My Protector

Real or Not Real

My mom just watches me with a saddened expression as I shuffled my feet to the front door with my keys in my hand and my book bag on my back.

Here we go. Another day full of pain.

It's to the point where my teachers even know I'm in pain. Every single time they see me their faces turn into a sympathetic one.

What hurts and kills me the most though is when I see her in the hall. When I see her laughing. When I see her smiling and I'm not the one who is making her smile.

When she sees me.... her face drops like she had just seen a dead puppy on the side of the road.

As soon as the final bell rang I was out of the classroom door and heading towards my locker. I was practically running down the hall which earned several weird looks since I'm usually pretty calm and have a 'not give a shit' attitude, but I want to be home more than anything right now.

I approached my locker and the sound of my shoes hitting the ground echoed in the halls.

My fingers shakily unlocked the lock on the locker and the lock soon fell into the palm of my hand.

"Get off of me!" An all too familiar voice filled my ears as I threw the stuff I'd need for my homework in my bag before slamming it shut and clipping the lock back in place. The hallway was clear since it's the athletic hallway and only athletes can have these lockers, but most of them just keep everything they need in their bag.

"Shut up you whore!" A male yelled back at Kate from the stairwell.

"Catie!" She yelled for me and my instincts kicked in as I found myself running towards her cries for help.

I swung open the stairwell's door before locking eyes with some guy who had his pants unbuckled already.

I ran at him and tackled him to the ground. My hands wrapped tightly around his throat and scratched at my arms. He thrashed around in my grip.

"If you ever, and I mean ever, touch her again I will personally kill you after cutting your dick off and shoving it down your throat. Do you understand?" I constricted my hands around his throat with every word while looking down at his bright red face. The lack of oxygen was starting to get to him.

He quickly nodded, so I stood up and watched as he bolted out the stairwell door.

I followed his actions in a calmer manner.
I walked out the door and caught a glimpse of his feet that were sliding across the floor as he rounded a corner of the hallway.

Not once did I look at Kate though. If I do, I might do something stupid. Like talk to her for example. If I talk to her, I'll be in deep shit again. Just making eye contact kills me now.

Yet here I am, saving her again just so she doesn't get hurt even though she has already killed me.

"Catie..." her voice was so weak and all it held was pain. I don't know why. Last I checked I wasn't the one who left.

"What?" I snapped at her as I looked over my shoulder. I didn't fully turn though. If I did, I'd break, so I just kept walking.

Kate followed me out into the hallway and I rolled my eyes. Why can't she just leave me be so I can suffer on my own?

"Just leave me alone. You don't love me, so stop acting like it before you get me to believe it again." My tone was supposed to come out angry, but it only came out as a plea.

"What Gale told you is true." She whispered. I felt her small hand on my shoulder. The familiar sparks started to shoot throughout my body.

"Why should I believe you?" I asked in a cold and ruthless tone.

"Because you love me," she started off and I clenched my jaw in attempt to keep the salt water from escaping my eyes, "and I love you. I love you more than you will ever know." She finished her statement just above a whisper. I almost gave into her lie.

"You don't love me. You cheated on me." I let out a cold laugh as I turned around to her and just looking at her almost made me break down and beg her to come back, but I am stronger than that. I am cold.

"Yes I do." Her voice cracked as she looked up at my cold expression. Kate looked like she had been crying for several days straight. The tear stains were prominent. She may have been smiling, but she was definitely hurting.

"Then why didn't you tell me about the so called threat?" I crossed my arms across my chest, so I wouldn't touch her. I can't give into her. She is like a drug, once you start you can't get enough of it, so I refuse to even start. I can't do that to myself.

"Because they were going to kill you if I told you Catie." She whispered as she looked down at the cracked tile flooring.

I lifted her chin up with a finger, so she would look me in the eyes. As soon as my finger came into contact with her skin, sparks flew from the pad of my index finger all the way throughout my body. "Tell me you love me." I whispered. If she is lying she'll break eye contact.

"I love you." Her eyes glossed over from the tears that threatened to escape. She searched my eyes for an answer before I gave in.

"I love you more." I replied before pulling her to my chest and taking a deep breath in, taking in her scent. There was still a faint smell of her perfume on her clothes.

She broke down in my arms. Her knees went weak as she let her body go limp. She trusts me to hold her up, and I always will, so I just pulled her closer and tighter to my chest. I could feel water stain forming on my shirt.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen Kate. I was just worried that you were lying. I was being selfish." I whispered in her ear.

"It's okay, as long as I'm with you everything is okay." Her small figure was trembling as she cried into my chest.

"Where have you stayed the last couple of nights?" I asked in a worried and low tone. That has been worrying me sick. What if she was sleeping under some bridge?

"Gale took me back to his house. He made me sleep in his bed while he slept on the floor, but I didn't sleep anyways." She looked like she could break easier than glass.

I picked her up bridal style and carried her out to my Jeep. "You are not allowed to leave my side." I demanded and she nodded her head against my chest.

She opened the passenger side door, and I carefully placed her in the seat before buckling her in and kissing her forehead.

I jogged around to my side after closing her door.

"Oh thank god." I heard my mom sigh in relief as soon as she saw Kate at my side. Her hand was latched onto mine and she wasn't letting go anytime soon. Her knuckles were a shade of white from her clutching onto my hand so tightly, but I don't mind.

My mom ran to us and pulled the both of us into a hug, my dad did too after he checked the waters to see if I would snap and get overly overprotective.

"Kate, please don't do that again. Catie is quite scary when she loses people... I thought she was going to kill me." My dad tried to pull it off as a joke, but anyone could see that he was actually terrified, due to his nervous laugh and him backing away from the hug.

My mom kissed both of our foreheads before backing up and inspecting the both of us to see if we have any scars. I don't blame her to be honest. Whenever shit goes down... shit really goes down for the two of us.

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Kate said in a soft voice from behind me. I traced circles on the back of her hand with my thumb.

"Let's go upstairs." I whispered to her. I know she's tired. She hasn't slept in days, so I picked her up and carried her upstairs with ease as my mom and dad watched with the happiest expressions on their faces.

"I love you." Kate whispered against my chest and I kissed her forehead in response.

"I love you too."