Sadie, Someday...

Chapter 14 - Could've, Should've, Would've

Chapter 14

Could’ve, Should’ve, Would’ve

“Just close your eyes, The sun is going down, You'll be alright, No one can hurt you now, Come morning light, You and I'll be safe and sound.” ~ Safe & Sound – Taylor Swift

I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. My arm was stinging in throbbing pain, my other hand clutching at the two towels I’d kept in its place to stop the bleeding. Every will in me was hoping he hadn’t done anything, hoping I could get to him in time. The wind was whipping around my face, throwing my hair in different directions as I ran to his house, my feet pounding against the pavement the only sound I could hear as I went.

As I made my way to his house, I couldn’t help but think of the stories he usually kept so tightly locked up. The faint, almost invisible scars that indented into his skin, examples of those times when things were far too hard for him to handle. They were old, almost untouched for over a year now. But they just proved to me that he was a real, whole person with issues almost identical to mine.

But it was much easier for him to move on and accept it, the strong armor lining his heart blocking any further hurt he’d be pushed into.

It was a cold, almost frigid night last year. The snow was falling heavily and quickly. White dust was blanketing the lawns and streets as the hours went on. I figured it would be a night where Caden would just stay home, avoid going out in the cold just to sleepover with me. I locked my windows for the night, making sure no cold air could reach into my warm room. Throwing my covers over myself and wrapping them around me like a cocoon, I prepared to go to sleep alone tonight for the first time in months.

I was almost in dreamland, close to escaping the day’s worries, when a light tapping against my window made me jump in bed. I flipped over slowly, not sure who the perpetrator was in the middle of this freezing night. When my eyes met Caden’s dark ones, shining against the streetlights, I immediately threw the covers off and ran to the window. He didn’t quickly jump through the window like he normally did. As I unlocked the window, he just stayed there, crouched on the metal fire escape in his combat boots and heavy coat.

When I was close enough, the light from the lamps on the sidewalk made a dark and bleeding bruise visible on his face. My lungs became tight as I gasped underneath my breath. With a shaky hand, I brought his face forward by the other cheek, examining the damage someone had done to this beautiful boy.

“I had to get out of there,” he whispered shakily, his body vibrating as the cold seeped through his jacket.

“What…” I began to ask, but something stopped me in my tracks. Maybe it was the tightness in my chest as I glanced down his cheek to the fingerprint bruises glowing on the skin of his neck. Maybe it was the fear of knowing what exactly happened over as the Grange’s. A small part of me just didn’t want to know.

He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “He wants me dead, S. I can’t…” he choked.

I immediately brought him in my arms, gripping onto him like our lives depended on it. There was something deep down inside of me that hoped by just holding him like this, that I could somehow take all of the pain away and keep him like this forever. So badly I wanted to stop him from being hurt.

“Come on,” I urged him, my hand running down the length of his arm to his shaking hand. His knuckle was heavily bruised, dotted in black and blue marks and scabbed with bloody tracks. I didn’t ask, assuming he must have hit him back that time. I didn’t blame him for it, knowing if I had the strength that I’d hit him too.