The Devil's Angel (paused)

Chapter 2

The next morning I woke up just to realise that everything that had happened wasn't just a weird dream. Brian was sitting on the edge of the bed and changing the wet cloth on my forehead.

"Oh, you're awake. That's good. What do you want to eat?", Brian asked nicely.

"What time is it?", I asked abruptly sitting up.

"9 in the morning. I already called the school and said hat we are sick and wouldn't come to school", he answered with a frown.

"He will kill me", I mumbled.

I stood up but lost balance and fell to the ground. Brian was right by my side to help me up. To say that I was scared would have been an understatement. I was truly terrified and not because Brian was suddenly right beside me even though He was on the other side of the bed but I was terrified of the punishment I would retrieve when I arrived at home. The beatings were already bad and when I was even a minute late it would be ten times worse but now that I would be at least nineteen hours late I started to panic. Breathing became hard and tears filled my eyes but I didn't want to let them fall, not in front of Brian. Somehow it was important to me what he thought of me so I didn't want to show him my weak side.

"What happend, Jackson? Are you okay? Do you need anything?", he asked worried.

"I need to go home right now", I told him.

"But you need to rest first and then you can go home. I promise I won't ever hurt you", he promised.

"You don't understand. I need to go home. My father is waiting for me and he is probably worried sick", I half lied.

"As if he would ever worry about me. I'm just his punching bag nothing more and nothing less. I'm not even a son to him and I would be really happy if I didn't have to go back there but I had to because as long as he is alive I can't escape him."

"I can call him and tell him that you're staying over", Brian offered.

"No. My father is sick and I need to take care of him. I need to cook for him or else he is going to starve because he can't cook", I tried to form a convincing lie.

"Okay. I'll drive you home", Brian said though he didn't look convinced.

I was always bad at lying and that hadn't changed in the last years. Every time I would lie I wouldn't look the person I was lying to in the eyes and I would always fumble with my hands. Slowly and with Brian's help I stood up and walked out of the house and to his car. I sat in the passenger seat while Brian was driving. I had told him my address and he surprisingly knew where it was.

When we arrived at the old little house that looked like it would fall apart in a few years I opened my door and exited the car while grabbing my bag that had rested on my thighs. I turned around and looked at Brian. He seemed to be sad and at the same time angry about something because he was grabbing the steering wheel hard so that his knuckles turned white.

"Thank you for taking care of me, Brian. Cheer up, okay? See you at school tomorrow?", I asked.

"Of course. See you tomorrow, Angel", he smirked and inhaled deeply before exhaling again.

I shut the door of his car and watched as he drove away. My fear had subsided but now it came back and it was even worse than before. Slowly I made my way to the house and took my keys out. I opened the door and walked inside hoping that my father was already at work but luck wasn't with me. Again.

After closing the door I took my shoes off and left my bag next to the door. I walked into the living room and my heart stopped. But in the bad way. My father was sitting on the old couch surrounded by bottles of beer and other alcohol. Slowly he turned to face me with an evil grin on his face.

"I have waited for you. Where have you been? Sleeping around again?", he asked with a kind voice but I knew that he wasn't kind at all.

I nodded my head even though I haven't been sleeping with anyone. Heck, I was still a virgin and haven't even had my first kiss and I was already seventeen. Then he threw one of his many empty bottles at me and it hit me right in the stomach. I took a deep breath and tried not to show any emotion. Slowly he walked over to me as if he was stalking his prey which I probably was to him. He abruptly slapped me across the face and punched me in the stomach. I fell to the ground and he started to kick every part of my body he could reach with his feet. Eventually he had enough and left the house.

Carefully I stood up and went inside my bathroom. I took all of my clothes off and showered before I took care of my fresh wounds and putting new clothes on. Then I laid down on my mattress and starred up at the white ceiling until I finally fell asleep. I woke back up at four o'clock and went down and into the kitchen where I started to make dinner for my father who would come home at exactly five pm.

When I was finished with cooking I put everything on a plate and put it down on the desk with a fork, knife and a bottle of his favourite beer. Then I went back up to my room and as soon as I closed my bedroom door I heard the front door opening and closing. I laid back down on my mattress and closed my eyes. Slowly I fell asleep without having one of my many nightmares.

"Hello, Angel. How are you?", asked Brian.

We stood on a clearing in a big forrest and Brian was smiling like he always does.

"It's just a dream so I can tell him the truth, can I? Nothing will happen if I tell him how I really feel, right? Because this is just a dream. I can tell him the truth", I thought.

For some reason every time I lied to Brian my heart began to ache and I regretted lying to him so I decided to tell him the truth in this dream.

"Not so good. My body is hurting all over", I told him while looking at the ground.

"What happened?", he asked very worried and holding me by the shoulders while searching my body for possible injuries.

I wondered how he could be this fast beside me when he stood just a second ago five metres away from me but it didn't matter in that moment. His touch sent tingles trough my whole body and I enjoyed him being near me.

"I get abused", I answered.

"By whom? Since when? I'll make sure that they won't ever hurt you again. I promise", he replied angry but his anger wasn't directed at me.

"You don't need to know 'cause now you're here with me and that is all I need right now. Somehow your touch is very soothing to me and I always feel safe around you even though we know each other only since yesterday. I feel like I've known you my whole life", I explained.

I wrapped my arms around him and buried my head in his chest. He seemed startled for a moment but soon enough he wrapped his arms around me too and buried his face in my hair since he was a head taller than me. In that exact moment I felt unbelievable happy and I wished that that moment never ended but it did.

I woke up to the not so happy reality we lived in.