My heavy eyelids slowly open and I find my whole body bobbing up and down. It takes a moment to realize that Braiden is carrying me into the house.
"Well look at this, Sleeping Beauty finally wakes up." He sends me a warm smile, swinging open the door to the house.
The clock on the stove reads 3:32 a.m, which means Marsha's probably fast asleep.
"Okay, you can put me down now." I scowl, lightly patting his chest.
He gently places me down and I wince when I put weight on my leg. It's encrusted in dried, brown blood, but there's also still fresh blood trickling out of it. I grab a napkin off the counter and gingerly wipe it clean.
A strangled cry leaves my mouth, which I quickly stop with my fist. "Braiden, I don't know if-"
I slowly start to collapse, anticipating to hit the ground, but instead being caught by Braiden. The pain is so immense it's causing me to feel dizzy and the blood loss isn't helping either.
"Woah there, Ryan. Let me get you some pain meds, then we'll take a look at your wound, okay?" He softly says and all I can do is nod.
His arm hooks around my waist as he pulls me over to the couch and gently lays me down. The leather is so silky against my skin and the pillow my head is on feels like he set me down on a cloud. All I want to do is shut my eyes and drift off into dreamland, but I'm smart enough to know how stupid that is.
A couple seconds later Braiden comes back with two Ibuprofen in his hand and the first aid kit.
"Here, these will help with the pain and swelling and this," he holds out the fire truck red kit, "is going to help fix that nasty gash in your leg."
I swiftly pop the pills in my mouth, not even using water to get them down. Braiden makes his way around the couch and kneels down in front of me. He carefully examines my leg, being careful not to cause too much pain.
"Um," he scratches the back of his neck which I've noticed is a nervous habit, "I'm going to need you to take off your pants."
"Look Braiden, it's not going to be that easy for you to-"
He puts his finger over my lips to stop me from finishing my sentence. "That is not what I mean and you know it. I would never disrespect you like that, Ryan. Or anyone for that matter."
"I know, I was only kidding, but seriously, why?" I tilt my head to the side, meeting his eyes.
"Well, for one I'm going to need to wrap gauze around it, and for two, the leather on your pants will flake off into the wound."
I slowly nod my head in understanding, feeling very uncomfortable. Sure, we've been in awkward situations before, but still, it's weird.
"Okay, well look away." I demand, motioning him to turn around.
"You do realize I have to look at you in order to fix it, right?" He asks, a small grin taking over his face.
All I do is shoot him a glare and he raises his hands in surrender, then turns around.
Satisfied, I unbutton my pants and slide them off. The fabric around the cut is stuck to my skin, and I wince as I pull it the rest of the way. It feels like there's hundreds of needles repeatedly stabbing me in the same spot over and over again.
After what seems like forever I finally get them off and can clearly see the damage Ian did.
It looks a little less horrible without my pants matting it down, and missed the major artery in my leg. The reason I know this is because if it did hit it, I would have been dead in thirty minutes from the blood loss. Also the fact that it's not deep enough to have hit it.
"Okay, I guess you can turn around." I blatantly tell him. Well, at least I wore cute underwear.
He slowly turns to face me, but I cover my face with my hands. I don't want to see his reaction when he notices all the other scars on my thighs from my dad.
"Hey," he says, pulling my hands from my face, "don't do that."
I swallow the lump in my throat and drop my hands down.
Braiden wordlessly cleans my wound, being so careful not to hurt me that my heart literally melts.
"Um, Ryan, I think I'm going to need to stitch this up." He says, the frown on his face clearly visible.
I press my lips tightly together and nod for him to do it.
The sharp tip of the needle pierces through my skin, causing me so bite down on my fist and try to stop the whimpers escaping my throat. Five stitches later I'm all done. He lightly wraps gauze around my leg, brushing it with his fingers and I swear my heart is going to burst out of my chest at any second.
"Alright, you're all good now." He says, flashing me a smile.
"Thanks." I try and return it, but a yawn takes over.
"Okay, let's get you up to bed."
I nod my head, eyes already fluttering closed. He picks me up for the second time tonight and carries me upstairs. I'm carefully placed under my soft covers which are warm and inviting. Sleep tugs at my eyes and I welcome it with open arms.
"Goodnight Ryan." Braiden whispers.
I feel the softness of his lips meet my cheek, until sleep finally overtakes me.
"Sweetheart, wake up!" My mothers voice jolted me awake.
"Mom?" I asked through squinted eyes trying to see through the darkness.
Her eyes are wide and full of pure terror as she frantically watches the door which is closed and locked. A loud bang comes from downstairs and right away a know that my father was up to something, and I have no intention of finding out what it is.
"Ryan, I need you to listen to me." She grabs onto my shoulders then shakes me wide awake. "Your father just came home from the bar and is in a mood like I've never seen before. He's looking for you, saying that you're the reason his life is a mess."
When she tells me his words I remain completely unfazed. I could care less what my father thinks of me. He's beaten me for the past fifteen years, I'm the one who should be full of hatred. Which be the way, I completely am.
"I'm sure it's nothing new mom, I'll probably just get the usual beating." I reassure her, even though alarm bells are going off in my brain.
This is pretty unusual because it's the middle of the night. My dad usually waits until the next day and then looks for me.
"Ryan Della Hunter, look at me." She grabs my chin so I'm looking directly into her molten honey, brown eyes. "This is serious, he's talking about wanting to kill you and there's nothing I could say to stop him."
My eyes form to the size of golf balls as soon as I hear the word kill. Sure, he's done some horrible things to me, but kill?
"W-what are we going to do?" My voice trembles as I speak in a hushed voice.
She shakes her head back and fourth rapidly, willing the tears forming in her eyes to not fall.
"I don't know baby girl. I don't know." Her voice cracks, causing the reality of the situation to set in. My father wants to kill me, we have to escape.
"Mom, I have an idea." Her eyes snap up to mine, the curiosity mixes with terror and something else I rarely see; defeat. "We could go through the window."
Seeing my mom's eyes light up causes a spark of hope to run through my body. Another loud bang comes from down the stairs, and suddenly my room feels extremely stuffy, almost as if the walls are closing in. I know right away it's the early signs of a anxiety attack, something I've been dealing with since I was eleven.
"We have to go, now." She helps me over to the window, prying it open to allow the cool night air to seep in.
I inhale for four seconds, then exhale for six which starts to calm me down as I regain composure.
"Alright you go first, don't worry, I'll be right behind you." Her voice reassures me as she nudges me out the window onto my all to familiar tree branch.
"Wait." I stop in the frame and turn to face her. "I love you so much mom, and even though I have a horrible dad, I couldn't ask for a better mom."
"Oh Ryan, I love you too darling. Just remember you are strong and you can get through this." She pulls me into a tight embrace and I memorize what it feels like to be in my moms arms.
She reluctantly lets me go then pushes me towards the window. Just as I step foot on the tree branch, my door crashes open, splintering wood everywhere.
"Where do you think you're goin'?" My father slurs and I freeze.
His appearance catches me off guard when he enters the room. The once whites of his eyes are now bright red and bloodshot, but that's not the scary part. I can literally see the hatred burning in them. The blue veins in his neck and arms are popping out, making him look like some sort of monster.
He takes a stumbling step forward and my mother steps in front of me, taking a protective stance.
"Craig, you're not thinking straight, go downstairs and we'll talk about it in the morning." My mother firmly tells him, taking a step forward.
"What do we have here; a little trader? Stop trying to defend her, Linda, that's what ruined our lives." He spits, sending me a glare that makes my blood turn cold.
"No Craig, she is my daughter, this has got to stop." She takes another step forward, so that they're only inches apart.
The next couple minutes move so fast it takes me a second to register what happened.
Without warning my father grabs my mom by the hair and pulls her head back.
"Get out of my damn way!" He shouts, shoving her across the room.
Her small frame slams into the wall, but he isn't done.
"You're worthless, just like her!"
His hands wrap around her throat, squeezing so hard that his fingers turn white.
"C-Craig-" she claws at his hands to free them from her neck, but his grip only tightens. Her legs are flailing around desperately trying to kick him, but the lack of air causes her to quickly grow weak.
"Mom!" I scream, pulling at his hands as her face turns bright red then fades to a purple.
Her eyes are wide when she looks at me, silently pleading for help as her hands reach out for mine.
"Please let her go!" I howl but nothing fazes him.
Time seems to stop as my mom's body that was once so full of love and life goes limp. Still holding onto her neck, he lifts her off the ground then slams her body with full force into the wall. Finally, his hands drop from her throat and she slumps to the floor.
Without even looking back at me, he leaves the room. It's almost like he came up here just to kill and was then satisfied with himself.
The door slams, or what's left of it does, leaving me alone with my mom.
"Mom!" I rush over to her, shaking her body, desperately trying to wake her up. "Mommy!"
She still remains motionless on the ground, in a heap. A put my head to her chest only to find that there's no heartbeat.
"Mom! Wake up! You can't leave me!" I scream, tears flowing out of my eyes like a waterfall. "Mom!"
Something cold washes over my body, causing me to shoot upright.
"Mom!" I claw at the air around me only to be pulled into someone.
"Shh. Shh. Calm down Ryan, it's just me." Braiden's voice rings through my ears, but all I can focus on is the nauseas feeling in my stomach.
Biles burns in the back of my throat, and I push myself away, heading to the bathroom. I heave watery vomit into the toilet, then rinse out my mouth and brush my teeth.
As soon as I open the door Braiden pulls me into a hug which I melt into. The death of my mother is weighing me down so much, that if he wasn't here I don't know if I would be able to stand.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asks quietly, brushing the hair from my face.
I take a deep breath of air then meet his eyes. "I think it's time you heard the full story."