From The Ashes We Rise

Chp 6: More Trouble

We sat on the couches in the lounge and made ourselves comfortable. Mrs Casey was sitting on a couch opposite us, hands clasped together and supporting her head.

"So, tell me what happened." She leaned slightly towards us.

We started explaining the entire chain of events that occurred. We didn't tell her about my powers though. Sammi informed her that she had been harassed by Zachary multiple times.

How had she never told me this?

When I got to the part when I and Zachary were fighting, she stopped me. She was sitting at the very edge of the couch that I feared she was going to fall off.

"So who started the fight? I need to know so I can inform the parents."

I breathed in deeply and confessed, "I did. I couldn't risk Sammi getting beat up." At my response, Mrs Casey stood up.

"I'm sorry Ashley," I cringed at the name, "but I'm gonna have to call your parents. Fighting is against the school rules, you know that."

"Yes...I do, but I couldn't help it."

Mrs Casey let Sammi return to class but kept me here. She signalled me to follow her to the office, where she would call my parents. I guess I had to face the music...

As she was on the phone with my parents, I sat on a stool nearby, processing what I had done wrong. I was starting to get anxious.

Was I gonna get expelled? What's my dad gonna to do me? Will he add to my collection of bruises? So many questions flooded my brain it became overwhelming.

"Your parents are coming over." Mrs Casey's soft voice broke my train of thought. I nodded my head slightly as I continued to sit in the office in silence.

A few minutes later, the office door burst opened and I found myself looking into my dad's face. He looked like he had steam coming out of his ears. He was about to grab me before being stopped by my mum.

"Mr and Mrs Brooks, this way please," ushered Mrs Casey, "Come on Ashley."

We went into a private room in the office where all noise cannot be heard from outside. In there, Mrs Casey described mine and Sammi's explanation from top to bottom, excluding the part about my powers. I could see my dad was trying to suppress his anger as he was struggling to keep a calm face.

After explaining everything, with me adding missing parts, my dad finally spoke.

"So what's the punishment?" To which Mrs Casey replied, "He needs to serve 2 hours detention every day for a week." I heaved a sigh of relief. At least I wasn't going to be suspended, or even worse, expelled.

After the meeting, I was sent home for the day. When we got home, my dad held me by the shoulders and forced me to spin around. He bent down to look me in the eyes.

Without warning, he gave me a tight slap to my still numb cheek.

"You disgraceful piece of shit!" he yelled. I was expecting that slap to be really honest.

"Dennis! What are you doing?! Can't you see he's suffered enough today?!" My mum screamed at my dad. He didn't listen to her and grabbed an umbrella nearby.

"No...please.." I begged him, but my pleas fell on deaf ears. Before I knew it, I was getting whacked multiple times. I was jabbed in the stomach and hit in the arms and legs. My dad pushed me to the ground. Just as he was about to pierce that umbrella into me, Nick barged in.