Chapter 37

**TW: Physical Abuse**

**Logan**

I follow her out of the room and watch as she looks at her phone. She groans slightly, runs her hand through her dark chocolate brown hair, and then turns to look at me.

"Oh, you scared me," she says, putting her hand to her chest and wiping away the tears on her cheek.

"Are you ok?" I ask. She nods with a small smile and sits on the couch. "Are you sure?" I ask.

"I'm just not feeling too well," she says.

"Well, I'll go get you a drink of water," I say, getting up and walking into the kitchen. I fill a glass with water and walk back into the living room to see her enter the bathroom and shut the door. I sigh and sit down next to where she is sitting and place the glass of water on the table. Her phone on the table caught my eye. I peer over at it to see there is a message open. I pick her phone up and see it is from her dad. 'You can't come home till you agree to play my games and do as I say,' it reads. I frown slightly and put her phone back where it is. What does he mean by games?

After a few minutes, she walks out of the bathroom, sits beside me, and picks up her phone and the glass of water. She looks at her phone and then sighs. "I'm going home today," she says, turning to look at me.

"Ok," I say quietly and watch her sip the glass of water.

"In about half an hour," she states. I sigh slightly. I don't want her to go. I want her to stay here where she is safe, even if Carl doesn't think so.

"Do you want me to take you?" I ask. She shakes her head.

"I'll get a taxi or something. It'll be easier," she says. Easier on who? Her or me?

"It's fine. I can drive you home."

"You will have to drop me off a block away then," she says and starts to text her dad back "urm..." she turns to look at me "about last night. I didn't mean to shout at you or cause an argument between Carl and you," she says.

"It's ok. I'm sorry for kissing you. I shouldn't have done that. I don't know what came over me," I say and get up. "Are you coming back in there?" I ask.

"Urm...no, I don't really want to sing, so...I'd rather stay out here," she states

"It's ok they were supposed to practice today anyway," I say.

"They?" she asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, when Carl has a day off, that is when they practice, plus they need it. They have a gig to do tomorrow," I pause. "I don't because I get myself out of it," I say with a small smirk.

"Do they do it to get famous?" she asks.

"No, it's just something for them to do, something to give them a reason to piss about afterwards...they only do gigs for parties or something, I'm not sure...but mostly for people who can't afford to get a massive band," I explain. She nods and then looks back at her phone. I watch her for a few seconds, then return back to the music room.

**Megan**

Mr Peters is driving me home right now. He doesn't seem too happy for some reason. He keeps sighing and frowning and clenching his fists. I had told him about three times this whole ride that he could just drop me off and go home, and I'd walk the rest. I figured that was why he was moody, as he was fine before we got in the car.

The car hums to a stop, and I look out the window to see he has stopped the car practically at the end of my street. He then gets out of the car and walks around to the trunk. I open the car door and climb out as he drops my bag in front of me.

"If you have any trouble when you get in, phone me, and I'll come and get you," he says, looking me in the eyes as if he is searching for something. I nod, although I know I won't. "So...I'll see you in school tomorrow," he states while shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Yeah," I say, and the next thing I know, he is hugging me. I slowly move my arms around him and hold him tightly

"Promise you'll call?" he asks

"I doubt I'll have any trouble. He'll be the same as he normally is," I say, as I don't like to break promises and well, I’m not lying he is going to be the same as normal, which is trouble.

"Ok," I hear him say, and he pulls back. "We'll talk tomorrow," and then he climbs back into his car. I pick my bag up and start to walk up my street home.

I put my hand on the front door handle to slowly open it and quietly walk into the house, shutting it behind me. I gulp and look around the living room to see him sitting in the armchair glaring at me. The curtains are still shut, so the room is darker than usual.

"Where did you go last night?" he asks.

"To a friend's house," I answer.

"Why did you hang up on me?" he asks, his green eyes looking at me as if they are trying to kill me.

"The signal went," I answer. He stands and walks over to me. My heartbeat quickens, and I swallow down my nerves and my tears. He stands about half a foot from me and looks down at me. I stay still, not daring to move.

"You owe me a game," he says. I look up at him and then quickly away. He scares the hell out of me, and looking him in the eyes petrifies me. I close my eyes, trying my best to calm down and not cry because it will only worsen what’s to come.

My eyes shoot open once I feel a searing pain run down my back and air escape my lungs. I fall to my knees, gasping for air. He has punched me in the gut, the impact making me step back into the wall. My head whips back when he grabs a hold of my hair and pulls me to look at him.

"You're a liar, aren't you?" he states. I nod slightly. "Now tell me what you're lying about" I shake my head, and tears run down my cheeks. I knew he had followed me last night; I could feel it. "It doesn't matter if you don't tell me because I will be ringing up that school, and I will report him," he snaps and starts to punch me.

"I don't know what you're on about," I yell.

"That fucking teacher of yours," he pauses, "you think I didn't see you both at the park?" he snaps. I collapse on the floor, and he picks me up by my hair and drags me upstairs. "You think it's ok for another man to touch you? Do you?" he yells as he throws me on the floor.

"He didn't," I say, trying to get myself up and wiping the blood from my lips. He kicks me in the head and starts to stamp on my body.

"I told you to stay away from him. Why don't you listen? He's a pervert," he growls.

"I'm sorry," I cry out. He grabs me by my hair and tilts my head; his eyes grow wide with rage, and then he drags me up. I start to cry as he pulls me towards my mirror.

"Do you see that?" he hisses. Tilting my head slightly, I blink several times, trying to rid my eyes of water. The faintest mark tinges on my skin. "Do you think it's ok to get a hickey from another man?" he roars. "Tell me, did you like it? Eh...did he pleasure you?" he says, throwing me forward. I put my hands out to stop me on instinct.

I must have gotten it from when he started kissing me; the love bite is only faint yet my father noticed it straight away. "We didn't have sex," I state.

"You lying little whore," he spits and punches me in the head. "I'm going to give you a whipping you'll never forget, and you'll think twice before going into another man's hands," he bellows as he starts to lay into me.

That night, he meant whipping as actual whipping. He practically tortured me, kept me up all night, beating me and raping me. I passed out twice, but he threw ice-cold water over me to make me come to. I prayed for death the whole night. I just want my life to end, my heart to give up on me, anything that will make this pain stop.