Chapter 57

**Megan**

Scouring the shelves of the pharmacy trying to find the vitamins I need I can feel someone watching me. At the corner of my eye I see the tall dark haired man walking towards me. I grab the vitamins I need and walk round the aisle away from him but he follows. I turn and look at him "Why are you following me?" I snap.

"I wanted to see if you are ok," he states.

"I'm fine" I snap and turn away from him as I reach for the painkillers that Are at the top. As I reach up a pain shoots through my ribs, I wince in pain and on instinct I put my hand to where the pain is. A warm strong hand moves over my hand holding me tightly.

"Nothing here will stop a broken rib from hurting, your best bet is binding them," he says in my ear. I gulp and regain my composure. "But this is the strongest stuff," he says, reaching for a box of painkillers and handing them to me. "I guess you're not fine" he says, taking his hand off me and walking away. I sigh and look down at my feet. He doesn't know anything so he should just stop lecturing me and leave me alone.

I glare at his back as I watch him pay for something that he probably doesn't need and then I walk over to the till once he is gone. What has happened to me is his fault. If he had just left me alone then Benjamin wouldn't have locked me in that cupboard for four days. He would have just done what he normally does but I had to suffer more because of him. Mr Peters would help me out more by leaving me alone.

Once I have my medication and vitamins I walk out of the pharmacy to my dad's massive black Land Rover. I walk around the car and get into the passenger seat. "Did you get what you need?" he asks. I nod and buckle my seat belt. "I may be home late from work today. I have a meeting and it may go on for a while, ok sweetheart" I nod "I'll probably be back about five so if you start dinner that'll be a big help" he says as he starts the car.

"What do you want me to make?" I ask.

"We haven't had Mexican chicken in a while" he pauses and keeps his eyes on the road "so if you marinate the chicken for me I'll put it in the oven when I get home" he states. "So can you do that for me sweetheart"

"Yeah" I mumble and he pull up to the school. "I'll see you when you get home then" I state.

"Yeah, see you sweetheart" he says as I shut the car door and walk off into school. I turn at the school doors to see him driving off. I sigh and walk fully into school.

The halls are empty as it is early and in winter students don't come in until at least twenty past eight and it is now five minutes to. This made the walk to my locker a bit less painless. Once at my locker I take out the books in my bag and put them in my locker and replace them with the books I will need for my first two classes.

I shut my locker and lean against it and drop my bag to the floor, dropping down with it. My sides kill. I have been in agony all morning and due to feeling like this most of the time for the past year and half I have been able to hide the pain quite well. It is only when no one is around that I can truly express the pain I'm in. A small whimper escaped my voice box as I move my legs up to my body. I move my arms over my knees and drop my head on my arms so I'm facing my lap. Tears form in my eyes and I try my best to blink them back, my body hurts so much and it feels like nothing I do will ease the pain at all. It hurts to breathe, to walk and talk. Everything I do causes me more pain.

"C'mon," I hear someone say. I slowly move my head up to see that it is Mr Peters. He stands holding his hand out to me.

"I'm fine," I say quietly "I'm just waiting for-"

"Megan come on," he says, cutting me off. "Or would you like me to carry you?" he asks. I quickly shake my head and reach out and take his hand. He helps me up and once I'm standing he takes my bag and puts it on the same shoulder his bag is on. I then feel him take my hand again but this time as if to steady me and we walk to his office.

**Mr Peters**

Once we get to the art room I lead her into my office and shut and lock the door behind me. It is obvious she wants help otherwise she wouldn't have taken my hand, she would have gotten up on her own and walked off. I sit her bag next to her and place my bag at the side of my desk. I then stand in front of her with my arms folded across my chest and perch myself on the edge of my desk.

She is looking down at the floor while fiddling with her fingers. I observe her more. She hasn't been in school for three whole days and she just turns up today looking frailer than she did before. Her hair is flat and dry unlike normally and she hasn't covered the bruises as well today. My gaze moves to her fingers and I see they are red and sore. There's a red band of sore skin around her wrists, which can only mean one thing. The fucker bound her.

"Urm..." she says, breaking the silence. She takes a deep breath, I have had broken ribs before so I know that is painful for her to do. She squeezes her eyes shut and then starts again. "How…how have you been?" she asks, looking at me with a small smile on her face that soon fades when she sees how serious I am. She looks away from me and pulls on the sleeves of her top, "It's not what you think" she says.

"How so?" I ask.

"I caught a virus," she states. I sigh and unfold my arms and rub my temples. "I.." she looks up at me and I open my eyes and look at her. She looks back at her lap and then I see the tear drop on her hand. She sniffs and then rubs her nose. I sigh again and sit down in the seat next to her and take one of her hands.

"Talk to me Megan," I say. She shakes her head and now I can see the tears going down her cheeks.

"If I do, it'll all go bad," she states.

"How can it get any worse?" I ask. She shrugs and by the look on her face that hurts her "If it can't get worse, Megan, then what is holding you back from telling me?" I questioned.

"Everything" she says turning to look at me "you don't understand,"

"Well if you let me then I will," I retorted.

She turns her head away from me "It's my entire fault anyway" she says playing with her sleeve "I'm the problem not him," she says.

"No, Megan, you're not" I say and hold her hand tighter "he is, he's the one doing all of this not you, you have done nothing wrong,"

"That's the thing though I have," she says looking down "this all started when my mom died and it is my fault my mom died," she says.

"No it isn't,"

"How do you know?" she asks, turning to look at me "you don't know what happened, you weren't there when it happened," she says angrily.

"Neither were you, Megan," I state.

"So, it is my fault my mom went out driving that night" she pauses and turns her head away from me "No one else's" she mutters. I sigh and move my hand out of hers and onto her shoulder. She flinches away from me and I move my hand fully away from her.

"Sorry" I mutter.

"What will you do if I tell you?" she asks suddenly. "If I tell you everything?" she adds.

"Report it," I say quietly hoping she won't hear me and I will report it as after seeing her today I don't care if she tells them that lie and I lose my job because all I want is for her to be safe.

There is silence. A dead chilling silence. She is obviously thinking it over.

"I wish it was all a huge nightmare. But it isn't and what happened over the past five days…" she says suddenly breaking the silence letting me know she is ready to open up and tell me everything.