First Encounter (3)

Coach made the call and soon, the adults I trusted most started to appear.

Dr. Moore arrived first, he had stayed late on the school campus for meetings with other teens in need. He approached me slowly and knelt down so we could be eye level. "Hey Jake, it's me. I need to know how bad your arm hurts on a scale of 1 to 10."

I looked at him through blurry eyes. 

"Jake? I need to know if you're okay." Dr. Moore said with concern. 

"Jake?" Noah stood right beside me. "C'mon Jake. It's okay. We're right here. You can talk to us remember?"

Remember? What do I remember? 

Memories of my mom flashed in my mind as Jeremy gripped my arm. He was just like her. He was mad at me like she was always mad at me. What did I do wrong? I don't understand. 

My vision got blurrier as fresh tears blocked them out. I was in pain. I felt ashamed. Embarrassed.