Dark Places

Chapter Two

      I don’t mind being alone, since my dad taught me to be independent. I wonder if he’s proud of me. Probably not, he would think that I’m running from my problems.
     
Technically, I am running from my problems, I’m running from my demons, as some would say. Which is also fine with me; as long as I don’t have to face them right now; I need to get my act together first.
    
I clutch the metal medallion around my neck, letting the cold metal cool my sweating palm. It’s a St. Michael medallion that my dad gave to me a few years ago, I’ve worn it ever since. It’s a reminder to me that I’m not totally forgotten. That there is a chance that God’s up there right now, watching over me. It might be false hope, but it’s all I got right now.
    
I shake off all the thoughts in my mind, unsuccessfully. Maybe a walk around will help me clear my head. I stand up from the bench as the wind picks up again. I shiver and hug my arms around my stomach, facing off the cold as best I can. It’s pretty cold in Tennessee, since it’s early November.
     
I ran away from home and ended somewhere in Tennessee; somehow I made it here on foot. I typically like familiar things and people, but I was desperate enough to leave my hometown in Arkansas.
     
The rumors started a little after the accident. They were brutal. I thought I could handle them, battle them face to face, but then my mother walks home with a guy; which would have bothered me, but not as much as it bothered me that he was a creep, and he used me as a punching bag.

Mom claimed she needed the money from him, so she kept him around. Even after he hit me over and over and over again.
     
I finally had enough. I could face loss, rumors, and my own mother; but there was no way I was going to deal with a coward who beat up his girlfriend’s daughter. If you ask me, they belong together; both cowards.