Insecure

Chapter 3

"Dad? What are you doing up?" Laura asked when she saw her father sitting at the table wide awake.

 "Wanted to know how school went?"
Laura gulped. He never wants anything to do with school or me in general. What's going on here? "It was just a normal day."

 "Are you sure? You weren't sneaking around with no boys?"

 "What? No!" Is he talking about Tommy? How did he find out about that? "I don't talk to anyone but Lilly. I've always been the shy freak in school, you know that," she exclaimed, obviously shocked that he would question her about it.

 "I would watch the tone if I was you."

 "I'm sorry. I just can't understand why you would think I would do that."

 "Your teacher called me and said some Mark guy was messing around with you. Who is he?"

 Laura had to bite her lip from gasping. "Dad. He's a popular guy from school who was touching me inappropriately while I was trying to take notes because of what his friend did to me. Before I got to school, his friend started harassing me!"

 Her dad stood up and walked a little closer. "Is that the truth?"

 "Of course it is," Laura almost screamed, tears running down her cheeks.

 "Didn't I teach you to not let boys mess with you?"

 "Dad...You're always too drunk to teach or remember anything," Laura said, trying to step away. Her dad grabbed her arm hard and dug his nails in her skin. "Ow! Dad! Stop!" She screamed, trying to pry his hand off her.

 "You will learn to respect your father!" he screamed back, ripping his belt out of his pants.

 "Dad! No, please," she begged.

 "This is why your mother left me. My drinking and beating." With that, he put the belt on the counter and started repeatedly slapping her. She kept crying out, but all that did was anger him more. He grabbed his belt and lashed at her arms, legs and chest. He kept throwing punches and whips. He grabbed her by her long hair and threw her on the floor which caused her to hit her head hard. She grabbed the back of her head, and she saw that she was bleeding. Why is this happening? I did nothing wrong. She gasped as she watched her father start to unbutton his pants. She shook her head, and when he turned around she ran upstairs to her room, locking and blocking the door. She could still feel the pain in her body. It was awful. This hasn't happened to her in months. Why now? She thought she would've sneaked through a year without this happening. She was so stupid. I just want to feel safe again. Is that too much to ask?

She looked up, looking around her room. Her small room....White walls, twin sized bed, almost a closet full of clothes... She didn't have much, but that isn't what concerned her. She didn't care about the materials. She didn't care that she didn't have the best phone in the world. Hell, she didn't even care that she didn't have a TV in her room! That's what a childhood is all about, right? For Laura, all she wanted was to be loved. All she wanted was to have a place to call home. This is supposed to be her home, but she feels like she's living with a monster. A stranger. Someone who never cared about her. If she didn't have Lilly, she wouldn't be here at all....

 She grabbed her extra book bag that was empty, and she started grabbing clothes, personal items and a few gifts that were important to her. She kept a couple gifts from her mom since she left. That was the last thing she had to remember her... Her mom has not had any contact with her. It's like they dropped off the face of the Earth. Laura took a deep breath and rushed to the window, taking one last look at her room, the place where she hid but also the place where the most horrifying thing happened to her.... She opened her window and jumped down. She was still bleeding which showed on her face and blonde hair, but she didn't care. All that mattered is that she has to Lilly's as fast as possible.

 She started running down the sidewalk with her backpack on her back. She kept running until she was out of sight of her father. Then, she slowed her pace and tried to catch her breath. She received strange looks, but she just kept walking because at this point, she didn't care what people thought of her anymore. She wasn't too far from her best friend's house. Just a couple more blocks... She could do this. With every blurry visual and stumble, she was trying to make her way down this sidewalk. The air... It felt so cold, but in reality, it was 70 degrees out. Goosebumps have risen on her arms as she dragged her body along. Please let someone be home.

 She reached Lilly's house within' a couple more minutes, and she hasn't been so relieved in her life. Finally, she was going somewhere safe. Laura leaned most of her weight against Lilly's door as she knocked. But, something didn't occur to her... Lilly would be quick to answer her door. Within a few seconds, the door opened, and Laura fell into Lilly's kitchen with a hard thud. As if a reflex, Laura tried covering her head as much as possible. "Oh my god! Laura!" Lilly kneeled in front of her and turned Laura's face to her. "What....?" Lilly saw the blood.

 "My D...Dad. He...beat..." Laura stuttered.

 "Shh. It's going to be okay," she looked up, holding her. "Mom! Come here! It's Laura!"

 "What is all the... Oh my god!" Lilly's mom gasped. "Laura? What happened to you?"

 "Mom, call 911. Her head is bleeding! There will be time to explain. Just not now!"

 "Dammit, I just mopped," she said before running out of the room.

 "Mom!" Lilly looked at Laura who had her eyes closed. "Oh my.. Laura...Everything will be okay."
The way she said it, it didn't sound like she was trying to assure Laura....

 It sounded like she was trying to assure herself.

 Then, things went black.

~~~~~~

Meanwhile at the hospital, Lilly and her mom were waiting outside of Laura's hospital room, waiting to hear from the doctor. They have been waiting in the hospital waiting room ever since the doctors took Laura into her room. It's felt like hours since they went back there. At this point, Lilly was rocking back and forth in her seat. They were surprised that there wasn't a butt imprint in the seat by now.

 "Honey, it's going to be alright."

 "How do you know that, Mom? What if it's not? What if I lose my best friend?"

 "Lilly," her mom said, patting her leg. "This is Laura Collins we're talking about."

 "I'm very aware of that...."

 "You said it yourself..."

 "She's the strongest person I know."

 "Exactly. She's going to make it. That girl has a purpose."

 "Mom..."

 "I'm telling you. She's special."

 Before anything else could be said, they heard a door close and footsteps. "That has to be the doctor."

 When the doctor walked up, Lilly jumped up and asked,"She's going to live right?"

 "Yes. She's going to need a long time to recover, however."

 "How long?"

 "Well, she can still go to school with you tomorrow if she wants, but she's going to have bad headaches and is going to have to wear a bandage around her head."

 "That's going to be a tough one."

 "It's all her decision. I'm just disgusted that her own father would do this to her. That is just horrible."

 "He's been a drunk ever since she was born. Her mother got tired of him and took her brother and herself away."

 "Why didn't her mother take her, too?"

 "Laura said that her mother thought she could handle herself."

 "Wow."

 "I know. I feel really bad for her. Everyone has left her in her life, she gets bullied everyday and now this," Lilly said, shaking her head. "I just can't see why someone as sweet as Laura should be treated like this."

 "That's terrible. Poor girl," the doctor said, stepping closer towards the door. "Well, we better let her rest for a couple hours. If you want to leave and come back, you can."

 "No way. What if she wakes up before then? I don't want that to happen and I'm not here. That will hurt her even more."

 The doctor nodded. "As you wish. Actually, you better stay here. If she wakes up, she's going to need you here."

 "Thank you, Doctor," Lilly said, walking into Laura's room with the doctor.

 "Hey, you're the only one she has. You can't leave her, too."

 Lilly looked at Laura. "I don't plan on it."

 The doctor nodded and excused himself from the room as Lilly and her mom just exchanged glances before getting comfortable. Lilly looked over at Laura, who was still sound asleep, basically knocked out.

 "It's good that she made it over to our house. I don't know what I would've done if something worse happened," Lilly said to her mother.

 Her mother rubbed her back and said, "I know. I know. She's very strong, like I said."

 Lilly smiled and took out her phone and texted Carlos, her boyfriend, to let him know why she hasn't been returning any of his calls for the past hour. Carlos and her were supposed to hang out tonight, but since Laura came over with all of this happening to her, Lilly knew very well that she had to cancel that. No one in this world was more important than Laura right now. She has lost everyone and everything that she had, and Lilly knew damn well that she wasn't leaving her best friends side.

 Carlos and her can hang out any day of the week, but today... This doesn't happen everyday, not that they would want it to... Either way, Laura needed her today, so he could wait. Everyday, he could wait. She's not going anywhere. Plus, he's a popular guy, he has friends. Lilly smiled to herself, putting her phone back in her pocket.

 "What was that?" her mom asked.

 "Oh, just had to tell Carlos that I couldn't hang out today."

 "I can stay if you want to go..."

 "Mom! No!"

 "I was testing you."

 "Mom, that's not funny."

 "I know, shh now. You'll wake her up."

 That was the last thing said. For the rest of the time, they watched her sleep. Don't worry, Laura. You will always have me. Always.