Stolen at Birth

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Keira shot up in bed, panting and covered in sweat, as if she had just run a marathon. In her nightmares, she might as well have with how fast she was running to get away from her father. She still remembers the nightmare, just like she remembers everyone single one she's had since she was hit by her father for the first time at the age of six.

Keira was so wrapped up in calming herself down from her panic, that she failed to notice that Jared was sitting right next to her, rubbing her back whispered to her that it was all a dream, that she was awake and safe with him. Keira didn't waste any time and dropped herself into his arms and let herself cry and cry until there was no tears left to shed. She was just happy that it was too dark in the room for him to see the scars on her wrists from the abuse.

"It's ok Keira," he whispered to her in her ear, sending shivers down her spine. She wished she could tell him nothing was ok in her life. "It was just a nightmare."

I wish it was just a nightmare, she thought. It was like hell on Earth in her mind and there was no escape for her. Slowly Keira calmed down enough that she could remove herself from Jared's arms, no matter how safe she felt in them, and looked anywhere but at him.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" he asked her, but she just shook her head no in response. Keira doubted that she would ever want to talk about her life at home with anyone, ever. "Do you want me to leave, so you can go back to sleep?"

When she shook her head no again, Jared gently picked up Keira and moved her over so he had enough room to crawl in after her. Jared pulled Keira into his arms and she immediately relaxed into the safety of his embrace. She didn't question why he was in the room with her or ask if he had heard her screaming in fear, she simply allowed herself to relax in her friend's embrace.

The next time Keira woke up, it wasn't because of nightmares of monsters and evil fathers, but because she felt Jared move and shift beside her. She didn't want him to know she was awake, so she relaxed her body and slowed her breathing rate back to down to normal. She listened to try and hear if he was awake also, but he was so still it was hard to tell. Keira was almost positive that he was awake though. After living with her father, she began to become aware when someone was asleep or awake, so she would be able to avoid her father easier.

Then Jared shifted again and she knew that he was defiantly awake because he quietly asked, "Hey, Keira? Are you awake yet?" Keira remained silent. Jared continued, "I hated seeing you so scared last night and I know it wasn't just a normal nightmare, but I wish you would tell me what made you so scared." Jared pulled himself closer to Keira and pressed against her back. "I remember seeing at school the other day with that covered bruise and cuts on your face and I wanted to kill whoever did that to you. I want to protect you, but I don't know how you feel about me and I don't want to scare you away from me. I'd rather stay being your friend, then not being around you at all." That was the last thing he said before he slipped out of the bed, kissed Keira gently on the forehead and left the room.

Keira laid in bed for almost twenty minutes after Jared left, going over and over what he said in her mind. She knew she was going to drive herself nuts by constantly thinking about it, but how could she not; when his sweet words were the kindest thing anyone had ever said to her, not even Jakob was this caring towards her.

Finally shaking the thoughts from her head, she got up and dressed in loose fitting jeans, a tight pink singlet and overly large jumper to cover her arms. She was thankful that it was getting cold the past couple of days so she could actually wear a jumper or long sleeved T-shirt without looking like a maniac. That was always one of the problems she had at her other schools. Kids would tease her, saying that she was cutting herself and wanted to hide them, which was close to the truth, or that she was trying to hide her excessive weight, which she wasn't.

Once dressed she walked down stairs and into the kitchen where she saw that everyone was already seated at the table with Susan cooking eggs and bacon for them all. The mere smell of the food made Keira's mouth water in anticipation of consuming such delicious smelling food. She sat down in the only spare seat, which happened to be right next to Jared and she couldn't help but sneak a glance at him from beneath her eye lashes. She quickly looked away when she saw that he was looking right at her as well.

'I want to protect you,' he had said to her that morning and her heart started to beat even faster and she tried her hardest to fight off the blush that was threatening to surface.

"Hey, Keira? Can I ask you something" she looked up to face Daniel's goofy looking face staring intently at her. She gave in a questioning look, but motioned for him to continue with his question. "Are you busy next weekend?"

"Um, not that I know of," she answered honestly. Unless her father decided to spring a surprise event on them again, she never really did anything on the weekends, except spend as much time out of the house as possible because her father didn't work weekends and she liked to avoid him on his time off. It wasn't a pretty sight. "Why?"

"Do you wanna come and stay at my house?"

Suddenly everyone stopped talking and even Susan paused in cooking breakfast. Everyone was either staring at her in wounder or at Daniel in clear surprise. She didn't know why though.

"Um, yeah I suppose. That'd be fun." She tried to ignore everyone around her and started to fiddle with her hands, something she always did when she was nervous; she didn't like this many people looking at her.

"Awesome," mumbled Daniel. That seemed to snap everyone out of their thoughts and slowly, but surly, they went back to their conversations before Daniel asked his question. That was weird, Keira thought. What she didn't know was that Daniel never invited anyone over to his house before. Not even Jared had been to his house before and Jared was his best friend.

Keira forgot about the previous silence as Susan brought over the food and stood back before she could be pushed out of the way as everyone lunged forward for the food as if it was their last meal on Earth. Keira just stayed back until they had all grabbed what they wanted before she took three strips of bacon and one fried egg and toast with butter smeared on it. She already had a glass of juice so she quietly ate her food and observed her friends.

Sam and Helen were having what looked to be a private conversation between the two of them, Jared, Lacey and Paul were talking about the upcoming soccer game they had and Daniel was flicking food at all of them, much to their annoyance. They must be used to it, because they didn't do much except glare at him, which he of course ignored. Keira laughed at that though, she loved how close they all were and could talk with each other like that.

Sometime she did wish that people knew what was happening to her, but she didn't think she could bare the look of pity they would give her if they did know. They would say that they were sorry that was happening to her, that they wish there was something they could do, but there wasn't. Her father was a highly respected doctor, why would anyone believe that her father would abuse his own daughter, who he so clearly loved? Which was complete bull shit because her father didn't love her one bit, except maybe when he was in a good mood, and any other time he would act like the devoted father in front of others. In the house it was hell, but she didn't want her family to fall apart because she could take a couple of hits form him. Even if they were sometimes cuts and stabs, not just punches and not just a couple. No one would understand how an adopted child like herself could possibly feel about being abused by her father, the person who was supposed to care for her if he adopted her.

She just wish she knew why he did it.

�_�l��