Living With Ian

Chapter 12

It seemed like it was hours later when Sarah finally found the strength to stand up. She held her hands up against the wall as she looked around. The sun was just beginning to set and she knew that Ian would be getting home soon. She slowly started making her way back to his house but it felt as if she would never make it.

Her entire body was throbbing each time she took a step. Her head was pounding and it felt as if it would split in two every time she heard a car horn or a person talk. She kept her face hidden underneath the hood of her jacket so that no one could see her. She didn’t know what her face looked like but she knew that it couldn’t look good. Occasionally she would see a drop of blood fall down onto the sidewalk.

After what seemed like eternity, Sarah reached Ian’s house. She took out her key with a shaky hand and walked through the door. Luckily, Ian hadn’t gotten home yet. Sarah managed to walk into her bedroom before she passed out.

When Ian got home from work that night, he frowned as he looked around his apartment. Normally Sarah would be in the living room watching TV or doing homework and would greet him as soon as he came through the door. Tonight, however, the apartment was dark and silent.

“Sarah?” he called. He didn’t get an answer. Ian put his duffel bag on the sofa and frowned when he saw Sarah’s key to the front door lying on the coffee table. Now he knew that she was at home.

He walked down the hallway to Sarah’s room and saw her lying underneath all of her blankets, curled up into a tight ball.

“Sarah?” Ian asked quietly. “Are you sick?” He walked over towards her and pulled the blankets away from her face. He gasped as he saw that her eyelid was purple and swollen shut. A trail of dried blood had run from her nose and her lip was busted. A pool of blood had formed around her head and stained the white pillow. Ian pulled the blankets away from the rest of her body. Sarah flinched and curled up tighter.

“Sarah,” Ian said frantically. “Sarah, wake up. You have to wake up!” Sarah groaned and slowly opened the eye that wasn’t forced shut due to swelling.

“Ian,” she mumbled. “I hurt.” She started crying. Ian sighed.

“I know you do baby girl. Come on, I’m going to take you to the bathroom.” Sarah groaned as Ian picked her up. He carried her bridal style down the hallway and into the bathroom where he sat her down on the sink. He walked over to the bathtub and started running the water.

“Let me see,” he said as he walked back over to Sarah and looked at her. Sarah lifted her head to where she was looking Ian in the eyes.

“God Sarah,” Ian said. “What the hell happened?” Sarah flinched at the tone of his voice. Ian sighed.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m going to put you in the bathtub, ok?” Sarah shook her head. “You need to get washed off Sarah. And I need to see so that I can help you. I promise everything will be ok.” Sarah gave a slight nod.

Ian carefully began taking off her clothes. He gasped as he looked at her stomach for the very first time. He had known that Sarah was small but he wasn’t expecting her ribs to be poking through her skin. It seemed as if every inch of skin on her stomach was black and blue and Ian knew from experience that it hurt like hell. He took off the rest of her clothes and carefully carried her over to the bathtub. He set her in and Sarah flinched when the warm water hit her wounds.

Ian very carefully started assessing her injuries. Working in a gym, he had been trained to treat injuries but seeing Sarah was worse than anything he had ever seen before.

“Who did this to you Sarah?” Ian asked her. It made him so mad to think of someone hurting this fragile little girl and seeing her broken body made him want to kill whoever had harmed his little sister. Sarah opened her eyes and looked at him. She shook her head. She was too scared to tell Ian who hurt her. She didn’t want him to go after Chris and then get himself in trouble.

“Tell me Sarah,” Ian ordered. “Right now.” Sarah looked into his eyes and knew that she was never going to get by with hiding it from him.

“It was Chris,” she whispered. Ian felt his blood start boiling. Sarah slowly sat up and looked up at him. Ian could tell that it took a lot of strength just for her to do that simple task.

“Ian,” she asked. “W-what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet,” Ian answered truthfully.

“You promised that you wou—”

“Forget my promise,” Ian interrupted. “He is going to pay for this.” Sarah looked up at him and then she started crying. Ian immediately felt guilty for being so harsh with her.

“Shh,” he said. “It’s alright.”

“I’m scared,” Sarah cried.

“I know you are baby girl. I know. But you don’t need to be. He is never going to hit you again. No one is.” Sarah looked up at him but her tears kept falling. Ian started letting the water drain out of the bathtub as he picked Sarah up and wrapped her in a towel.

“It’s alright,” he said again as he carried her into his bedroom. “It’s ok. Everything is going to be ok.” Sarah looked up at him. “You don’t have any broken bones. Just some bruises. I promise everything will be ok.” He helped her change into a t-shirt of his and then a pair of sweatpants. Ian picked her up and Sarah’s fists curled up around his t-shirt.

“Don’t leave me,” she cried.

“Shh, shh,” Ian said. “I’m not. I’m staying right beside of you.” He carefully laid her down in his bed and then got in beside of her. Sarah wrapped her body around his in an attempt to feel secure. Ian watched as she slowly started to drift off into a restless sleep.

He left the lamp on as he closed his eyes. He knew how timid Sarah was right now and he knew that no matter how close he was to her she would still be afraid of the dark.

He sighed as he looked down at his broken little sister as she tried to go to sleep. It hurt him so much to see her suffer the way she was. He remembered the promise that he had made to her to stay out of fights and to keep his anger controlled. That promise was out the window now however. He would do anything to get justice for Sarah and at the moment he felt like snapping Chris’ neck. He knew, however, that whatever he did, he had to stay out of trouble with the law. He couldn’t get them involved and then risk losing Sarah.

Ian sighed and held onto Sarah tighter as he slowly began to fall asleep.