Yesterday my mom gave me a book. She said you can draw in it, and showed me how to draw a person. I've been trying to draw one. They don't look as good as hers, but she said I only need more practice.
I'm sitting under a tree, and I can hear someone walking towards me. He rips the book from my hands and flips through the pages, tearing them out as he watches the tears flow from my eyes.
"Tanny, drawing is for girls. Are you a girl? Tanny, are you stupid?"
"Don't call me that Brayden!"
"But Tanny, friends give each other nicknames!"
"You're not my friend!" He freezes, dropping the book while walking closer to me. I stand up.
"If you're not my friend, that means I can hurt you!" Brayden pushes me and starts kicking me. I try to hit back, but miss. I feel Brayden get pulled off of me, and he starts crying after a few seconds. There's people around us, some are yelling for the teacher. He gets pulled off of Brayden by another student, but Brayden kicks him and he goes back to hitting him. Brayden is in tears, gasping for breath. I go to pull him away from Brayden, but someone stops me. It's Griffon, and he's holding my drawings. I push Griffon aside and I pull him back, hugging him.
○○○○○○○○○○○
The nurse needs to bandage his hands, but we won't let go of each other. She sighs, leaving the band-aids on her desk as she goes to tend to Brayden. I lead us to the bathroom and we wash our hands. I bandage his knuckles, being careful to avoid the bruises on his hands. He hugs me, brushing over a sore spot, and when I flinch he notices.
"He kicked my chest a lot."
"Where?" I point to a few bruises, but I can't point to my back, so I lift my shirt up and turn around. He traces a spot on my back, and his fingers come back bloody.
"He also kicked me against the tree roots." He runs a wet towels over my back, and it burns so much. He leaves the room and comes back with a few pieces of gauze, and some kind of bandage that he wraps around my torso to keep the gauze in place.
"Stop getting hurt. I can't always save you."
YOU ARE READING
Hot Starry Nights
RomanceIt's their sophomore year of high school. Summer break is only two weeks away. Howard and Nathaniel have been friends for over a decade and have been with each other through everything. As their time together lengthens, Howard starts catching feelin...
