Take Me Away (On Hold)

Chapter 3 - TMA

So so so so so sorry!!! Please enjoy! Love you guys!

RECAP:

I took that time to slowly and carefully escape to my room. The pain was unbearable, but I went as fast as I could up the steps. As soon as I got in my room, I shut and locked the door, then let all my tears run freely down my face. I made my way, slowly, to my bed and carefully lay down whilst grabbing my only picture of my mother. She was smiling so brightly, it made my heart clench. I hugged it to my chest tightly for fear of it disappearing before my eyes. It was the only picture I had left. All the rest, father had gotten rid of because he didn't want to be reminded of her whatsoever, but I managed to keep this last one...

CHAPTER 3

Waking up the next morning was on of the most difficult tasks I've ever had to do. My body ached all over, not one spot was free of pain, from the beating I received from Father the night before. The picture of my mother was still clutched tightly to my chest and that helped to relieve a little of the pain tearing away at my heart. He did this to me again, was a thought repeatedly running through my mind... Putting the picture back in its place, I got out of bed. Finally noticing the time, I began panicking. School starts in fifteen minutes! Rushing around the room, I threw on a pair of skinny jeans and a hoodie to make sure the bruises from my neck down were covered. After I was dressed, I got to work on covering up the bruise and cut on my cheek. My efforts were in vain, though. No matter how hard I tried and how much make-up I put on, the bruise was still very noticeable and the cut was red and swollen. Muttering a curse under my breath, I gave up, grabbed my phone and iPod, and ran downstairs. Father was already gone so all I had to do was throw on my converse and run out the door.

It took me less than five minutes to walk there, but I was still five minutes late. Walking into school, for me, has always been nerve wracking due to all the people standing out front, but today I was nervous for a different reason. A reason I have had in the past, but never as bad as today. 'Because you've never been beat as bad,' I thought to myself. With my head down, I made my way to the main office and walked up to the lady at the desk.

"I need a late pass, ma'am," I quietly told her.

"Speak up, child!" she demanded.

Flinching in response, I said a little louder, "My name is Kaylynn Richards and I need a late pass, ma'am."

The lady, whose name tag read Ms. Mallard, began muttering under her breath about rude teenagers nowadays as she wrote up my late slip. "Here. Now get to class Ms. Richards!"

"Thank you, ma'am," I muttered. Thankful for making it through the encounter without removing my eyes from the floor and not allowing her to see my face, I rushed out of the office as fast as I could and made my way to class.

First period has always been an easy class. Mrs. Ranger, the English teacher, is really sweet and a great teacher. She is also easy to talk to and likes to interact with her students on a personal level so that we enjoy her class. Today, however, I am reluctant to walk in. I’m trying to avoid conversations and she likes to make them. Standing in front of the door, my nerves are getting the best of me. Working up the courage to pull open the door, I put my head down and walk in. I can immediately feel all eyes on me as I make me way to Mrs. R’s desk.

As I place the slip on her desk, she says, “Thank you, Kaylynn. Nice of you to join us.” Adding a wink to the end. Weird…

I simply nod and make my seat in the back of the classroom, thanking God that I sat back here. The current assignment we’ve been working on is a letter. The letter can be to whomever we choose. It’s due in two weeks and I still have no idea who I should write to. A letter to father is completely out of the question because it would expose too much information, and a letter to myself would be the same and I wouldn’t know what to write…

Since I still wasn’t sure, I grab my notebook and begin to draw. I was so lost in my mindless doodling that I hadn’t seen the shadow appearing next to me, and I definitely didn’t notice that same shadow crouching down next to me.

Until I felt a cold hand touch my shoulder, that is…

Practically falling out of my seat, my head shot up in shock. Staring wide eyed at my teacher, I watch confused as her eyes go from completely amused to concerned in a matter of seconds. It took me a moment to process the reason for her reaction, but when I did, I wished I hadn’t. Eyes growing even wider, I threw my head back down in the hopes of erasing what she had seen. Damn it! Stupid, stupid, stupid me!

“Kaylynn, hun… What happened? Is that why you were late today? Who did this to you? Are you okay?” Mrs. Ranger asked, all in one breath I might add.

For a moment, I froze. Not one possible answer entered my mind. After what felt like a century but was only a few seconds, a decent response came to mind and I grasped onto it like my only life line. “I fell,” okay, well I never said it was a good one, just decent. It’s all I can think of.

“You fell? That is not from a fall, Kaylynn,” she said with disbelief written all over her face. “Now, I’ll ask you again, what happened?”

I stared at her trying to plead with her not to make me answer. If she did, I was just going to repeat myself and make the situation worse. It seemed like my silent pleas were working when her eyes softened a little.

She sighed and then crushed my hopes, “Tell me what happened, Kaylynn.”

Okay, so apparently I’m not as convincing as I think I am. Pleading with her didn’t work, now what? Just as I was going to repeat that I fell, the bell ending class rang. Talk about saved by the bell! I quickly grabbed my stuff, jumped up out of my seat, and rushed out, sending an ‘I have to go’ to Mrs. Ranger who sat there stunned.

The guilt instantly hit me once I was out of the room, but I had no other choice in the matter. No one could know about what Father does to me. It’s my problem, not hers. Just mine. Now I just have to be sure I’m extra careful in all of my other classes and not get distracted like that again.

I had made it through second and third period, as well as lunch without having anyone else notice my face. Walking up the stairs to fourth period, though… my confidence wavered. Art class with none other than Ryder Daniels. Awesome. Would he say anything? Pretend nothing happened? Will he even remember? For some reason, none of these seem like him. If he does end up saying something, though, what am I going to do? I can’t just ignore the guy who saved my life. But then again, I can’t necessarily have a conversation with him while looking like this…

You’re just being stupid as usual Kayls. He’s not going to talk to you. He’s Ryder Daniels, for goodness sakes. He has much better things to do than talk to you, I though to myself.

Attempting to shake off my nerves, I take a deep breath and entered the room. Ms. Cannon’s art room smelled strongly of paint and cinnamon air freshener. For some reason, Ms. Cannon thinks the air freshener will make it smell better in here. It only makes it worse, though. I find station towards the back and sit down. Taking out my notebook, I start doodling once again while I wait for the teacher and the rest of the students. Too absorbed in my drawing, I nearly jump out of my skin when I hear a throat being cleared to my left. I could’ve sworn I was alone in here. Crap…

*AUTHORS NOTE*

Let me know what you guys think please! Sorry for the long wait!

-Ev(;