A New Family (A Ghost Bird Story)

Runaway

A/N Thank you again to Anna for doing the hard grammar work and helping get these 13516 words done in time for Update Day! And Kitkat for listening to me whine about what my characters are doing and being a huge part of my inspiration for writing in the first place.

Sang's PoV

"I will never let you be hurt again, I have a plan."

I had never quite heard anything so beautiful. Or impossible. I wanted to believe him.

When he said, "Oh, Sang." I could hear a break in his voice and that made me break down sobbing. He cared about me? I was uncomfortable that he or anyone had seen what she did to me. How could I have let this happen? Exactly how could I let it get this bad without finding a way to stop her?

I tried to smile at him but I think it came off as more of a grimace. My body swayed toward him with its own desires and his hand came up to steady me. His hand closed on the shoulder I had fallen on and a hiss of pain escaped my mouth.

"My God, Sang. I'm sorry. I just made this all worse by letting Max run you over!" I felt him shudder through our connection and I wanted to say something to make him feel better. It wasn't his fault after all! Max just got a little too excited.

He had a calculating look in his concerned eyes, "Sang? Come out to the bedroom with me and we will talk, ok?"

I want to make him smile again and I want to hear about this plan of his. Especially since mine had been an epic failure. My finger drifted up to my lip and pressed lightly to my teeth, my security blanket. "Ok, Kota."

Kota lead me gently into his bedroom which was spacious. There was a window over the driveway and one facing the front of the house with a window seat in it. Gesturing to that we sat down and I looked around inconspicuously. The floor was covered in a blue carpet. His bed was pushed up against the wall and a desk with a brass lamp was against the far left corner with a bookshelf next to it. I looked back at him sitting next to me and he was watching me openly.

'Way to be discreet, Sang'

He looked me in the eye with a sympathetic smile on his lips and confidence in his shoulders.

"Sang, if I ask you some questions will you tell me the truth? You are safe here with me. I swear." He pushed up his glasses with his forefinger but his gaze never wavered.

I shifted my weight under his scrutiny. The ache in my hip made me clench my fists. His lips firmed as he glanced at my hands. I didn't like that look on him. He had already seen what was wrong with me, the blood, the horrible bruising. It had to be obvious. I could answer some questions. "What do you want to know?"

He leaned back and put his knee up on the bench next to me, brushing against my leg. "Were you running away from home, from your family, tonight?"

My eyes darted away and then back to his stare.

"Yes, No. Not really... I don't know?" I took in a shuddering breath and he seemed to be waiting to see if I was going to clarify, so I tried again. "Tonight was a bad night. Obviously." I quaked and let out half a laugh at my attempt at humor. "I thought if I left until Marc got back that I would be safe for a while and I could figure out what to do after that. That is about as far as my plan went... I couldn't even make it to the end of the block by myself!" I was crying again! I put my face in my hands to hide my burning cheeks. A box of tissues nudged me in the knee and I wiped gratefully at my face and I breathed deeply to slow the flood.

"Who is Marc? Is he your father?"

"No," I exhaled lightly, "my father left us. Marc is engaged to my mother. He is a good guy." He looked unconvinced and I went on. "Really, he doesn't know. In the beginning she had me tell him my old scars were from my father and then after, well, she has been careful to make sure most things aren't visible or that they will heal before he gets home from his business trips." I motioned toward my breasts when I mentioned 'things being visible' and grimaced.