Found (Book 2)

Chapter 9

Jessie's POV

It's so hard to believe this is all real. That things really did happen. Christina told me I'm in shock and that does sound about right. I'm really nervous to go home. I look ugly as heck and they're all going to stare at me, I know it.

Lisa parks in the driveway and the three of us get out. Walking up to the door, I grab Christina's hand for reassurement and she squeezes it.

"We're home!" Christina calls out.

"No one cares," Lauren shouts back and I stifle a small laugh.

"You might actually care if you see who's with us," Lisa says and suddenly Lauren, Kath, Amy, Alex, Nick, Mike, Joey, and Christian all run to the front door. They stop in their tracks as they see me and stare at the cuts and bruises on my face.

"What happened?!" Katherine breaks the very awkward silence and I'm grateful for that.

"We'll explain later," Christina says and Kath nods, the worried look still very much there.

"Are you back for good?" Joey asks.

"There's no way I'll ever leave you again," I respond and he runs to me and gives me a hug. I hug back with a smile on my face. After a few minutes, Christina tells the youger boys to go outside. Nick and Joey go but Christian looks disappointed that he's still too young to hear what happened. He continually looks backwards at us as he walks outside.

"Where's Dani?" I ask as I look around and notice she's not here. Lauren looks to the ground.

"Laur?" I ask and she slowly looks up at me.

"She's locked herself in our room as usual, she won't talk to anyone," Lauren tells me and I walk upstairs. I knock on the door but no response.

"Dani open up," I say quietly but again no response so I try again. I knock loudly, "Dani open this door because I have no patience and will kick it down if I have to."

The door opens and both of us are shocked at what we see. She was skinny before but now she's too skinny. I can practically see her bones. Not only has she not been eating but she looks so tired. Instantly I'm extremely concerned about her.

"Jessie, what happened?" Dani asks as she looks at the bruises.

"We were going to have a family meeting so I could tell everyone but I realized you weren't there..." I say and she looks down, "Dani what's been going on?"

"I...I don't know," she says but I know that that's a lie.

"We aren't done talking about this but c'mon, I need to explain stuff to everyone," I say but she shakes her head.

"No one but Lauren has seen me like this. She only saw me once but she freaked out and I had to blackmail her not to tell. You better not tell either," Dani says defensively and I shrug.

"Well we're going downstairs so then put on sweatpants and a hoodie," I suggest and she quickly changes while I keep my back turned. As we walk downstairs, I can see with the larger clothes on she looks fairly healthy even though she's not.

Everyone looks at us in shock as we walk into the living room. Lauren looks at me with wide eyes and I nod, letting her know that I know what she's seen.

"How did you get Dani out of her bed?" Lisa whispers in my ear and I shrug.

"Guys be supportive of what Jessie had to say please, it's not easy," Christina announces and everyone nods.

"So um.. first of all I'm sorry for not talking to any of you much these past few weeks. I thought it would hurt less but it didn't really make a difference. My dad was abusive. It had gotten worse than before. Not only did he hurt me but he hurt my mom. Earlier I -" I stop and remembering what happened I start to cry. Someone grabs each of my hands. I realize one is Christina and one is Dani.

"I came home from school and my dad was hurting her... but she was laying in a pool of blood. I got him to stop but instead he hurt me as you can probably see. He finally took off and I did CPR on my mom until the ambulance came but," I stop again and this time my tears become loud and I can't stop them.

"She didn't make it," I hear Lisa whisper and I cry even louder. I feel arms around me but I don't know who and I don't really care. My mom is gone and I can't ever say anything to her again.

Slowly my crying stops but I keep my eyes closed. I just want to fall asleep. I'm laying on the laps of a few of my siblings on the couch but I don't know who and I don't care.

"I think she fell asleep," I hear a tearful Christina say from above me, I guess my head is on her lap.

"I'm going to bed," Dani says and I hear her go up the stairs.

"Is she going to be okay?" I hear Lauren ask.

"We just need to be there for her, give her our love and she will get through this," Lisa says.

"I can't imagine..." Amy whispers and I hear them pray for me. It's kinda weird to be awake and hearing them.

"I'll carry her upstairs," Mike says and I feel two arms underneath me. I haven't been carried in over 10 years but I feel safe. Mike places me in my bunk bed, the one I've missed so much and tucks me in. He's definitely a great big brother.

I hear Lisa and Lauren come in and get into bed. Dani is already asleep or pretending to be like me. I quickly fall asleep but it doesn't last too long.
At 2:35 am I wake up, hearing small whimpers. I look across from me but Lauren is fast asleep, snoring a little even. I get up slowly, my bruised body hurting a bit. I climb down the ladder and look at Lisa who is sleeping soundly. I now know who it's coming from and I sit down on her bed. She continues to face the wall and I rub her back. I can really feel her ribs and I feel sick with worry.

Slowly she rolls over and sees my silhouette in the dark. Getting up, Dani motions for me to follow her and we walk quietly downstairs. I sit down on the couch next to her.

"Dani, I want you to tell me everything," I say and she stares at me.

"Where were you when I needed you before?!" she whisper-yells.

"I was trying to survive," I tell her, "But you need help Dani, you need to tell someone!"

"I'm fine," she snaps and I shake my head.

"We both know you're not fine," I say calmly and I can see in her eyes the battle she's having with herself if she should tell me or not. She better tell me though because one way or another I'm going to get her the help she needs.