A SKY FULL OF STARS

chapter five, stuck in the mud

tw:child abuse

To say that Lyla Lynch was in deep shit would be an understatement. The four had been stuck for over an hour, and Johnny and Gibsie had guaranteed the girls that they could get them out themselves.

It was obvious that their pride wouldn't let them call anyone, so Lyla and Shannon were stuck. They sat in the now dark car with gloomy expressions, while they watched Johnny and Gibsie come up with a plan outside.

"Dad's gonna be so mad." Shannon whispered from the front.

Lyla's nerves got the best of her and she started to snap, "Yeah well maybe we should've just gone him earlier like I said!"

Shannon didn't answer, just kept her gaze on Johnny.

Lyla sighed, "He's gonna kill us one of these days Shan."

Shannon nodded mindlessly, "I know."

The two hadn't been home in over 24 hours, Lyla knew nothing good was to come.

Johnny and Gibsie got into the car without a word. The silence was deafening.

"So yeah. We need to call someone." Gibsie agreed quietly.

Lyla almost laughed at his "realization", it was what she had been saying for the last hour.

"Who?" Shannon said shaking her head, "No one is going to come in the middle of the night to get us."

"Call Hugh." Gibsie shrugged, "He owes us one." Gibsie shared a look with Johnny.

And so that's how the four ended up cramming into Hughie Biggs small cadillac. Lyla, Gibsie, and Shannon were crammed in the back, Johnny in the front.
Johnny had decided he'd call a tow truck in the morning.

Hughie had seemed to have just woken up, and he seemed very annoyed with the four.

Lyla sat in the backseat biting her lip anxiously, and Shannon grabbed her hand in nerves.

Gibsie furrowed his brows at the two, wondering what was the matter.

Gibsie adjusted himself from the uncomfortable position. He tried to open his legs to stretch but they pushed into Lyla.

Lyla tried to make herself smaller but there was no room in Hughie's car.

Gibsie lifted up Lyla to move her and she ended up half on Gibsie's lap.

She nestled into him, trying to make room between them. But Gibsie just sighed and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Did you have fun today?" Gibsie leaned down and whispered in her ear.

Lyla nodded, her head leaned against his chest. She closed her eyes and focused on the music playing in the background. It was "fix you" by coldplay.

Gibsie soon knew that Lyla had fallen asleep by her quiet breaths. Shannon glanced at the two and wondered what had been going on with that.

Shannon soon fell asleep as well, leaving just the guys awake.

Johnny broke the silence, "I think I like Shannon lad."

Gibsie nodded, "I think I like Lyla." Gibsie followed with, "But I can't tell her. I'm bad for her Johnny."

If only Lyla Lynch had been awake.

They soon pulled up outside of the Lynch household, and Shannon groaned waking up. Lyla was still asleep but Shannon kicked her leg.

"What?" Lyla said half asleep. She snapped awake to see that she was home, and at the moment all she wanted was to curl back up to Gibsie and fall asleep.

"Lyla we gotta go." Shannon said quietly, Johnny and Gibsie opened their doors for them.

The two slowly made their way inside, both scared out of their minds.

They slowly opened the door, hoping to not be noticeable. They began to walk upstairs when they heard a low tapping.

They whipped their heads around to see their father tapping a beer bottle against the counter, his eyes were red as if he'd been high off something.

"You little whores." He said quietly, "Disrespecting me in my own house!"

Lyla flinched, along with Shannon.

"Get your ass over here before I blister it." Their father yelled at them.

They were both crying quietly, but they made their way towards them.

He just stared at them for a while, and Lyla was the one to break the silence, a stupid decision that was.

"We weren't doing anything bad."

Slap.

Lyla cried out, only making him more mad. She felt a large hand grip around her throat, slamming her against the wall.

She breathed in, but was met with no air. Her face began to grow red, and she gasped for air. She reached her short arms out to try to push him off of her. But it was to no avail.

Shannon cried out, "Dad quit!"

A loud voice boomed through the kitchen, "Get the fuck off of her!" It was Joey.

Their father dropped Lyla to the ground, Lyla laid on the ground struggling to breathe. Shannon ran over to Lyla crying, grabbing her head to pull her onto her lap.

"Lyla get up. We have to go upstairs." Shannon whispered with tears falling from her eyes.

Lyla managed to drag herself up to her bedroom, collapsing on her bed dizzy.

"Lyla do I need to call someone?" Shannon mumbled worried.

"What?" Lyla struggled to say, "No don't."

Lyla went to bed that night, not knowing if she would wake up.