Freaks in The Night

Chapter 8- Bruises

A loud firm knock echoed through Derek's bedroom and we both turned to each other. "Who's that?" I asked slowly retaliating to his side.  Derek looked down at me and placed his hands upon my shoulders. "It's okay, he won't do anything when I'm around." Derek soothed. I nodded hesitantly, well aware of the scared look in his eyes. Derek walked over and pulled open the door. "What?"  "Cut the sh*t—" Jackson barked. He looked over Derek's shoulder and began to shout at me. "Bridgette!" I flinched at his tone and his face softened. "Hey baby, why are you in here? Come with me." He smiled reaching out his hand. Derek smacked his hand away and Jackson snapped at him. "Let me in!"  "No." Derek retorted. "She doesn't want to come."  "Why don't you let her talk? What the hell do you know about her?"  "I know that's she's a strong girl that is wise enough to control and make choices in her own life. She doesn't need some boyfriend to butt in every living second of the damn day."  Jackson rolled his eyes. "You're not on tv. Cut the feminist bullsh*t. Bridgette come with me, now."   "J-" I slowly began.  "Bridgette just come on already!" Jackson groaned in annoyance. "I want to make sure your-"  "Can you shut your irrelevant a** up for two seconds and let her talk?!" Derek yelled at Jackson annoyed. The brothers stared at each other fuming.  "I want to go home." I whispered out. "I want to go home now, please."  "Sure-" Derek began but was quickly intruded by Jackson. "No."  I stare between the two and sighed. "Bridgette I'll gladly take you home." Derek smiled.  "Thanks Der-"  "No f*cking way!" Jackson shouted. "She's my girlfriend and if I want her to stay with me I'll damn well make sure of it!" Jackson stormed into the room and grappled my hand. "Let's go and get you out of these disgusting freak clothes." Jackson scowled.  "Let her go!" Derek pushed him away. "She doesn't f*cking want to be with you right now so leave her the f*ck alone. Give her some space dude! For sh*ts sake if you're hellbent on keeping her cooped up in this house then you might as well place her in moms room and restart the beat her and clean her service going on in the room down the hall!" Derek panted. I stared up at him and rubbed his shoulder sympathetically. I could tell he was hurting. His eyes were glossy and he was shaking uncontrollably. I stared at Jackson who shot daggers at me.  "Bridgette I'm your boyfriend, not Derek. If you want to be with my brother then go ahead and say it. Say it you want to go home and I'll go, I'm done." Jackson mumbled a few seconds later. His eyes were glossy as he stared at my hand on Derek's shoulder. I instantly brought it down and placed it in my pocket. A thick fog of tension surrounded us and my heart began to hammer in my chest. It was evident both the boys had been apart of a family that had major domestic violence issues and it had affected them dearly. I couldn't just leave Derek but I couldn't go back with Jackson either. However I wasn't going to break up with him, this was the first time he had done something like this and we needed to talk about it, not shove it down the hammer like a dirty pair of socks.  "Jackson can I just go home?" I asked. "We can all use a good nights sleep and then we can talk about this tomorrow."  Jackson shrugged. "Of course." He turned to leave and then turned back. "We're done."  "Jackson no that's not what I meant!"  "Just let him go!"  "It's not that simple!"  "Yes it sorta f*cking is!" Derek shouted. "He hit you. He didn't accidentally shove you into a wall, he full on punched you in the face because you were talking to me. What kind of rubbish is that?"  "It was an accident, okay?!" I shouted back angrily. "People make mistakes! He lost his temper—people lose their temper all of the time and this time I was there and he hit me! I admit it sounds like he did it on purpose but he was just frustrated and confused!"  "So you're just going to keep telling yourself that, right?"  "I'm not telling myself anything, I'm telling myself the truth that you can't admit to."  "Maybe I can't but at least I know that if I was in your place I would respect myself enough to let myself believe the truth."  "Well at least I would never ruins  my brother or sisters relationship because I kept on butting into his or her business! Just leave me alone!" I screamed slamming the door shut. I stomped over to Jackson's bedroom where he was laying on his bed. He looked up and followed me as I came up next to him to lay down. "I'm sorry."  Jackson shrugged me off. "I don't care."  "Jackson you have to admit your at fault here, not me. Y-You hit me." I mumbled sitting up. "You can't blame me for being angry."  "I'm not angry that you're mad, I'm angry because I don't want you anywhere near Derek. I hate him more with everything in my body. I want him dead more than anything and here he is getting in the way once again, trying to seduce my girlfriend."  "Jackson he didn't try anything. He just helped me with the bandage." I pointed at my face.  Jackson stared at me and shook his head. "I'm sorry—I c-can't believe I did this to you."  "It's okay. It was a mistake, I'm sure you didn't mean it."  Jackson nodded and wrapped his arms around me. "I promise I won't ever do it again."  "I know, I know."  ****  I woke up in a daze. I stared out of the window at the dark grey clouds outside the window. Thunder echoed outside and I shivered. I grabbed my phone realized it was well past my curfew, approximately five-thirty and I proceeded to text my parents to let them know that I had stayed at Jackson's. I groaned and rubbed the sides of my head in frustration, well aware that my parents would be fuming because they forbade me from staying over. I swung my legs over the side of my bed and got off of his bed only to cower down in pain. "O-Oh God.." I gasped cowering to my side. My body aches and I felt like falling down, it hurt so much. I limped over to the bathroom and pulled up the t-shirt I was in. I assumed Jackson had changed me, something that was vaguely creepy but at the same time seemed normal. I gasped as the shirt revealed a number of dark purple bruises lined up against the side of my torso beginning from hips and ending at my ribs. I placed my finger against one and hissed in pain. "A-Aah.." I whimpered. I grimaced and pulled the t-shirt down and took a few deep breaths. I grabbed a toothbrush from underneath the vanity and then continued to freshen up before leaving the room. I pulled open the door and slowly walked down the hallway to the stairs. I heard the shower running from the master bedroom and assumed Matthew was showering, I probably should start breakfast soon. I passed Derek's room and heard the shower on as well. I could expect them to be done long before seven thirty. I walked downstairs and tried to ignore the pain on my side that made me feel like I was going to faint any second. I walked over to the drawer near the oven and pullEd out a painkiller. I popped two in my mouth and felt it kick in immediately.  I pulled out a box of pancake mix and began to make some pancakes. By seven thirty I had the entire table set with pancakes, eggs, toast, and even bacon. Soon enough Matthew walked in with an eyebrow raised. "Wow, impressive Bridgette!" He smiled. "I haven't had a breakfast like this since Rose passed."  I smiled sympathetically. "I'm sure she was much better at making breakfast than me. I just threw some stuff together because I wasn't sure what you boys would have liked to eat in the morning."  "You did great--mind I ask about that on your face?" He asked. I self-consciously touched my face and he cooed. "Oh, it's okay if you don't want to talk about it."  "It's nothing, really. I just fell last night and cut my face a bit. Derek helped me patch it up."  "I'm sorry about that--the Derek part. Next time if you need any type of assistance ask me, I'm the best at bandages." He smirked.  I nodded. "I'm sure it won't happen again—but let's forget about that! You should begin eating, I'm sure you have to leave to work soon."  Matthew nodded and sat down. I began to pour him some coffee and sat down next to him. "This is amazing--would you mind running up and grabbing Jackson?" Matthew asked  scooping up another stack of pancakes.  "Yes of course." I stood up and walked up the stairs and walked into his room. "Good morning Jackson." I smiled crawling into bed.  "Mm..what time is it?" He asked groaning.  "7:30"  "Ugh, let me sleep babe."  "I made breakfast for you and you dad wants you down. Can you freshen up and come?" I asked.  "Only because you made it." He smiled planting a sloppy kiss on my forehead.  I smiled and hopped out of his bed and walked to Derek's room. I knocked twice before walking in.  "What the hell—oh hey little Bridgie."  "Ahh!" I yelled shielding my eyes. "Y-You're naked!" I screamed turning around.  Derek's chuckled bellowed around the room and he walked up behind me. "I have a towel on.." He whispered into my ear. "Oops, it fell." He smirked turning me around. His hands holding my wrists pinned against the wall with his towel covering my feet.  "Derek no! Gross I don't need to see little Derek this early!"  "Little Derek? You mean seven in-"  "LA LA LA!" I screamed covering my ears. "NO DIRTY TALKS FOR ME THIS FINE MORNING! JUST BREAKFAST DOWNSTAIRS!" I yelled running out of his room, leaving Derek laughing uncontrollably as I slammed his door shut.  I ran down the stairs flustered and sat back down next to Matthew. "They're all coming.." I muttered breathlessly."  Matthew suddenly slammed his silverware down causing me to jump. "What do you mean they are?"  "Derek and Jackson.." I trailed off trembling as he stood of angrily.  "Who told you to bring Derek?"  "I-no—"  "It's okay, you didn't know." Matthew sighed coming close to my ear. "In this house we don't eat with bastards."  "Then maybe she shouldn't eat with you."