The Truth of Kylie James (UNDER SOME EDITING)

Chapter 9

Apologies

I woke up, the sun wasn't even up yet. My body screamed in pain, there was blood on my pillow and still on my cheek. I got dresses in shorts and a T-shirt, I grabbed my running shoes and packed an outfit for the day into my backpack. I jumped out of the window and over the fence. I jogged to the music store and asked Darren for the first aid kit.

"What happened?" He asked as he gave it to me.

"I was riding my skateboard and I tried to ride a railing and I fell I went down some stair. It happens." I took it and walked to the bathroom. I washed the dried blood off my face and put a bandage over it. When I lifted my shirt I saw uncle John's ring imprints and bruises all over my rib cage.

"Kylie you really don't look good." Darren said through the door. "Let me take you to the hospital. They can fix you up."

"No!" I said none too kindly. I put a wrap around my body to hide the bruises. "I don't want to go to the hospital. I'll be fine." I said, more to myself than to Darren. I put a bandage on my scrape on my arm. When I finished I gave the box back to Darren and left jogging to Dustin's house.

As it always does I felt better as I ran. Running somehow took away my pain. It cleared my head and helped me think. When I got to Dustin's house I climbed his neighbor's fence and used it to jump onto the stretch of roof and walked across to Dustin's window I climbed inside and sat in one of the chairs. I looked at the clock on my phone it read, 6:14am. I waited for Dustin to wake up so I could apologize for leaving in the middle of the night.

Within a minute his alarm clock beeped him awake and he looked next to him for me when I was sitting across the room in a chair facing away from him. "Kylie? How long have you been up?"

"A while." I looked down at my hands and I heard his feet against the wooden floor boards.

"What happened?" He said when he saw my bandage on my face.

"I went home last night, my uncle was mad at me for coming home after 2:30." I looked down. "I shouldn't have left, I'm sorry."

"Wait your uncle did this?" He asked sitting down next to me.

"You told me to trust you, so I'm just going to jump into the deep end." I said looking at my hands still. "It wasn't just him."

"Are you okay?" He whispered. I shrugged in response. "Who else did this to you?"

"My aunt is at fault for my face. My uncle is at fault for my arm, neck and rib cage." I whispered back still not looking up. He touched my neck and a small shock of pain surged and I winced.

"I'm sorry." He whispered and kissed my forehead.

"It's fine." I looked up at him leaning in a little. "I'm sorry I left."

"It's okay." He kissed me.