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38.

Nathaniel's Point Of View

3 weeks.

3 weeks of pain.

3 weeks of drugs.

3 weeks of recovery.

3 weeks of suffering.

3 weeks of a living hell.

I repeat, living hel-

"Nathaniel!"

I look up, brought back to reality. In the kitchen sitting at the counter, with my dad. Someone who has scared me my entire life.

"Nathaniel!" He says again, "Are you even fucking listening?!?!"

"Dad, calm down. Please," Aris says.

"I will not tolerate this. My son. This is a disappointment. Your mother would've thought so too," he says.

He backhands me across the left side of my face. Then stomps out of the kitchen. Upset that I'm his son because I'm the disappointment.

"Oh my god," Aris says, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I state, "I'm good."

I feel the side of my face that he hit and it stings a little bit. Probably gonna start bruising or something.

"Want ice?" Aris asks.

"I think I'm good," I say.

"Nate," he says.

"Yeah?" I respond.

"If it's not personal, but why?" He asks.

I look down at my wrists, full of scars. Full of battles lost. Full of mistakes.

"Aris," I start, "I think sometimes i-it gets a little rough. Times change and explanations can't be found. I can't explain this one."

"Nathaniel," he says hugging me, "I love you. I don't want you to leave. I'm sorry if that's selfish but that's the truth. I want you to stay. You were given this life because you're strong enough to live it."

"I love you too, Aris," I say hugging him back, "I always will."

"I have to go finish a project," he says after we let go.

"Okay. You do that. Dad should be leaving soon-"

"Hello!!!" I hear no other than Justine walk in the front door. She went to get groceries. I still don't find a like to her.

"Imma leave. you wanna come?" Aris says.

"No. Reid should be here any minute," I say.

"Okay," he says and bolts for his room. He doesn't like her much either.

"Hey, Nathaniel," she says walking into the kitchen with lots of bags.

"You need any help?" I ask.

"No, hon, it's been a couple of rough weeks for you hasn't it now? You're supposed to be free of stress," she says.

"What does that have to do wi-"

"Oh my gosh," she says surprised, "Oh, hon. What happened to your face? Let me get some ice."

I bite my lip. I don't want to tell her that her lovely husband, my father, backhanded me in the face. But I also don't want to lie to her that I got beat up, because I've been home all day.

"I walked into the corner of the wall," I state awkwardly.

Wow. Just wow. That's the best you can think of Nathaniel? Now that's sad. Real sad.

She puts a bag of ice on the left side of my face. The sting starts to fade. She then gives me the ice so she can start putting away the groceries she bought. I keep it on my face.

"Now tell me," she says, "what really happened?"

"I told you, I walked into the wall," I lie.

"You're lying I want the truth," she says.

Knock! Knock!

That's Reid. I bolt for the door dropping the ice in the process. I grab my backpack that's on the ground in the hall as Justine calls after me. I don't look back.

"Hey," Reid says as I step outside.

"Hey," I say.

"I already got your board in my car. It was in the trunk of your car," he states, "I still don't understand what you like about Jeeps."

"That's like saying why you have an Acura," I say.

"True true," he says as we get in the car.

"Uh-huh," I say.

"Okay. Okay. Okay," he says in defeat.

"Can I ask you something?" I ask.

"Yeah, sure," he says backing out.

"Do you treat me differently," I ask.

"Well," he states, "differently than Ryan yeah, but ya know that's because he's my boyfriend. But I treat you like all my other friends. Why?"

"Nothing. Uh thanks I guess. Sorry it was a stupid question," I state.

"Nah, don't worry about it," he says, "Anyway. I don't mean to be repetitive about this because everyone has the probably said it. But um, how are you feeling?"

"I'm good," I say, "Mostly happy to be outta there."

"I got so scared when I heard," he says.

"I'm sorry," I say.

"Hey, don't worry about it," he says patting my shoulder lightly, "All that matters is that you're okay."