The reason

Chapter 5

I give an inaudible sigh of relief when the home time bell rings. I get out of my chair, wiping a spit ball off the bottom of my shirt. The day wasn't as horrible as I imagined it to be. Stuffing books in my bag I hurry out the door. Keeping my head low I push through the suddenly crowded hallways and take a detour into a less occupied one. The only people I see is a nerd working with some chemicals in the lab and a couple making out in another science class. None notice me. The door to the outside world is in sight when big hands cover my eyes and two more grab my arms painfully and lock them together behind my back. The set of hands covering my eyes wraps a piece of material over them. I feel my breathing pick up. "Hey!" I yell, extricating a couple of low chuckles. I wriggle my arms, but my wrists are bound painfully with some kind of twine. I kick out at thin air and then strong arms grip my waist and lift me off the ground.

"Put me down!" I shriek and hear the resulting laughter. I squirm on whoever's shoulder I'm on, trying the fight my way free. I know we're outside by the breeze on my face and the fresh air, but my sense of direction is lost. "Help!" It's futile, nobody wants to help me. My assailants carry me for a few minutes later and then I am airborne. I hit the grass with a thud, landing on my bruised side on my arm. I immediately scramble into a half sitting position. "Hello again? Do you know who this is?" My heart clenches at the sound of his voice, my nails dig into the dirt. "Remove the material from her eyes, I want to see her fear." I feel a sharp tug and then I can open my eyes again. We're behind the storage shed on the other side of the school. no-one comes out here, no-one will hear me. I pin my eyes on Brian, watching his smirk. Around him are three guys, awaiting the orders from their master.  "Were you afraid? Did you scream for help?" His eyes are cold and unforgiving. "She did." One of my attackers confirmed, sucking up to his boss. "Good."

Brian strides closer to me, every step menacing. He stops right in front of me and looks down, hatred oozing from every pore. "Do you know what it cost me? Everyone saw a girl beat me up. You're not even close to regretting it yet, but you will eventually. You'll beg me. And everyone will see how pathetic you are, as weak as your mother." I look up at him and know he means every word. Better to get this over with, I can survive a beating. I gather saliva in my mouth and spit at his feet. One of his friends snickers and then my face is throbbing from a punch to my cheek. "Do you get it now?" He's almost shrieking, this guy had serious control issues. "It's okay though, I'm in control. I knew it, look at her arms boys." I look down to see my exposed bloody bandage and hastily yank my sleeve down. "She's a cutter, you know..." He mimes cutting his arm and they all laugh along, having a party. Hatred boils through me, he will not mock the one good thing in my life.

I start to get up, but he pushes me back down. "By the time I'm through with you you're going to wish you had killed yourself." I have no doubt about that. "Come on boys, let's rough her up a bit." With cheers and whoops they descend upon me. My flailing feet manage to land a good kick on one of the cronies, but they keep coming. Brian sneers down at me and I swing my tied hands up, clocking him under the jaw. Immediately, hands grip my arms, pulling them over my head so I can't resist. Nails pinch at my arms and legs, boots kicking at my legs and still Brian carries on staring at me. I meet his gaze, refusing to cry out. I learnt not to cry out. My unflinching gaze annoys him and I barely see the right hook coming before It collides with my nose.

I hear a sickening crunch and feel the warm drips of blood. He actually broke my nose! I clamp my lips tight so I don't call him all the names I want to. I just want this to be over with, all of it. It is then that I realise, a light bulb flashing over my head. There will never cease to be a bully. Despite teaching myself never to hope, I did hope it would be different when I got out of here. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. The torture will never end, all these other people will score the good jobs and I'll be left rummaging through the leftovers, and probably having to look after my mother still. And it makes me angry, real angry. But also relieved because now I know what I need to do. There's no sense hanging around in a cruel world at the bottom of the pack.

I'm thinking about all this as Brian slams his boot down on my stomach and socks me in the jaw, much as I did to him. And for some absurd reason I feel like laughing at them. Because I'll soon be free of them. My whole body aches when Brian finally calls his guys off. He slowly crouches beside me and curls his fingers around my throat. He lifts me up a bit and I feel my air supply dwindling, sucking in sharply in an attempt for air. "Freak. Do you get it now? You're just a pathetic weirdo that nobody likes, and I'll make sure nobody will ever like you." I can feel my face turning red as my lungs scream for air. "Hey!" A loud shout rings out and a moment later, Brian is flung off me. I collapse to the ground, gasping at the wonderful air. Then I hear raised voices and look up to see the new person.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, beating up a girl? It's pathetic." My saviour grabs Brian by the collar and shakes him. "She deserves it, she's a freak." Brian spits at him, and gets pushed up against a tree. "Five against one? That's hardly fair." I watch as Brian gets dropped to the ground. "Leave her alone from now on, or I'll personally beat the shit out of you." Brian stares at him, then grabs his boys and saunters off. "Are you okay?" The guy asks, bending down to offer me a hand. It's my first good look at him. The first thing I notice is his leaf green eyes, telling of summer days full of laughter. With his ruffled hair it's quite a look. Ignoring the screaming protests in my body, and his hand, I get shakily to my feet. Putting my hands up to my nose I twist it and hear it crunch back into place. He winces and we stand there awkwardly. "Thanks." I say brusquely and start walking. He obviously takes it as a sign to tag along. "They trussed you up like a chicken, do you want me to try and undo it?" 

"No, thanks. I'm fine."

 "I'm Ben, I transferred here about a week ago." Why is he talking to me?

But at the name Ben, my heart stutters. Some childish part of me wants to believe that my brother Ben is looking out for me, that he sent this Ben in an attempt to show me he cares. Of course, that's all rubbish, Ben is a very common name. I focus my attention on the Ben walking with me. He seems to be waiting for a response. "Oh, I'm uh Reegan." I mutter. "Is this the way to your house? I live this way too. We can walk home together after school." Is this guy for real, can't he sense the go away vibes I'm sending him. "No." I say, it's too late to get dragged into some new mess. He stops walking, paused at how blunt I was. "Okay then." He still catches up to me and matches his stride to mine. Finally I stop in front of him and turn to face him. "Thanks for saving me, really. But please, just go away." That seems to get through to him and I feel a flicker of guilt as I wonder If I've hurt his feelings. But right now I'm in no mood to protect his feelings. I don't need another guy messing with me. I start walking again and this time he doesn't follow me.

At home the dragon waits, preparing for her attack. "Where have you been?" She demands, slightly more sober than yesterday. "I got beaten up after school." Surely she sees the blood running down my chin. "Well at least you're good for something then. But you were still late, don't try to feed me pathetic excuses." She slaps my swelling up face, sending a jolt of pain through my body and tells me to get out of her sight. Stumbling to the bathroom I wash the blood off my face, wincing at the slightest touch. Then I continue with my nightly routine, the only trustworthy companion - my blade. The lines of pain drive out the sneering faces of Brian and my mother, calming my hitching breath.

A/N I know I've been uploading a lot lately, I have too much free time on my hand. Please comment, I want to know what you guys think so far.