Chapter 6

"You know Denice, this is a really good exercise. Maybe we should do this more often." Renae couldn't help but show off how prideful she was feeling.

"Shut the hell up and stay still. Your cockiness will be your downfall." She panted as the vein in her forehead bulged and Renaes laugh roared.

Her laughter met a halt as did her steps. She looked behind her as she felt a hand grab her shoulder. He had long dark hair, it was tickling Renaes neck as he wrapped his arms around her chest. Denice took a deep breath as the dark haired boy tried his best to hold Renae still. Denice tightened her grip getting ready to swing the hardest she managed so far. Renae was able to watch Denice bring the bat back and charge it towards her, the bat growing in size as she swung at Renaes head. Seeing the bat come closer, Renae dropped to the ground, slipping out of the dark haired boys grasp. The bat met his nose, blood spewed from his mouth covering the bat, some even splattering on Denice and Renae. His hair was the last thing to fly as he hit the ground flat on his back.

Denice wiped the blood from her face as Renae jumped away and got to her feet "Oh my god..." Denice whispered to herself looking at the boy on the ground "Damn you." She growled at Renae.

"Thank you, I'm putting in effort here so it better pay off." Renae mocked her.

"This may be entertaining for you but I'm sick of this." The largest of the boys finally uttered.

"Oh let me guess, you're the muscles that's supposed to drag my corpse to the woods?" Renaes spit the words out trying to stall seeing him swinging a makeshift ball and chain.

"You're really freaking annoying." He muttered as he started swinging. Renae watched his glare burn into her memory, the feeling she got from him had struck the slightest bit of fear in her.

Worried about the ball and chain hitting her, she forgot about Denice and lost track of her. Renae backed against the wall, hitting it a few more times as she dodged. The ball met the wall making Renae run on the other side of him. She continued to step further away as he swung more towards her, his speed was catching up with her own. Renae was reminded of Denice as she felt the bat hit the back of her legs, making her fall to the ground. "Got you now." She smirked still out of breath, blood still smeared on her face.

Denice got behind the large boy and watched with glee as he brought the ball back to charge at Renae on the ground. The crowbar still being in her hands, as the ball flew over his head, she brought the bar up and watched the ball move slower and slower as it wrapped around the bar. The chain tightened so he couldn't pull it away, giving Renae her confidence back. She yanked down on the bar, pulling him down on top of her. Before his body could land on her, she kicked up her legs, using her back against the ground she pushed her feet into his sternum and kicked him with all the strength she had in her body. His feet left the ground as he flew and ended up landing on Denice and smashing her head into the wall.

Knowing they wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, Renae stood to her feet and dusted herself off. Afterwards she shook her hands as she felt herself tremble. She wiped the blood off of herself, hands still shaking.

"What the heck is going on back here-" Renae looked up to finally see Jarrod and Mr. K walking around the corner towards her. Just as Renae began to smile, Jarrod was struck with fear "RENAE! WATCH OUT!" As he screamed with desperation, he started running towards her. Renae could only see him paused, moving slower then she had seen anything else before. Trying to understand what was going on, she turned around. Her gaze was met with Danny holding a bat, only an inch or two away from her chin. She tried to move as she had before but was stuck in time just as everything else. She could only sit and watch as the bat was growing closer still.

The second the bat had met her it made contact with her chin lips and nose. She felt no pain as she felt air flurrying around her. Time had gone back to normal as she met the ground. She felt time was almost faster then normal. Jarrod ran to her side as Mr. K tackled Danny to the ground. Jarrods voice echoing in her ears, she was unable to understand what he was saying. She felt a wetness on the back of her head, which she noticed had a tickling sensation. She watched birds fly in the sky as she reached her hand back to feel her head, feeling nothing from her hands, she brought it back up to see it was covered in blood. The last thing she remembers seeing is Jarrod yelling at her in her tunneling vision before everything became a black blur.

-Renaes POV-

"Daddy, please don't go. Mom's sleeping and if we wake her up she's going to be angry." A familiar little girls voice was quiet and shaky. Was that my voice?

"Shh baby. Just stay in your room and play quietly with your sister." Dad smiled to me clenching his teeth. Not noticing his fear and anger, I ran into my room.

"Can we play a game sissy?" The corners of my lips curled as I spoke. She was older, as old as the last time I saw her.

"I have to go. Don't follow me, don't tell anyone I left. I'll be gone in a few days. I'm not coming back. I promise I'll send letters and when I can take care of myself, I'll come back for you." She turned her back and began walking away. I couldn't help but cry. I closed my eyes feeling the tears burning my cheeks.

When I opened my eyes, Tyler was standing there smiling, reaching his hand out ot me "Let's be friends forever." His smile grew as I reached for his hand. Before my hand could even touch his, he was gone.

"Tyler? Wh-where'd you go? Tyler?" My heart sank, looking around seeing nothing but black space, "TYLER?!"

-Narrators POV-

"TYLER!" Renae continued to scream as she jerked herself awake.

"Hey, hey, hey... calm down." Jarrods voice echoed in Renaes aching head.

"Huh? Wh-?" She tried to ask squeezing her eyes shut.

"It was just a dream honey." He whispered taking a seat next to her on the bed. He brushed his fingers across her forehead and over the bandages.

"Ow..." She winced grabbing her head. Her own shock jumping her at the feel of the bandages. She looked at her hand and remembered seeing blood on it before "What... what happened?" She continued examining her hand and the I.V. hanging off of it. Jarrod grabbed her hand and pulled it down to her side being as gentle as he could.

"There was a fight... he almost ki-" Jarrod choked on his words "He tried to kill you." His voice was shaking with anger, even a hint of fear.

"I remember... Danny? He hit me with that bat?" She looked at her hand in Jarrods "But, he hit my face, why was the back of my head bleeding?" The volume of her voice slowly lowered as she thought out loud.

"When you fell back from the hit... your head hit the one da-" He became breathless as he tried to find the words to explain "You fell on the one and only rock in the area." He sighed.

"...What about being a bodyguard? I was supposed to meet with James later."

"I asked one of your teachers to help out so James could take a few nights off. Mr. K was more then happy to help after watching you get leveled as he said, he felt pretty guilty." He paused and bit his lip.

"Come to find out, James has been having issues with Danny sneaking out and causing all sorts of mischief. He's been trying to turn him around but this whole ordeal left him a bit frazzled." He let go of Renaes hand. "I should really go and get the nurse, just to let the doctor know you're awake."

"Can you get me some water then too please?" She asked as he stood up.

"You got it. I'll be right back." He walked out of the room and sighed "I'm sorry hun, I hate lying to you, but it's what's best right now..." He whispered to himself before turning to go find the nurse.

Renae laid her head back and let her vision blur in and out, she was reminded of her childhood and how hard it had been for her. She thought of how lucky she was to be in the care of her father, had this happened while she was with her mother, Renae never would have seen the hospital, or even a doctor. Staring out the window, Renae felt a presence walk in the room. She turned her head to meet a doctor walking in.

"Well, look who finally woke up. Enjoy your cat nap?" His voice had an effect on Renae, a feeling Renae never had before, or even understood. She gazed at him and took in all of his features, from his blonde hair, his light colored eyes, his dark red scrubs with a white hospital coat and his I.D. tag hanging from one of the pockets of his coat to his intimidating persona. She felt something from him, he wanted to be intimidating and kind all in one but her feeling told her he didn't care much about anything except one soft secret hiding too far down.

"I don't want to be rude here or anything, but I don't want to be here. Sarcasm isn't your best feature, your failed attempt at a five o'clock shadow hiding your jaw does a better job. So if we can skip the introduction and pleasantries so I can figure out how to get home quicker, I'd really appreciate it. Just, please tell me how I can get home, basically yesterday." Renae tried to hide her blush thinking of all the stuff she needed to do at home.

The shock on his face was clear "Yes... well, thank you for being honest and straight forward. You can call me Dr. Jones." He looked at her and felt something in him spark. Shaking it off he turned his attention to the clip board in his hands.

He fidgeted with the pens in his pocket before he started speaking once more "First, you had a broken nose, your chin and skull was fractured but I don't see a reason to worry too much about it. You'll probably have a nasty scar under your nose but I'm sure with the right creams it'll heal nicely. As for the laceration on the back of your head, that's all it really was so we put in a few stitches. You came out like a champ, other than being asleep for so long." He flashed her a smile but dropped it the second she saw it. "On a serious matter, you should be more careful going forward. Fighting isn't something a girl of your size should even consider."

"Girl of my size?" She scoffed glaring at him.

"What I mean is, those kids were a lot bigger then you. If your dad hadn't shown up-"

"I'm sorry but my father didn't do shit. He's a pacifist at best. He may know how to fight but he refuses to hurt any living creature. I'm the one who stood up for myself when I needed to as I have my whole life and will continue to do so. Not that it's obvious to a man like you, but it's the truth." She crossed her arms "Besides, I asked you how to get home and I'm not hearing any real instruction, all I'm hearing is some very offensive and sexist judgement."