"I've been high and I've been low, I've spent a thousand nights alone trying to hold on tight. Feelings come but they won't go, please won't someone take me home before l lose my mind."
Broken ~ Anson Seabra.
° ° ° °
"W-What do you mean he has a gun?!" l stutter
"Look, we have to get out of here right now."
"How?! There are no windows!"
"Fuck, l don't know!"
"Hold on." l say and dig in my pocket for my phone, praying that it didn't fall out.
Once l get a hold of it l dial 911.
"They won't get here in time!" eli says and l try to ignore the thought as he looks around for something.
"911 what's your emergency?"
"T-There's a man trying to break down the door and h-he has a gun you have to hurry!" l whisper-yell.
"Okay sweetie calm down, what's your name?"
"Laynie."
"Okay laynie is there anyone in the room with you?"
"Yes, u-um my friend eli."
"Okay how old are you both?"
"Sixteen."
"Okay can you tell me your address?"
"I don't know!" l blink my tears away and turn to eli in a hurry "Eli do you know the adress?"
He takes the phone from me and tells the dispatcher the adress followed by a description of the situation.
In the meantime l stand up and arrange a lot of boxes and other old furniture in front of the book shelf.
The sound of eli's dad coming back makes me nauseous as l quickly climb over the arranged furniture and behind the book shelf where eli is still on the line with the dispatcher.
I quickly arrange the books in front of us on the book shelf in a way where they form a shield, hoping the would block out the bullet if he does come back with the gun.
"I'll give you one last chance, open this fucking door!" the man yells.
Eli motions for me to shush as we both hide behind the books.
With both of us curled up in each other's arms eli whispers to the dispatcher that they have to hurry.
With one last bang, the sound of a gunshot echoes through the room causing both of us to flinch as l keep my hand on my mouth to stop me from screaming.
Light fills the room as the door breaks open and we both squeeze each other tighter.
"You can't hide for long. Stupid kids." he growls, the sound of his heavy footsteps filling the silent room as we both keep our hands against our mouths to keep us from breathing too loud.
Eli hangs up the phone to prevent any noise from coming through it and luckily l always have my phone on silent meaning that he probably didn't hear the phone shut off.
"Come out or l swear I'll fucking shoot you both right now!" his words are followed by a gunshot to the wall, thankfully the wall opposite of ours.
I hold eli's hand with my free one and we exchange looks.
His eyes are red and his face is bruised and bleeding from the punches.
"You have no where to hide now, I'll find you one way or another." the old man spits out, moving the boxes away from the book shelf.
I feel the blood trickle down from my nose on the hand covering my mouth making me even more nauseous but l pray that they'll get here before l make a noise.
"Stupid fucking kids, you need to learn how to respect your damn parents!" he knocks something over causing both of us to flinch and a quiet gasp escapes from my mouth.
Oh shit.
"I heard you! I know you're in here!"
"Just let her go! We can settle this alone once she's gone!" eli cries out and my eyes widen in a panic.
What the fuck is he doing?! Does he want to get us killed?!
"I knew you were in there! Come out you fucking shithead!" he starts throwing the boxes away more viciously.
"I'll fucking kill you two l swear!"
Suddenly, the sound of police sirens had never been so relieving.
Eli's father stops and turns around in reaction to the sirens.
"Police, we're coming in!" the officers words are followed by the sound of the front door breaking open.
Eli tries to get up but l up a hand on his shoulder, pushing him back down.
I shake my head, maintaining eye contact with him through the tears as l place my index finger up to my lips telling him to stay quiet.
Shuffling on the other end can be heard before the police arrive to our door.
"Detroit PD, keep your hands where l can see them!"
Eli tries to get up again and l push him back down, begging him to stay down.
From what l can hear, the sound of a heavy metal object hitting the ground is followed by the officers putting him in handcuffs.
But of course, he can't let it go without a fight.
"I'll kill you! I swear I'll fucking kill you!" he struggles as the police take him out of the room.
"Where are the kids?" l hear one officer ask and only then do l feel safe enough to come out.
"I-In here." l mutter, struggling to form a proper sentence through the tears.
Eli and l get up and push the rest of the boxes away as we step out from behind the book shelf.
The second we're out from behind that space eli and l jump into each other's arms, immediately breaking down in tears.
"I'm sorry l wasn't here to help you earlier. I know l should've done something about it but l-l was scared I'm so sorry eli." l lay my head on his shoulder and he does the same.
"It's okay. I'm sorry you got caught up in this mess you weren't even supposed to know." he squeezes me tighter.
"It's alright though, he's gone now. I've got you, you don't have to go through this again. I've got you and I'm not letting go."
"I'm sorry to interrupt but we need to take you guys to the hospital to make sure you're alright while we call your legal guardians, is that okay?"
We break away from the hug and l nod in acknowledgement, taking eli's hand as the officer leads us outside where eli's dad is already gone.
One officer opens the door to the backseat of the cop car and we get inside.
The car to the hospital was rather silent, just the occasional 'Are you okay?' and small talk.
Right now I'm waiting in a hospital room on the examination table, they took eli to another room.
A nurse steps in after ten minutes of waiting and puts his gloves on.
"Hey there, I'm allen and the doctor's quite busy right now so I'll be taking care of you until she's free." he flashes me an encouraging smile and l just nod, not wanting to be rude but at the same time wanting to get the hell out of here.
"So what's your name?" he asks, stepping closer to me.
"Uh l-laynie."
"Alright laynie can you tell me if anything hurts?"
"I'm fine, really just a nose bleed from the impact. Nothing to worry about." l mumble as he steps closer with a piece of gauze and starts cleaning the blood on my nose.
"Are you sure nothing hurts? Not even a bit?"
"No. I feel fine. Can l please go see my friend now?"
"I need to make sure you're okay first."
"I told you I'm fine. Please let me go now." l plead.
"I'll see what l can do." he says and exits the room.
A few minutes later the door clicks open and the nurse walks back in.
"I'm sorry but you can't leave until your parents come and pick you up."
"My parents aren't coming, my mom is too busy to care and my dad left seven years ago. Can l please go now?"
"I'm sorry but-"
"Look my friend is in the room next to this one, can l just please go see him? I won't leave l just need to check up on him."
"Fine." he sighs "Follow me."
I hop off the table and follow him out of the room where two police officers are standing, he speaks to them for a moment before leading me to eli's room.
He opens the door and speaks to the doctor for a minute before allowing me to go in.
"Eli, hey, how are you? Are you alright?" l ask hopping up on the table next to him and wrapping my arms around him.
"I'm alright. The doctors are just overreacting as they always do." he rolls his eyes.
"Eli you have two black eyes and your nose is dripping blood, l don't think they're overreacting." l hop off the table and grab a few tissues to wipe the blood away.
"Thanks." he accepts the tissues "I'm fine though, really. The only thing l have to worry about is where the fuck I'll be staying tonight." he chuckles bitterly.
"You're staying at my house, we'll figure the rest out later."
"Thanks but I'll just call my aunt, l always go to hers when things go wrong."
"I'm not dissing your aunt or anything but you need support right now, whether you want to admit that or not. And I'll be dammed if l leave you alone for at least tonight, l promised that I'd be there for you and l don't break my promises." l give him a stern look and he sighs.
"Fine. You're so bossy." he rolls his eyes.
"You're welcome." l smile jokingly and he playfully pushes me to the side.
A minute passes in complete silence, just him and l taking a moment to let the reality of the situation settle in.
The door clicks open and in walks non other than carter. "Alrig- Laynie? What are you doing here?"
"That's a nice way to greet an old friend."
"You know what l mean." he chuckles lightly.
"Just came around to visit, now you know the drill, no telling mom about this."
"You're lucky l know your mom or otherwise you wouldn't have gotten away with the amount of times you came here- or should l say was escorted by the police here."
"Yeah yeah whatever we get it, you've been the dad of the group since you and your family moved next to us in kindergarten." l chuckle.
"Those were not good times." he laughs along before snapping out of it "Ahem- uhh- yeah sorry, anyway, back to work. So eli your results came back and luckily you didn't break anything. The bleeding was just from the impact, however if you experience anymore nose bleeds don't brush them off. They can be a lot more serious than you think." carter explains.
"Yeah, l won't. Thanks." eli gives him a half smile.
"Anytime, now that we're sure you're okay you're allowed to leave."
"Finally." eli stands up and stretches as carter leaves the room.
° ° ° °
After eli's papers were finished the cops drove us down to my house where eli is staying until his aunt comes back into town.
Now all l have to do is somehow interduce him to my mom without her freaking out.
Now as strict as my mom is with boys, she can be very kind when it comes to helping people so I've decided that I'll just calmly explain to her what happened- leaving out the part where l was involved -and hopefully she'll let him stay.
"Alright, you wait here. I'll be right back." l say and eli nods as l exit the room.
"Mommyyy, how are you?? I missed you so much!" l smile sheepishly as l enter her room.
"Okay, okay, what is it this time?" she chuckles, rolling her eyes as she finishes packing her suitcase.
Someone's in a good mood, not that I'm complaining.
"You know me too well." l laugh and proceed to explain everything to her.
Surprisingly she didn't freak out and instead asked to meet eli.
I explained to her that he probably wouldn't feel comfortable considering everything that happened today and she understood.
Now yes my mom is the least understanding person I know but abusive fathers kind of run in my family. Her grandpa was abusive and so was her dad before they both passed away so she understands when it comes to this topic, which I'm quite grateful for.
"Just take care of him okay?" she says, referring to eli.
"I will mom, thank you." l give her a quick hug.
"Yeah, and don't forget your brother too."
"Of course l won't, mom." l chuckle and roll my eyes.
"Okay, well, l guess I'll see you in a few days then." she says, rolling her suitcase out of the room as a l follow her.
"You're leaving now?" l ask
"Yeah, she called and sounded pretty depressed on the phone so l took the rest of the day off work and decided I'd go visit her today." she explains
"Okay, tell everyone l sent my farewells." l mumble.
"Will do, take care okay?"
"Alright, I'll see you later." she squeezes me into a hug and l hug her back, making the most of her being in a good mood.
She says her goodbyes to hunter while hannah and l awkwardly exchange brief goodbyes.
After they leave l explain to hunter the situation leaving out the details and he agrees to watch a movie in the living room while l spend time with eli to try and help him feel better.
"Sorry that took so long, mom just left so we have the house to ourselves now. Are you hungry?" l ask, stepping inside my room where eli is seated on my bed.
"A little bit, but mostly if you have any Tylenol I'd love some. My head is killing me." he replies.
"Of course, it's right over here." l say and pull my drawer open, handing him the bottle of pills along with another one of water from my desk.
"Thanks." he takes them.
"Yeah, it takes a minute to work but once it does you're going to be alright."
° ° ° °
Hello people.
Sooo me being the irresponsible person that l am I've changed my mind for the thousandth time, I'm not making a sequel.
I decided that I'm just going to complete it all in one book.
It might be a bit longer than yiur average 40 chapter Wattpad book but at the beginning the chapters were like 300 words long so that caused a bit of trouble but I'm working on it.
Thank you everyone for 41k. Y'all always leave me with no words. I love you all.
Also yesterday l confronted someone l never thought l could and spent three hours straight crying afterwards but as much as I'm glad l finally did it, it's all too astounding to comprehend and it's taking me a minute to wrap my head around the fact that l actually did it. But, I'm quite proud of myself for finally managing to do it and l need somewhere to rant so here l am lol
That's it for today folks.
Lots of love to all you beautiful souls, Sera xxx 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤