The Loner's Journey

Chapter 29

Daniel's POV
I drive home as quickly as the law allows, while also keeping a close eye on Grayson and how he's handling archer. "We should be at my house in a few minutes." I say. I see Grayson nod out of the corner of my eye. Once we get to my house, I help him out and go to unlock the door. Before I get there, my dad pulls open the door with a disapproving look. "What the hell do you think you're doing home. It's still the middle of the school day!" He says. I look down and turn back to look at Grayson. "I had to leave dad. It's archer." I say. He instantly gets concerned. "What's wrong with archer?" He asks. I motion Grayson over since he still has archer. As soon as my dad sees him, he moves and ushers us inside. "Make room on the couch for him." My dad tells me. I nod and move to do as told. Grayson lays him down on the couch once I give the ok that there's room. "What the hell happened to him?! He looks like he's been ran over or something!" My dad says, examining archer. I sigh. "It was this group of guys from school. They bully archer a lot but he won't snitch on them. And gets terrified if I even mention the police." I say. My dad continues to examine what he can and sighs sadly at what I told him. "We need to get his shirt off so I can examine his chest and ribs. It feels like he may have a couple broken or cracked ribs but I can't tell without taking his shirt off." My dad says. I move to take his shirt off. "Wait! What if he freaks out or gets mad when he wakes up?!" Grayson asks. I pause and look over to him, then at my dad to see what he's gonna say. "As much as I'd love to say that we can leave it, I need to be able to feel along his ribs and chest without the obstruction to fully tell whether there's anything more serious going on inside his body." My dad explains. I pick up archers shirt and gasp at what I see. He has scars and nearly healed bruises all over his stomach and chest. Some of the bruises even look days or weeks old. There's no way these were caused by Trent and his gang. "He told me he stopped." I whisper to myself. My mumbling brought dad out of his shock. "What did you say?" He asks. I look over and notice him looking at me seriously. "I said that archer told me he stopped." I say more clearly. "What do you mean? Who stopped what?" My dad asks. I sigh and notice Grayson step around us to sit near archers head and run his fingers through his hair. He has a sad but slightly resigned look on his face. "You might as we'll clue him in." He says softly. I nod to myself and take a deep breath to explain everything to my dad. "What does he mean? Have you been keeping something from me?" My dad asks. I look up at him. "I have. But only because archer made me swear not to tell anyone." I say. My dad looks slightly hurt but nods in understanding. He motions for me to continue. "Archer doesn't have the best at home or school life." I begin. "Obviously, as you can see, he gets bullied rather often if not everyday at school. But that's not the worst of it." I say. "His dad beats him. He's nearly killed him a few times." I say. My dad looks absolutely heartbroken. "Why did you or him never say anything to me? I could've helped." He asks softly. "It wasn't my place to tell his secrets. But now I think it's time someone else knew. I mean Grayson only found out like yesterday." I say. My dad sighs but then gets this determined and almost angry look in his eyes. "Archer can't go back to his house. Not now and not ever again. If I have to lock him in one of the rooms of this house I will." My dad says. Deadly serious. I nod my agreement. "What happens now?" Grayson asks. My dad and I look at him. "I'll treat his injuries to the best of my ability once I've finished checking him over. Then, we wait until he wakes up to speak further about his home situation." My dad says. Grayson nods and goes back to running his fingers through archers hair. My dad finishes his examination and decides it might be best to let him rest for now and take him to the hospital in the morning. Though he did hand Grayson and ice pack to hold over archers eyes for a while to bring the swelling and bruising down. After a while we all found places to sleep. Grayson was laying on the floor next to archer, I slept in the chair next to the couch, and my dad slept in his room with the door open in case we needed him.