One

"W-w-what?" I whimpered.

"Just let me explain." He said quickly.

"Well, I'm listening." I said, sitting farthur away from him on the couch.

"When he left, ten years ago, we were seven."

"Yeah, I remember." I mumbled.

"Well one day, I felt sick so my mom picked me up from school and took me home. She didn't come inside because she had to go back to work. So I went inside and I heard my sister screaming upstairs. So I ran upstairs."

"Oh my god, please don't tell me you walked in on your sister and my dad having sex." I said quickly, feeling my stomach churn.

He gave me a look that told me that I was right. GROSS. "Not technically." He said. "They were still clothed when I came in. But I was seven, I thought he was hurting her, so I yelled and said that I was going to tell my mom. They both tried to get me not to tell, saying that it would ruin everybody's lives and blah blah blah but I was still going to tell my mom."

"So you blame yourself for him leaving because you told?" I asked slowly.

He shook his head. "No, let me finish."

I just nodded and waited for him to keep speaking.

"So after about an hour of them begging me not to say anything, he got really angry and started yelling at me. Eventually, he hit me and when I fell, I hit my head on the coffee table." I gasped, but remained silent. "Hanna was so upset with him that she said that if he didn't leave, she'd tell the cops what he did. So he left. He was going to leave town, just by himself until Hanna found out that she was pregnant. So she left with him." 

"Is it over?" I whimpered.

Jack nodded stiffly. "Yeah, that's it."

I nodded, drained of all emotion as I tried to process what he just told me. I stood from my place on the couch and started walking towards the door.

"Let me drive you home." He said softly.

I shook my head. "I just want to walk." 

"It's still raining." He pointed out.

"Then I'll get wet." I said dryly before swinging open the door and stepping into the pounding rain. I got half way through the yard when I heard Jack behind me.

"Lindsay!" He yelled over the rain.

I slowly turned around to face him as he stood safe and dry under the porch. 

"Look, I know that we haven't really talked much, and especially before the Florida trip, I barely knew you. But then all of this happened. And I'm kind of starting to like you."

My heart sped up to an unsafe pace and I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing but I didn't let it show.

"Please." He continued. "Don't push me away now."

I just stood there, looking at him and seeing the helplessness in his eyes. I could feel myself about to burst into tears and I just wanted to be alone. I just wanted some time to think. So I just turned around and started walking away. I only made it a few steps before I let out a loud sob then just started running down the street, hoping that Jack wouldn't follow me.

I cried all the way home, my head swirling with unknown emotions. When I got back home, I swung the door open then hurried up to my room. Instictively, I made my way into the corner of my room and sat down on the floor, burying my face into my knees as I sobbed.

Eventually, I cried myself to sleep in the corner.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Lindsay, wake up." Luke whispered into my ear, waking me up.