Chapter 4: Dinner with Bruises TRIGGER WARNING: ⚠️ pedophilia and abuse ⚠️

I walk into the school doors and straight to my locker. Prem is standing next to it talking to Landon. "Hey guys." I say, walking over to them.

"Hey." They say at the same time, continuing to ignore me and continue their conversation as if I'm not even there.

"Hello? I don't like being ignored." I say teasingly but they continue ignoring me. Am I invisible or something? "Alright, bye. I'm going to my first class. See you both at lunch." I say and turn around, walking off to my first class.

~~~

I make it to lunch without dying of boredom. Finally, I can have a civilized conversation with my friends since they ignored me this morning and through all of my morning classes.

I sigh, walking into the lunch room, and look for my friends who should be at our lunch table. Instead, I'm struck with shock. Drake is sitting there talking casually with Landon. I watch them fist bump and do that 'bro hug' thing guys do. What is this world anymore?

"Drake?" I ask, walking up to the lunch table and staring at Drake in confusion. "What are you doing here?" I ask and Landon looks at me, utterly confused.

"You know him?" Landon asks.

"No..." I trail off, looking somewhere else.

"Don't even Clumsy. Yes you do. No need to lie." Drake says, making me glare at him.

"Well, we have to talk." I say, trying to give him the idea that we can't hang out at school, but I lead him to an abandoned hallway in the school and make sure no one's listening before speaking again. "Drake, I don't know what to do. I'm freaking out on the inside, my mom isn't coming back home until Friday, and she's making me meet her boyfriend for dinner tonight, and I don't know what to do. Please help me." I say, rambling.

"Your mom isn't going to be there when you meet him?" Drake asks slowly, and I nod.

"Yeah, she's a lawyer and she flew out somewhere for a case, I believe. But I seriously don't know what to do. He's her first boyfriend after-" I say, pausing and realizing that I almost just told Drake about my father's death when I was seven.

"After what, Londyn?" Drake asks, curiosity showing. Curiosity killed the cat Drake. It did.

"After- nothing. After nothing, yeah. Don't worry about it. What should I do?" I ask, changing the subject.

"I guess just act normal. Be yourself and see how it works out." He says carefully, as if I'm a ticking time bomb about to explode.

"Alright, yeah. I can do that. Just please don't tell my friends about any of this. They can't know." I say.

Drake nods. "I can do that." He says, mocking my earlier words.

"You can sit at our lunch table if you want, I'm not going to forbid it." I say and he laughs as I almost trip over my own feet. "Be quiet." I mumble angrily and he laughs again.

"Never. You're too clumsy for me to be quiet all the time." He says, chuckling lightly.

And with that, we make it back to lunch.

~~~

After Drake left to sit with his other friends, Landon told me that him and Drake used to play soccer together, and they were friends after that, and he said it was nice to see him again. But Landon also warned me not to get too close to him, because he was supposedly 'dangerous' but I pretty much ignored that part. He's too kind to be dangerous. Something tells me he isn't going away anytime soon. Then Prem showed up, and she looked kind of ecstatic, telling us she was asked out in between two of her classes and she said yes, and I watched Landon as he went stiff and his shoulders slumped, so I decided to talk to him about it.

"Landon, can we talk?" I ask him, and Prem still has a giant smile on her face.

"Yeah, sure." Landon answers.

I take him to the hall where I talked to Drake. "You like Prem." I say and his eyes widen. "Correction. You love Prem." I say, my smile becoming wider- and probably creepier- as I watch Landon's eyes widen more and a blush is spread across his cheeks. "Don't let her go, Landon. You gotta keep trying for her. She got asked out? So what. Make her love you like you love her, then she'll be done with whoever this other guy is and come straight to you. Just don't let her go." I say giving him advice. He needs to keep running after her or I'm gonna end up insane if they don't end up together.

"I love her." Landon says, looking at the floor, cheeks red with embarrassment.

After talking with Landon, we go back to lunch and eat with Prem. Landon continued blushing when she would turn and say something to him. I then dismissed myself from the table and headed to the music room.

Outside of the music room, I knock quickly and open the door, nodding to Mr. Mick. He smiles at me. "Hey, Londyn." He says. "Are you here to practice your piano?" He asks kindly. Mr. Mick has always been my favorite teacher ever since I first walked into the room in 9th grade. He was immediately kind and I took a liking to him.

"Yeah, I was hoping to practice my song for the school talent show. Is that alright?" I ask him, standing in front of his desk.

"Yeah, that's fine. Go ahead." He says, still smiling kindly.

"Thank you." I say.

"Your welcome, hun. Anytime." He responds and I go over to the piano and sit down on the stool in front of the keys.

My hands glide artistically over the keys, fingers moving quickly. Once I got used to the piano, -being a switch between the piano and my keyboard at home- I closed my eyes and started singing along.

Nearing the end of the song, I sing the final chorus. "When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears. When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears. And I held your hand through all of these years. You still have all of me." I finish, yet my fingers continue to glide across the keys, finishing the song. I hear multiple claps from behind me and turn around so quickly I'm surprised my neck didn't snap.

In the doorway, I see Drake standing there clapping quietly, along with Mr. Mick. Embarrassment seeps through me, and I bury my face in my hands. "How long were you listening?" I ask Drake.

"I heard you as soon as you started the first chorus. You're amazing by the way." He says and I'm sure my face looks like a tomato.

"Thank you." I say quietly. I walk over to both of them and turn to Mr. Mick. "Thanks for letting me practice." I say to Mr. Mick and he nods.

"Like I said before, anytime." Mr. Mick says. "Good job, kiddo. You're gonna do good in your future."

"Thank you Mr. Mick. It means a lot." I say and leave the music room, Drake by my side.

"You better be doing the talent show." Drake says bluntly.

"Of course I am. I've been planning this since freshman year." I say, smiling to myself. "I've played piano since I was four. And sang since I was 9."

"Oh- and I was thinking- if we're really gonna find your sister, then I might want to start with a name." Drake says lightly.

"H-her name was-" I pause, noticing my stutter and stop myself in the hallway by putting my hand on a locker. "Her name was Brexley." I say, my voice higher with confidence. "Brexley Lavinia Oakley."

"So what's your full name?" Drake asks curiously.

"Londyn Willow Oakley." I say happily. I've always loved the modern sound of my name for some reason.

"Like a willow tree. Lasts a lifetime, stands out gorgeously like a white dove in a field of crows. I like it." Drake says.

"Thanks." I say, looking down at the ground as my face heats up. "Alright, lunch should be ending now so we should get going. You're in my english class, right?" I ask Drake.

"Yeah." Drake answers. We start walking again.

"Uh- do you think we could hang out before my mom's boyfriend takes me to dinner?" I ask nervously. "We could do homework or something, or I have a soccer field set up in my backyard." I say, trying to persuade my newest friend.

"Yeah sure. Who else is gonna keep you sane before your mom's boyfriend arrives?" Drake asks smugly. I look over to see him smirking.

"Whatever. Let's get to class." I say and walk ahead of him but Drake sets his hand on my shoulder, and I blush as sparks run down my arm.

"Chill. I'm kidding." Drake says, laughing, and I turn my head and glare at him. "What?!" He questions loudly, his hands up in surrender.

I walk quicker and get to the classroom door before opening it quickly and sliding through, not daring to hold it for Drake. I slide into a seat in the back and take my book out of my bag. I bury my face into it and ignore Drake opening the door and stomping over to the desk next to mine. He sets down his bag and I open my mouth to speak but he interrupts me.

"Don't- don't even. I'm sitting here." Drake argues.

"But-" I try again but Drake interrupts again. That seat was usually Prem's.

"Prem and Landon can sit in front of us." Drake reads my mind.

"Fine." I say, finally completing a sentence of one word. I close my book and put it into my bag. As I'm doing that, Prem walks into the classroom followed by Landon. Prem's eyes find mine and I smile and shoot her a sympathetic look, motioning my head to Drake sitting next to me.

She mouths 'It's fine' and sits in the desk in front of me, while Landon sits in the desk in front of Drake. "Hey Londyn. Where did you go for the rest of lunch?" Prem questions me.

"I went to Mr. Mick to practice for the talent show. Drake found me there and we walked here together since he's in our class." I answer Prem.

"Ooh." Prem says, wiggling her eyebrows at me. "Anything else I should know about?" Prem asks and I mentally facepalm.

"We're gonna hang out after school." I answer, blushing. I look between Prem and Landon, hoping everything is okay between them. "So, who's this guy that asked you out earlier?" I ask Prem, changing the subject quickly.

"Well, I kinda lied to make Landon jealous." Prem quickly whispers at me and my eyes widen as a large grin spreads across my face. I squeal and Prem slaps her hand over my mouth. "Shut up!" She whispers loudly at me, all while blushing furiously.

"Well, he was certainly jealous." I whisper into Prem's ear. I can practically hear her smiling.

"What should I do?!" Prem starts freaking out in front of me. "Should I wait for him to ask me out, or should I ask him out myself?" Luckily Landon is too busy conversing with Drake to pay attention to Prem. Or so I thought.

"What I think- you're gonna hate me- is that you should figure it out yourself." I say, smiling lightly.

I turn to see Landon staring at us with a wide grin spread across his face. From what I can tell, he's planning something.

He stands and walks around to the desks me and Prem are sitting at and reaches into his back pocket, taking out a small box covered in blue velvet. Prem still isn't paying attention as Landon bends down on one knee.

"Prem." I mumble, shocked. Landon is going to ask Prem out.

She turns around and starts squealing. "Prem," Landon starts. "Will you make me the happiest guy in the world and be my girlfriend?" Landon finishes, and Prem is grinning like a maniac.

"Yes! Yes! Oh my goodness yes!" Prem says, squealing. Landon opens the box and unclasps one side of a necklace from the other and stands. The necklace is beautiful. It's a single golden heart, in a three-dimensional figure, and I notice that it's a locket. On the bottom right along the edge, it says her name in curvy letters.

I grin at the new couple in front of me. They are perfect together. Their opposite personalities work perfectly with each other.

The class applauds, and Drake and I both join in.

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

I walk to my house with Drake as I shake in fear. We walk in silence, my hands shaking horribly, and Drake moves in front of me, stopping our walking. He grabs each of my hands in his own, giving them warmth and stopping them from shaking. "Londyn," Drake starts as I stare down at our feet. "It'll be okay."

I look up slowly and stare into Drake's kind blue-green eyes. He smiles genuinely, and brushes his thumbs over the back of my hands to sooth my nervousness. My fear that my mom is moving on from my dad.

Surprising even myself, I wrap my arms around Drake's shoulders and rest my head on his collarbone. He smells like raspberry iced tea and lemons. "Thank you. For everything." I mumble against Drake's chest. My face heats up at the close proximity and I feel butterflies in my stomach. I'm not sure if the feeling is good or not.

"Anytime Londyn. We should probably get going so that you have enough time to get ready for the dinner. Since girls tend to take multiple hours to do those things." Drake says, pulling away and laughing at himself as I smack his arm.

"We do not." I say stubbornly, talking about the population of girls in the world. "At least I don't anyway. But yeah, we should get going." I say, happy for a subject change.

We get to my house in the matter of minutes, still talking about anything random we can think of.

"So, um. This is my house." I say, motioning to the interior of my house after be both stepped inside.

"It's nice." Drake comments.

"Now. We go to my room so I can try on every dress in my closet- which can't be many- and then yeah." I say and start up the stairs which are next to the front door. I hear Drake's footsteps following me, telling me he isn't hesitating to go into a almost stranger's room when nobody's home.

Why am I trusting him in my house? I don't know. However, I don't care.

I open the door to my room and walk in, making room for Drake to walk in as well. My walls are a deep blue-violet, with planet stickers on the walls. Glow-in-the-dark stars stick to the ceiling from when I was a child. My dad put them up there a month before he died. I smile at the memory

Drake walks over to my bed and sits down as I move the closet door aside and start rummaging through it. I grab three dresses, one is bright red, another is white with a silver waistband, and the third is a dark violet at the top and fades down to a blue in the skirt.

"I'll be back." I say to Drake and he nods in acknowledgement before I leave the room and head to the bathroom.

I first try on the red dress. It's a halter-neck that has a thin band around my neck. It's tight at the torso, and flows loosely from my waist, the skirt landing at my knees. I smile unknowingly at myself in the mirror and walk out of the bathroom and back to my room to get Drake's opinion.

I slip into my room and Drake looks up and smiles slightly. "What do you think?" I ask, giving it a small spin.

"It looks amazing, but I think it might be a little much for dinner with your mom's boyfriend." Drake answers kindly.

"Alright. I have two more anyway. I'll be back." I say again and head back to the bathroom to try on the white dress.

After I've tried on the white dress and showed Drake, I head back to the bathroom to try on the final dress- the dark violet one.

I slip it over my head and watch it in the mirror. The skirt lands above my ankles in the front and lands below them at the back. The top is dark-violet and is covered in patterns of diamond-like crystals. It's a halter neck with a violet choker-like top holding it up. The waistband is a belt of the crystals that cover the top and the skirt fades from the dark-violet to an almost sky blue. I immediately know this is the one.

I am wearing this dress to dinner.

I walk out of bathroom and back to my room to show Drake. When I walk in he instantly looks up and smiles. "That one, Londyn. You should wear that one. You look stunning." Drake complements, smiling.

My cheeks heat up and I look at the ground. "Thank you." I mumble. I look up at him. "What time is it?" I question curiously.

"Oh, it's 5:30." Drake answers.

My eyes widen and i start panicking. "Oh gosh, I'm never going to survive this. You have to go, he can't see you." My fingers start trembling in fear.

"I'll leave, but before I do, I need your number." Drake says and my face heats up. Why would he want my number? "So I can talk to you after I leave, and so that you don't back out and like, lock yourself in your room, unable to leave for the dinner." Drake finishes and I sigh in relief. Of course he wouldn't want my number like that.

"Y-yeah." I reply, and nearly smack myself in the face. "Of course." I say, handing him a slip of paper I had on my desk with my phone number on it.

"Thanks." Drake says, standing up. He walks over to the door. "I'll call you when I get home. You will answer, or I will come right back here and stay with you until your mom's boyfriend gets here." Drake finishes, joking, but he does seem intimidating.

"I will answer. Unless my phone dies." I say, trying to find a way out of this.

"Londyn." Drake scolds.

"Drake." I say, mocking him. I cross my arms. "Fine." I say, acting like a child and looking down at my lap.

"I'll call you." Drake says and leaves my room.

"I'll call you." I mock him again.

"I heard that!" Drake calls from down the hall.

"I heard that!" I mock Drake again. I can practically hear him roll his eyes at my childish behavior. After hearing the front door open and close again, I start panicking.

I bounce my foot up and down which is making my knee bounce. Hyped up on extra energy, I start giggling at the bounce of my foot and knee.

I wait about two and a half minutes before my phone rings. "Hello?" I ask Drake.

"Londyn," Drake sighs in relief. "You didn't back out. Now I don't have to come back to your house even though I am just sitting on the bench down the street." Drake says and I gasp.

"Drake! Seriously, you trusted me that much just to sit on the bench down the street! You can be awful sometimes." I answer incredulously.

"I know. So I can go home now, right?" Drake asks, still not trusting me.

"Yes, Drake! Yes you can! Why can't you trust me?" I ask myself, shaking my head as I hold the phone to my ear.

*Ring*

"Because you're untrustable." Drake jokes.

*Ring*

"Drake he's here! I gotta go, the doorbell just rang. Bye, talk to you tomorrow!" I say quickly and hang up. I jump up from my bed and scramble to grab my small shoulder bag, phone, and earbuds just in case I want to douse myself in music if it doesn't go well. "Coming!" I yell out the hallway as I run down the stairs.

I open the front door with haste to see a strange looking man wearing a red and black flannel with black ripped jeans. It looks like he hasn't shaved his face in days, and his hair looks disheveled and dirty. "Like what you see?" The man- supposedly my mom's boyfriend- asks me.

"Aren't you my mom's boyfriend?" I ask with confusion. I didn't expect this at all.

"Why, yes I am. And you must be-" He starts but I cut him off.

"Willow." I say, using my middle name. I am not telling this man my real name.

"Oh, why I thought it was L-" He starts but I cut him off again.

"Nope, it's Willow." I say, trying to act innocent but already failed. Hopefully he doesn't notice.

"Alright, well I'm Jason, your mom's boyfriend. It's lovely to meet you Willow." He has a strange, crooked smile. There's something really off about him, but I can't place it.

"Thank you." I say in a way that makes me seem awkward. "Should we get going?" I ask, trying to change the subject.

"Yes, my car is waiting outside." Jason answers.

We make our way down the walkway and to his car. It's an old, beaten up Ford pickup. He gets in the driver's seat and I get in the passenger's side. "So, how long have you known my mom?" I ask Jason, while also trying to make casual conversation. Small talk. I already know that I'm never calling this stranger my father.

"Around 2 months." Jason answers. I gasp as the time surprises me. My mom only knew this strange man for only two months and he became her boyfriend.

"She must really like you." I comment.

"Yeah." Jason says, and things become awkward as we ride to the restaurant we should be going to.

After a few minutes of silence, I decide to speak up with a question that has been bothering me the entire ride. "Where are we going?" I ask, my curiosity growing each second.

His answer makes me freeze. "My place." Jason answers. "I have dinner made there." He finishes and I sigh in relief.

We stop at a red light and he looks over at me. I immediately feel guilty. "Sorry, It's usually hard for me to trust people anymore." I explain my hesitance. Too many people have been taken away from me. It seems I can't trust people often. I'm afraid of being hurt.

"That's okay." He says quietly, and his face looks to be one of frustration. I wonder what he's thinking. His face morphs back to the normal straight face. "Alright, we're here." He says as the car jerks to a stop and I almost fly forward, at least I would have if I hadn't had my seatbelt on. He unbuckles and doesn't even apologize.

I look out the window to see a white house, with plenty of windows, yet every one showcases closed curtains. Great. Another thing to add to my anxiety for entering this stranger's house.

I unbuckle my own seatbelt and get out of the car hesitantly. Shutting the door, I follow Jason into the house. The house is immediately cold, and has an eery feeling to it.

He leads me to a room with a small table in the center, and two chairs facing each other. There's no plates, utensils, or food in sight. "You can take a seat." Jason says, and heads into a room off to the side of the dining room. I hope he's just getting the food.

I sit down in one of the chairs and it creaks under my weight. I feel like it might break. Jason comes back a couple of minutes later with an approximately two-inch tall tray that looks like it contains cheese and sauce. "What did you make?" I ask curiously.

"Lasagna." He replies.

Awkward silence fills the room as he sets the tray in the center of the table. He then takes tin foil off of the top which was probably keeping it warm. Inside the tray looks to be normal lasagna. He then distributes a piece for each of us. Awkwardness fills the room while we eat before I swallow what I was eating and speak up. "Sorry that I'm so tense. You're my mom's first boyfriend after my dad died." I speak gloomily, memories flooding my mind. Not many are sticking anymore since it was so long ago I saw him. Alive, anyway. He shows up in my dreams sometimes, but I know it isn't real. Sometimes I have nightmares about the accident. They're almost all different.

"That's great." Jason starts. "Someone else who doesn't trust me." He mumbles and rises from his chair. His plate is empty, and he picks it up with what seems like aggression. I stand quickly, moving my chair to the side.

I flinch as he throws his plate at the wall behind me, the entire thing shattering across the floor. I step back, glass crunching underneath my shoes. "W-what are you doing?" I stutter in panic.

He takes an intimidating step towards me, my fear growing as his face morphs into one of menace. That's when I realize I have nowhere to run.

And then he lunges at me. I try screaming quickly, but his hand covers my mouth before I can scream loud enough for anyone to hear my pleads. "You will not scream." Jason whispers into my ear. "Or things will get a lot worse." He threatens.

My eyes go wide as what he's doing registers in my mind. He drags me into what looks like a bedroom and throws me onto the bed.

I feel tears falling quickly down my cheeks in fear. Jason takes a scarf of some sort and ties it around my mouth. Then he takes a roll of duct tape from one of the tables and wraps it around both of my wrists, keeping them behind my back.

Jason starts undressing. "P-please." I cry.

"Stop crying." He demands and punches my abdomen. He then continuously kicks me in the stomach before continuing to get undressed. As he starts to strip out of his boxers, I take my chance. I shove my foot as hard as I can into his junk and run.

As I get to the front door, I turn and fumble to unlock the door and open it, but I get it open just as Jason gets back to me. He shoves me against the door, his hand fumbling my breast and his lips attacking mind.

It's so hard to breathe. It's so hard to breathe.

I finally take my knee up for a final blow and land it right where I wanted it. He falls to the floor and I manage to pull my hands out of the duct tape and get out of the front door.

"Get back here!" He yells as I run as fast as I can towards the sidewalk. He stays inside his house though.

I run until I can't breathe and my lungs burn. "Londyn!" I hear my name called from the street beside me. My head turns quickly to a familiar voice. It's Drake.

I take off sprinting down the street, tears streaming down my cheeks and I feel blood dripping from my arm to my fingertips. He must've gotten me with one of his rings. I finally fall on the sidewalk as I try to run. I don't want Drake seeing me like this.

I hear his loud footsteps behind me and just as I get to my front door I feel Drake's hand latch onto the spot in between my shoulder and my neck. He spins me around to face him.

I stare at the ground, ashamed that he's seeing me like this. "Londyn, what happened? Are you okay?" Drake asks. I don't lift my head to look at him. Drake takes a look at my expression and helps me inside, my shaking hands incapable of getting the key into the lock.

Once I shut the door behind Drake, I take off running up the stairs and to the bathroom, the pain finally catching up to me. I slam the bathroom door shut and lock it, finally sliding down to the floor. I hiss at the burning feeling on my arm and scream out in pain.

Drake pounds on the door and my head spins at the loud sounds. "Londyn, come out of there please." Drake pleads.

"I'll b-be out in a minute, l-let me fix myself up," I say painfully.

Drake stays silent, and I figure he went to wait for me.

I take off my dress and then open up the cabinet and pull out a roll of bandages, the kind I've used many times for the sprains I've gotten too many times out of clumsiness. And then I look into the mirror.

Oh my gosh.

My abdomen is covered in bruises. They are a mix of an ugly dark blue-violet color and a mustard yellow. I look so bad. He must've beaten me up more than a thought.

I scream as memories start flooding my brain. I shut them out.

After I finish staring at the bruises covering my stomach, I realize I don't have any clothes to change into.

I grab a towel from beside the shower and wrap it around my body before slowly opening the bathroom door. I peek out and look both ways. I see nothing, or more like no one. Then I quickly walk to my room. Once inside, I shut the door and turn around quickly but scream at the sight in front of me.

I instantly cling onto the towel harder as I see Drake sitting on my bed reading through my noteb- wait my notebook?!

Instantly my eyes start to water at the sight of my notebook.

I quickly run over to Drake- whose eyes are very wide- and rip the notebook out of his hands. I clutch it to my chest with one hand as the other holds my towel on. "I-I need clothes," I say quickly and rip the first thing I can find out of my closet before rushing back to the bathroom.

As soon as the door shuts, I notice my alarmed expression in the mirror and how my hand is clutching my clothes and notebook so tightly that my knuckles are white.

I set down all I was holding on the counter and change into the large hoodie and sweatpants I grabbed. That's when I start eyeing the notebook lying on the corner.

I go to grab it but decide against it. I'm not ready to open it yet. I hang the towel back up and leave the bathroom, unsure if I'm ready to face Drake yet.

Entering my bedroom, I notice how Drake is sitting on the edge of my bed, his posture slumped, and he's staring at the floor as if something is bothering him.

"Hey," I say, opening the bottom drawer on my dresser and shoving the notebook in the back, also burying it with clothes.

"Hey," Drake says somewhat gloomily.

"What's up?" I ask as calm as I can.

He cracks his casual smirk. "The sky." He answers jokingly. "Are you okay?" He asks, his smirk gone, now his expression filled with worry.

"Yep." I lie.

"Londyn, you're lying. I can see it in your face, I'm not stupid." Drake says and that's when I break.

I start falling to my knees but Drake catches me quickly and locks his arms around my waist and sits me on my bed. I instantly start crying on his shoulder and I feel bad I'm getting his shirt wet. "I-I'm sorry." I stutter and notice how it's painful to speak.

"What are you sorry about? Don't be sorry about anything." Drake says softly, trying his best to comfort me, and it's definitely working.

"I-I'm sorry for getting your shirt wet," I say quietly and Drake laughs.

"You don't need to be sorry about that," Drake says kindly.

"O-Okay," I reply, brightening up a bit.

I finish my crying and sit back, looking at Drake. "Are you going to tell me what happened?' Drake asks hesitantly.

I nod slowly. "Yeah. So I'm guessing you already know that it happened at the dinner?" I ask and he nods. "My mom's boyfriend, his name was Jason, he had a strange behavior like some sort of hidden bad temper. 

"So during the car ride or while we were eating I would see this flash of anger in his eyes but it would quickly be hidden. When we were both finished eating, I apologized for being so tense because of- something scary in my past, let's call it that. 

"And he stands up, he looked at me but his eyes were filled with rage and he th-threw his plate at me, but it hit the wall a-and I had nowhere to go. Then he lunged at me and covered my mouth so I couldn't scream. After that he dragged me to his bedroom and threw me onto the bed. He taped my hands together, and he told me to stop crying and he hit and kicked me. A-and then- and then he started t-to undress.

"Oh my God, h-he started to take his b-boxers off but I kicked him down there.

"I thought I got away until I got to the door and h-he started grabbing at my chest and shoving his disgusting mouth onto mine. I managed to knee him there and run. Who knows what he would've done to me if I hadn't escaped." I say strongly.

I look over at Drake who had this angry look on his face- almost something that looks protective. "I'm gonna kill him," Drake mumbles angrily.

I'm quick to respond. "Oh no, you won't. You aren't going to jail under my watch. Let me deal with this please." I plead him. "D-do you want to see the bruises," I ask nervously. I think I trust him enough for him not to judge me. Why am I putting so much trust into a stranger?

Drake nods hesitantly and my hands find the waistband of my hoodie and tugs it upwards until it's resting underneath my bra. Now the bruises are on full display.

Drake's eyes wander over my bruise-covered abdomen, eyeing the violet and yellow colors splattered across my stomach and sides. "You can put your shirt down." He says, and I lower my shirt like he said.

That's when he stands up and hugs me, lightly laying his arms around my waist and a wonderful feeling flies inside of me. I immediately hug him back.

"It's going to be okay, Londyn," Drake says kindly, making me smile lightly after all that just happened. "He'll be in prison for a long time. Let's call your mom, tell her what happened."

My eyes widen at the thought. "W-we can't! She'll miss her case!" I stutter, bewildered at Drake's words.

"I'm sure she'll be willing to miss her case to make sure you're safe."

~CRASH~