Red

Chapter Nineteen

Chandler POV:

"I'm going to be fine, Sawyer," I say for the sixth time in three minutes. 

My girlfriend is still extremely nervous about the whole situation. She put her dress back on from last night, and now she stands between me and the doorway. I left a textbook at my house which I need for a history project, and I have to go back and get it. Clearly, Veronica's too nervous to let me do that.

"What if she hurts you again?" she asks, her eyes pleading. Pleading me not to go. Pleading me to stay away from the woman who caused me so much pain.

"Listen, she's always out on Saturdays, okay? She goes to different bars around the city, and she probably cheats on Dad while she's at it," I say, knowing that there is definitely a good chance that that's what she does every Saturday. All I need to know is that on Saturdays, she isn't home. "Dad works overtime on Saturdays, so he won't be home either. I'll be fine."

"If you'll  be fine, then let me drive you," she replies. 

I shake my head. "No, you can't," I try to explain. "It's too-"

"Dangerous?" she finishes. I look at her. Well, she got me there.

I sigh. "Fine. You can come. But listen to me, okay? Stay in the car. Are you hearing me? Look at me." I make eye contact with her, making sure she's returning it. "Stay in the fucking car. Stay. In. The car. Got it? I don't care what happens."

"For something that you're going to come out of fine, this doesn't sound fine," she comments. 

"Stay in the car, Sawyer," I say again. "Alright? Can you do that?"

"We'll see," she replies, and with that, she's out the door. I sigh, following her.

We get out to the car, and she gets into the driver's seat. I don't usually sit in the passenger seat. This is weird for me. I watch as she turns the key in the ignition, driving the little blue car out of the driveway. I'll be fine. We'll be fine. I know we will. We have to be.

***

Once we get to my house, Veronica parks on the street as I instruct her to. If, for some reason, my mom does end up coming home, I don't want her to see Veronica in the driveway. My mother doesn't even know I like girls, much less that I have a girlfriend. If she knew, it'd be worse off for me and for Veronica.

I turn to Veronica once more as I'm getting out of the car. "Stay here," I tell her again. "No matter what. Promise?"

"Chandler-"

"Veronica," I warn.

"Promise," she says with a sigh.

I nod, satisfied, and get out of the car. I walk up the driveway and onto the porch, getting the key out of it's hiding place. I pick it up and use it to unlock the door, putting it right back once I'm done. Then, I walk into the house.

It's quiet. Mom's gone. I was right. I smile to myself, extremely thankful, and I walk up the stairs towards my room. Once there, I go to my desk. There are drawers, and I know I left the book in one of them. "God, where..." I mutter to myself, searching through the drawers. Finally, I find the textbook. There's a picture of fire on the front. I don't know what that has to do with what's really in this particular textbook, but whatever. All that matters now is that I have it. 

I'm walking back down the stairs when I hear it. There's movement inside of the house, and I'm certain of it. Shit. I thought I was alone. I'm hoping it's just Dad, perhaps having left his briefcase at home. Of course, I'm wrong. I always am. As I reach the bottom of the stairs, I feel a hand grab my arm in a vice grip. I let out a yelp as my mom slams me against the wall at the bottom of the stairs. My textbook falls out of my hand, hitting the ground with a loud thud.

"You have some real fucking courage coming back here!" she exclaims. She's already mad, and extremely drunk. 

"Your car wasn't here," I manage. "I didn't think-"

"You didn't think I'd mind? If you just broke into my home? Hm?" She's getting angrier and angrier by the second. "You goddamn slut!" 

Her fist flies at my face again, and I put up my hands to defend myself, but her fist makes contact with my mouth. My lip is split. Blood immediately gushes from the cut. I won't let myself cry in front of her again. She's preparing to hit me again, and I cover my face, but the blow never comes. Instead, I hear my mom cry out in a mix of pain and rage.

"Leave her alone!" I hear someone say. Veronica. No. I look up and see her standing behind my mother, a look of determination on her face.

"No, Sawyer!" I scream, and tears burn behind my eyes as I realize what's happening.

It all happens so fast. My mom grabs the spade from our fireplace tool set right beside her foot, and I hear a sickening crack as it makes contact with Veronica's head. She collapses to the floor, and I see my mother raise the spade into the air again. She'll kill Veronica. She'll really kill her. 

I don't know if it's the rage or the fear or a mix of both, but I lunge forward, pulling my mother away from Veronica and shoving her against the wall. Before she has time to react, I raise my fist, punching her as hard as I can in the face. She slumps down to the ground, unconscious.

I cry out in pain, having hurt my hand. I've never punched someone before, and there's a very good chance that I did it wrong. I couldn't care less right now. I drop to my knees beside Veronica, swallowing the lump in my throat. 

"You promised," I whimper. "God, you fucking promised me." I take my phone out of the pocket of my blazer, dialing 9-1-1 with one hand and moving Veronica's head into my lap with the other. "Please don't die," I whisper to her limp form. I hope to God that my mother didn't kill her. "Please don't die," I whisper again.

"9-1-1, what is your emergency?" the operator says.

"My girlfriend just got hit in the face with a, um... a fireplace spade..." I'm stumbling over my words, all of my focus directed towards Veronica.

"M'am, do you know where you are? Is she breathing?" the operator asks.

I don't know when I started really crying or how long I didn't respond, but suddenly I hear the operator say, "We're tracking your position and sending someone there right away."

"Thank you," is all I can manage, and I hold Veronica's hand as I wait for the sounds of sirens. Please let her be okay. "Please be okay."

***

A/N:

Wow, more angst! What a surprise. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter! I'm very tired so I'm off to bed. I will update you all tomorrow! Remember to comment and vote (should you feel so inclined), and don't worry: I will not kill off any major characters. This is not a major character death kind of story. 

Thanks for reading!

-LittleMissBlitz