deathly love

Ch.11 Suspect The Unexpected

"What about your dad?" I asked Roar with a confused but scared look. She shook her head again and brought her hands to her pale face. "Roar." I put my hands, icy cold from being outside, on her shoulders. She shivered, but only for a moment. Once I noticed that my breathing was faster and heavier than it should have been, I tried to calm myself down a bit, not only for myself, but because I didn't want to scare Roar any more than she already was. "Roar," I said again," you can tell me."

Still, she just shook her head, refusing to look up at me. I lowered my head to where I stood eye to eye with her. She looked up and met my eyes. "You can trust me." I spoke to her in a soft, sensative voice. I wanted her to know that she could tell me anything. She was everything to me: my best friend, my sister, my daughter (since I felt so protective over her).

Roar looked me in the eyes again, but she had a different expression this time. After a few agonizingly long minutes, she nodded her head, her blonde curls falling over her shoulders. "My dad, he..." She stopped again to choke back some tears. Once she had regained her composure once more, she continued. "He...hits me." Once she said it, she looked relieved, like a giant weight was lifted off of her shoulders.

I looked at Roar for a few minutes. "Well?" she said sheepishly, lightly brushing the bruise with her fingertips. One look at Roar was enough to send me into tears. But I didn't want to cry in front of her. She needed me right now. I slowly fell into Roar and wrapped my arms tightly around her tiny, frail body. She just stood there for a minute, not sure was happening, but then she gripped me tightly and buried her face into my chest. Tears exploded from her eyes and soaked the front of my T-shirt, but I didn't mind. I patted Roar's back and encouraged her to let the tears flow.

"Ash?" Roar pulled back for a minute but didn't let her grip waver. I looked down at her big watery eyes. "Yeah?" She licked a salty tear that ran down her lips. "You won't...you aren't going to tell anyone about this...right?"

I stared down at Roar. She looked back up at me. If I were any other person, she would have been at my mercy right now. She was vulnerable, and I knew her secret.

Shaking my head no, I spoke. "No, Roar, I won't tell anyone." She smiled and squeezed me tighter. "Thank you so much, Ash, you have no idea how much..." "But I'm going to kill him." Roar blinked a few times, proccessing what I said. "W-What?" she asked.

I didn't answer her. Instead, I trodded towards her house, then broke into a run.

"I'm going to kill him!" I shouted into the night.

The light sound of footsteps echoed behind me.

"Asher, no! Don't say anything!" I kept running towards the house, ignoring her. But she stopped in the middle of the road. "If he finds out," she started, but then stopped talking.

I stopped mid-stride. "If he finds out, then what?" I asked her, a tone of anger in my voice. She shook her head, but this time, no tears fell. I think she was too scared and shocked to cry.

"Please," she whispered. "Don't."

Slowly, I walked over to Roar. Her petite body was shaking profusely. I hugged her in a tight embrace, but she didn't return the favor. "I won't. Not if you don't want me to. But we can't ignore this. Not if he's hurting you." Roar nodded.

"I know. I've tried telling people, but everytime I open my mouth, it seems to go dry and I can't speak. If you hadn't pushed me to tell you, I wouldn't have been able to." She sighed, and I could tell she felt just a little better. A little.

Suddenly, I saw a car drive past on the opposing road. The driver sparked something in my mind. It was Kristian. I was supposed to follow him. "Shit," I said allowed.