little bird // r.keene

vi. his daughter.

Wren had arrived back the flat and put the shoe box on the bed. She thought about opening it but came to the conclusion she had had enough nostalgia for one night and shrugged on her jacket.

She needed a walk to clear her head and she didn't even mind where she ended up, as long as it was in the opposite direction from her father's house. She was walking down the highstreet when she got a text from Eli.

Hey, Demetri and Miguel are coming over a little later. Really like it if you came, no pressure.

It read and Wren smiled at the message and responded:

Text me the address, over in 10.

"See I told you she would come," Miguel told Eli, handing him back his phone, him having sent the text to their friend and not Eli.

"But what if she is just saying that, what if she doesn't want to and just doesn't want to say no?" Eli thought out loud and Demetri spun in the desk chair in the corner of Eli's bedroom.

"This is Wren we are talking about, we know her- if she wasn't happy about something she wouldn't be afraid to tell us. Trust me Eli, you're overthinking it- she likes you." Demetri told him and Eli put his phone on the bedside table.

Wren was only a few streets away from Eli's house when she glanced behind her thoughtlessly and saw two men, not even that- two boys... maybe 18-19 got out a car a little down the street behind her. Wren didn't think anything of it and just kept walking, keeping her vision straight.

But as she kept walking down the deserted road she heard a few choruses of echoing laughter from behind her. She glanced back again to see the same two people following her, the only difference was that they were a little closer now.

"Hey! You Leo Evans' daughter?!" One of them yelled and Wren stopped walking, which was her first mistake. She should have kept walking, should have ignored them, and continued, she was only a few minutes away from Eli's house but she was an idiot and turned around.

It had been ages since she had heard her father's first name. It made her angry in a way and she knew better, Wren knew anger made you stupid and stupidity got you hurt. Maybe her 'fight' wih Kyler made her a little cocky, she knew they were bigger, stronger than her, but she was faster and that she was willing to bank on.

"Who's asking?" She barked at them as they slowly continued to edge towards her. Her second mistake.

"We're friends of your fathers." Another said, Wren took a step back, finally feeling an overwelming sense of idiocy knaw at her stomach, then she took another step back.

"He doesn't have any friends, he's a prick." She let out a cold bitter laugh, one which the boy on the left mirrored.

"Yeah, you got that right." He chuckled and reached out, gripping Wren's arm she flinched and tried to pull back but his grip was like a vice, cold and unmoving. "We don't like him either." He added.

"Get the fuck off of me." She seethed, trying again to break free, using her other hand to try and pry his off.

"We just want you to give your father a message for us, then we'll be out of your hair." Said the boy not holding her, but as he did the other boy began to twist a long piece of her hair around his finger, it made her skin crawl. She noted that his breath wreaked of booze and she edged away as much as she could before he yanked her back towards him.

When he did she raised her other fist, hitting him across the jaw just as she had with Kyler, using her already bruised dominant hand, she retracted her punch as a jolt of pain seared up her arm. The only difference from Kyler was- this guy could take a hit.

"Ooo- not very friendly." He chuckled and she spat at him.

Before she could move, he hit her back.

Wren collapsed to the floor, hitting her head on the concrete. One of them kicked her in the back, sending her rolling over. Another grabbed both her arms, pulling her up despite her thrashing protests, and threw her back down. Wren groaned as she collided with the floor, fists colliding with her face.

And yet, despite all this, all she could think was:

No one is coming to save you.

Get up.

Without a second thought and her mind moving a thousand miles an hour, with all her might she kicked one of the guy's knees and he wailed in pain. Wren sprung to her feet as he collapsed to the concrete and darted out of the way as the other swung for her, she bolted upright and elbowed him square in the jaw. He went down like a sack of bricks.

The other boy was already pushing himself back up and just like that. Wren ran.