Chapter 5: Intrusion and Arresting

~~~~~TW: Self harm and mention of suicide~~~~~

"H-he's here!" I whisper-yell.

Drake heads to the door and opens it silently.

"W-what are you doing?!" I whisper alarmingly. Jason is gonna hurt him like he hurt me and I'm not going to let that happen. "I got this. He isn't hurting you too." I state quietly and grab the bat sitting against the closet door.

I keep it there just in case there's a burglary or intruder, so it's quite useful right now.

I hear footsteps heading up the stairs, heavy and slow. "Londyn~" Jason drags out. "Come out come out where-"

*BANG*

Jason staggers backward and I throw the bat to the side in shock. I stare in awe as Jason clutches his jaw where Drake just punched him. It almost sounded like Jason growled. 

Drake grabs his phone out of his back pocket and dials 911. "Hello?" Drake starts. "Yes, we have an intruder at-" He tells them my address and Drake gives more information before I notice Jason regain stability. I immediately look for the bat but by the time I catch sight of it, it's in Jason's hand.

My eyes widen as Jason takes a step towards Drake, ready to swing. I grab an empty vase from the table in the hall and bash it onto the back of Jason's head before he can hit Drake, then I knee him in his man parts to finish it off and he falls to the floor groaning in pain, the bat thrown to the side.

He is definitely never having children. Ever.

Jason is still on the floor as I go to pick up the discarded bat, but as I reach for it, he manages to grab my wrist. He tugs me toward him as his fist connects with the side of my head. I realize he must've still had his ring on as I feel liquid start running down my face. 

I manage to rip my arm away and clutch my head as Drake shoves his foot into Jason's chest, pushing him onto his back. 

Only minutes later, Jason is being dragged out of the house in handcuffs and I go to call my mom and fill her in on what happened.

Drake stands behind me as I dial my mom's phone number. I don't realize I'm crying until she picks up. "Mom." I cry.

"What's wrong sweetie? Is everything okay? I hear sirens." She voices, the concern showing in her voice.

"Jason tried to kill my friend and I." I say, nearly sobbing, but my head starts pounding. The paramedics wrapped my head and put gauze on the cut when they arrived with the police but they let me stay home after I refused any more treatment.

Drake puts his arm around my waist and pulls me to his side. I instantly feel calmer.

"I'm getting the earliest plane ticket I can. I'll be home by tomorrow. Where are you now?" She asks.

"We're in the house. The cops just took Jason out in handcuffs." I say plainly, my tears stopping.

"When I get over there I'll go to his cell just to break things off. It'll be okay honey. Can you ask your friend to stay over there for the night?" She asks and I blush at the statement. I don't think my mom knows who she's talking about.

"Uh, sure. Gimme a second." I state and mute my phone's microphone so my mom can't hear.

"I can stay over. Only if you're okay with that." Drake says as he had heard the entire conversation.

"Y-yeah, I-I'm fine with that. It'll be safer. Yeah." I say, convinced that's the only reason he's staying over. 

I unmute my phone's microphone and tell my mom that Drake can stay over, minus the Drake part. "Alright, hun. You and your friend stay safe, I'll see you tomorrow morning. Love you." My mom finishes.

"Love you too," I reply and she hangs up. I look over to Drake with a grin and ask, "Movie night?" and he nods excitedly. "Pick a movie, I'll go get blankets," I say quickly, and run up the stairs to empty the blanket closet. I need a distraction.

I end up dropping all of the blankets down the stairs. Drake laughs and walks to the stairs.

"Would you care to put the blankets in a pile on the floor in front of the stairs?" I ask him with a mischievous smile. He does as he'd been asked. I go face-first down the stairs into the pile of blankets and giggle once I reach the floor. I look up to see Drake laugh and roll his eyes at my childish. That's when I feel the pain.

"Oh my gosh, o-ow. I-It hurts s-so bad." I cry out as I realize I did not help my bruises. I still continue laughing though.

Drake rushes to my side and picks me up bridal style and sets me on the couch. I immediately miss his warmth. He goes back and puts the blanket over me and sits next to me, underneath the blanket. I blush at our close proximity.

I sit up and curl into his side as more pain erupts in my torso. "S-so what movie did you pick?" I ask as the pain fades.

A mischievous grin spreads across his face. "It." He says evilly.

My eyes widen. "What!" I say with fear. "You're insane!" I exclaim.

"You told me to pick. You can't undo that." Drake grins and presses play on the remote.

~ ~ ~

I scream and whimper into Drake's chest as another jumpscare sounds from the speakers.

Drake laughs loudly at my reactions as I continue with small screams at the loud, instant noises that penetrate my ears. I sigh in relief when the movie ends until I finally notice the position we're in. I blush and jump off of the couch and cough out, "I'll, uh, be right back," before heading upstairs and shutting my bedroom door quietly and locking it.

I slump to the floor and sigh again as our position finds its way back into my head. I find myself blushing again. I absolutely do not like him!

I shake my head and stand up. All of a sudden images of what happened earlier are shot into my head like painful flashbacks and I start feeling tears run down my cheeks.

How did I let this happen? Jason was sketchy enough, I should've known.

I run to the bathroom, already knowing I've disappointed my father enough. Why not disappoint him more?

I leave the bathroom door cracked open as I grab my razor and start pulling it apart. I grab one of the blades and look down at the sleeve of my hoodie. Without thinking, I take my hoodie off and throw it to the floor, letting my eyes wander to the many bruises I've gotten today. I grab the blade again and stare at my wrist, contemplating what I'm about to do.

I watch as the blade starts to slide along my wrist, my worries going away as quick as they came. This is the type of pain I can control.

"Londyn!" A voice screams. I drop the blade and hear it hit the floor. I look down at my wrist and see blood start to run down to my finger tips and drip onto the floor, watching as the white tiles get covered in red.

"I'm fine! I'm okay, everything is fine, everything is fine, everything is- not- fine." I say, my voice breaking. Drake throws the door open and looks as I break down right in front of him. He looks frantic like he doesn't know what to do. "Cabinet, th-the hallway. First aid. Please." I stutter as I start getting blood on my pants.

That's when I realize he probably thinks I was trying to kill myself. No, that wasn't my intention, I just needed to control some of the pain I felt today.

Once he makes it back to the bathroom, I start trying to convince him. "I-I wasn't trying to kill myself, I promise. Please don't tell anyone, I'll get sent away somewhere. I just needed a release. Today was too much. Way- too much. I needed to control some of the pain." I watch as Drake opens the first aid kit, nodding to my words. His expression is worried but sympathetic. "Gauze. Antibiotic ointment." He has a look on his face that's heartbreaking. 

I run the water until I feel it getting colder, then put my wrist underneath it. It stings, but it's cleaning out whatever could've been on the blade or got into the cut. I grab the towel and dry it off, getting some blood on it.

Drake puts some antibiotic ointment on the cut and starts wrapping gauze around my wrist, wrapping it around my thumb just so it stays on better. "Thank you." I say quietly. "I'm sorry for ruining your day."

"Londyn," he says, looking me in the eyes. "I'm glad I could help." He pulls me into a hug. This is one I definitely needed.

"Are you gonna send me away?" I ask quietly, worried he's gonna tell my mom. Or my friends.

"No I won't, Londyn. It's gonna be okay. I promise." Drake says and the world just feels calmer. We pull away from the hug and that's when I realize I'm just in my bra. "I'll let you put your hoodie back on." He says and turns around, just making sure I don't try anything again.

I pick up my hoodie and pull it back over my head. "I'm done." I say quickly and push past him, running to my room. I jump face first into my bed and start crying into my pillow. Everything today needs to stop. It isn't stopping. Please. Make. It. Stop. "What have I done?" I cry out, wanting the pain to stop.

I hear Drake take slow steps towards me, not sure of what he's walking into. He sits down on the bed beside me and grabs my hand. He pulls me up and I throw my arms around his shoulders, hands clutching onto his shirt like my life depends on it.

"Thank you." I say quietly and I feel him nod, not wanting to kill the moment. Once we pull away, I smile at him and stand up, wanting my fingers to glide over the keys on my piano before I go to sleep.

I slide my closet door open to reveal my piano. It isn't the best, it's quite old, but I've had it since I was old enough to understand music. I sit on the stool and my fingers instantly start pressing the keys, all tension erasing.

"Everything's gonna be alright, she whispers to herself. She was only six years old the night, as she hid behind that shelf.

"'Cause daddy had a little too much to drink, and mama didn't want her to feel the pain, she felt. But she still felt the pain.

"Well 10 years, they came and went, and dad was gone, so she looked for love in other men, and tried to act strong.

"Broken hearts and scars, in only places she could see. Cause she just wanted, she just wanted to feel something. And as she sat there on her bed, thinking 'bout what those girls said, tears streamed from her eyes, she cried."

As I finish His Daughter by Molly Kate Kestner, I feel myself crying too. Just resonating with the lyrics, but I stop as soon as the song is done. It's something that reminds me of my father. He wasn't an alcoholic, but he left me too early and it still hurts.

Drake hugs me from behind. "It's gonna be okay."

~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, I wake up quickly as I hear the front door open and close. Soon after, I hear talking between two people and realize what happened yesterday.

My mom must be talking to Drake. He slept on the couch last night. I insisted on giving him the bed, but he wouldn't budge.

He's too good for you. A voice in my head echoes and I shake off the thought and stand before going to my closet to get clothes to change into. He wouldn't want to be with me anyway.

After changing into a hoodie and jeans, I head downstairs to check on my mom and Drake.

Once I get down there, my mom is standing at the stove, and Drake is sitting at the table, chatting with my mom.

"Good morning," I say, making myself known. "How was your case turning out, mom? I'm sorry you had to come home early 'cause of me."

"Oh, honey. I'm sure they're doing fine without me. I should be the sorry one, I left you alone with him. I- I didn't know he was capable of that," My mom looks at the floor before her eyes find my face. "Are you okay after everything yesterday?"

I quickly glance at the sleeve of my hoodie shamefully before responding. "Yeah, I'm all good now, momma. You don't need to worry about it."

"Alright, fine, but I'm taking you to the doctor after school to get checked out. I wanna make sure everything's fine." She says and I nod.

She hands me a plate of eggs and sausage, which makes me realize that Drake is already eating. "Thank you." I tell her before taking a seat at the table. Her next words almost make me choke on my food.

"I didn't know you had a boyfriend, Londyn." She says and I start coughing violently, my face flaming red.

"Mom!" I protest loudly. "Not my boyfriend. He's my friend who happened to see me running back to the house yesterday." Drake chuckles as he sees how red my face is. "Which reminds me. Drake, don't you have to get your backpack and everything from your house? School starts in half an hour."

"Yeah. I'll get it once I'm done eating this amazing food. Thank you Ms. Oakley. You're an amazing cook. My parents can't cook for their lives." He responds and I see my mom smile. All I can think about is how he called my mom by Ms. and not Mrs. Does he know more than I've caught onto?

"Well, you're welcome to join us anytime. It was lovely having you." My mom finishes and I see Drake nod. I also notice he has finished his food, then he responds.

"Alright, well thank you for everything, Ms. Oakley. I think it's time to head back to my house so I can make it to school on time."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Drake left my house, I finished getting ready for school and got there quite quickly. My concussion has surprisingly gotten better even with everything that happened yesterday. It wasn't bad so it should be gone in a few days. 

After my first class ends, I head to second block which I have with Drake. I wonder if he's skipping today.  

And to my surpise, he wasn't. I send him a small wave as I go to my seat that I notice is right across from his. "You're in class today." I say, the surprise evident in my voice. 

"Well now I have a reason to." He replies and just as I'm about to ask what his reason is, the teacher decides to speak up and start class.

"Good morning class, as you all should know, we have a fire drill in a couple minutes. Once we're done that, I'll tell you about an assembly happening on Friday." My teacher finishes and the announcements come on before they announce the fire drill and everyone starts heading outside.

I walk with Drake towards the exit doors and nothing is said. It's a comfortable silence.

Once I say a short "see you in class" to Drake and get to where my homeroom is supposed to go, my homeroom teacher takes attendance and we stand there bored. I end up scrolling through my phone.

"Hey, pretty lady."

I jump at the voice I don't recognize and snap my head up to see who said it and see a tall boy with blond hair and green eyes. He's wearing a red flannel jacket. He looks athletic and definitely not my type.

"Um, hello." I say awkwardly, my foot tapping nervously.

"So, what's your name hottie?" I nearly cringe at the word but give a subtle sigh of relief when everyone starts heading back to class.

"Oh, uh, I have to go back to class. It was nice meeting you." I rush out quickly before heading back to class as fast as I can.

Once I get back to my seat, I let my heart rate slow down. My anxiety is not getting any better.

Drake gets there a minute later and questions my nervous look. "Yeah, uh, a kid from my homeroom decided to hit on me and that was so awkward." I explained awkwardly as I keep trying to calm down. It's a bit different with Drake because I know him and he's a bad boy so of course he openly flirts with girls. Drake would never like me like that but I wouldn't fall for him either. End of story.

"Alright, I believe everyone's back? Yeah, so now I'll tell you about the assembly happening Friday." My teacher says, officially starting class.

~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, it's lunch time. I don't have third block with Drake, Prem, or Landon so it was extremely boring.

Prem and Landon are already at our table when I arrive, and they Prem notices me first.

"Londyn! What happened to you?!" She asks me loudly.

"What are you talking about?" I ask her, confused. My hoodie should be covering all of my cuts and bruises.

"Your neck, there's a large bruise on it. Londyn, is everything okay at home?" Landon finishes for Prem and I feel my eyes widen as I try to come up with a quick answer for them. I then realize that I'm ready to tell them about what happened with my father and with what happened yesterday. They're my best friends, they deserve to know.

"Oh, well, um. I don't think we should talk about it here. Tonight at my house?" I ask hesitantly, telling myself that I'll tell them tonight. Everything.

"Well, um, I'm free tonight. Landon?" Prem asks, looking at our other friend.

"Yeah, I'm free tonight."