haunted || l.h.

13

"Do you want anything to eat or drink? I can make you whatever you want." Luke said as he led me through the front door of his house.

"No I'm okay." I said and put my bag down on the floor next to his.

"Do you want to sit on the couch and talk?" He asked gently. I nodded my head at him and held my hands in front of me before he brought me over to the couch. I was anxious and scared, every time I tried to tell an adult it never ended too well for me.

"Can you tell me what's going on?" He asked and sat down on the couch so he was facing me while my back was pressed against the arm rest.

"I killed my mum and my grandparents and my dad hates me for it. I don't blame him. He lost his wife and his parents all in the span of like two days, obviously he hates me." I said and rested my chin on my knees as I brought them up to my chest. I didn't keep eye contact with him. I just stared at the pattern on my socks.

"Y-you what? How? How did you-"

"She died while she was giving birth to me and he blames it on me. I don't know what exactly went wrong, all I know is that it's my fault really. And then when my grandparents were driving me and my dad home from the hospital a few days later I guess I was crying in the back of the car. He says I 'distracted them and killed them' and he hates me. He reminds me of it every single day. Usually he's better at hiding these things but he got really mad at me the other day." I said and kept my gaze on my feet so I wouldn't have to look at him.

"That's not your fault P. I promise you that you're not the one to blame for any of that. Complications can happen during birth thats a known fact, and car accidents happen all the time. Maybe it wasn't your fault. Maybe it was the drivers in the other car or anything else. Just because he says you were crying doesn't mean that it was your fault." He aid reassuringly and gently took my hand and held it.

"It is my fault. Why would he hate me so much if I didn't kill them?" I said and shook my head at him.

"Because he's clearly heartbroken still and he needs someone to blame. I bet you he was a nice guy before, but I guess we'll never really know what he was like before. I'm sure he was a smart guy because you're so smart and I bet you he's blaming you because he can't find anyone or anything else to blame. It's not your fault I promise, he just needs someone to blame to make him feel better about it." He said and forced me to look in his eyes. I felt my eyes get a little watery and a small lump form in my throat. I didn't want to cry in front of him, that was the last thing I wanted to do.

"I want you to stay with me Pais." He said softly after a long silence.

"Why?" I asked with a genuinely really confused look on my face.

"He's hurting you Paisley. I can't let him continue to do this to you." He said gently but held seriousness in his voice.

"I didn't tell you because I was asking for help, I told you because you kept bugging me about it." I said and stood up from the couch.

"I don't care why you told me. This is a serious thing Paisley you can't stay there. He's hurting you and clearly he has been your whole life. You're traumatized and I knew it when I first met you that there was something going on. You need help and I want to help you." He said and walked closer to me to keep me from leaving.

"I can't stay here either." I said with a heavy sigh and looked down at the ground.

"Why?" He asked.

"I'm still 17 Luke, and he is my guardian, even if he's a shitty one. If I leave then he'll report me as missing and it'll be a whole thing. I can't leave him even though I want to more than anything." I said.

"So then if he reports you as missing you tell them why you left. You tell them what he's been doing to you." He said and put his hands on my shoulders.

"It doesn't work. I've tried so many times but they never believe me. They believe him because he's a good liar and makes up some excuse for why I would say such a thing." I said sadly and tucked my hair behind my ears.

"They don't believe you? How? That doesn't even make sense." He said with confusion written all over his face.

"One time he broke my ribs and I ended up needing to go to the hospital. When I was alone with the doctor I told them that he did that to me and he said he'd get some police officers to ask both of us questions. My dad told them that I broke my ribs after falling out of a tree and I have a mental disorder which was why I blamed it on him. And they all believed him because he's a white man and white men get away with everything nowadays. The second we got home he screamed at me and I ended up with a fractured skull. His excuse that time was that I was running around with my brother and hit my head on the fridge, I don't even have a brother." I said and watched his face change into a bunch of different emotions.

"Well now you have me. You have me now so I can help you. I can help you Paisley." He said reassuringly and confidently which gave me hope but I couldn't let it get to me. Every time I got hope that everything would be fine I would get disappointed.

"There's nothing you or me can do until I'm 18." I said with a heavy sigh.

"When do you turn 18?" He asked.

"February." I said.

"I'm not letting you stay there for that long. You're staying with me. Why does he even want you there if he resents you so much?" He asked.

"So I can clean the house and do a bunch of other stuff for him so he won't have to." I said.

"You can stay with me. We can talk to my parents when they get home tonight. You don't have to do much talking, I'll explain everything to them and I know they'll want to help you get out. We can give you a room and you can be safe here for as long as you need." He said quickly and looked into my eyes.

"I can't ask you to do that. I'm not your responsibility and I'm not your parent's responsibility either." I said sternly.

"You're not asking me to do anything. I'm doing this for you and you're going to let me. Tomorrow we can go to your house and get your stuff together." He said and pulled me in for a hug. I was a bit surprised to be this close to him if I'm honest. It got me really off guard and he probably noticed me flinch but he should be used to it by now.

  I slowly wrapped my arms around his torso and rested my head on his chest as he stroked my hair and held me close to him.

"Why are you doing this for me?" I asked and stared off into space.

"Because I care about you." He said softly, causing my heart to pick up speed in my chest.