Fire

Chapter 2

Right when I open my eyes I see something I never thought would happen.

The tall curly haired boy was beating Blake. I never thought anyone could hurt Blake. He always seemed so strong, so intimidating. I always thought that he was invincible, but here he is on the ground receiving numerous punches to the face and the gut. And during this exact moment I started to feel something. Hope.

Tears started rolling down my cheeks and I couldn't comprehend why. Was this because I too was scared, or am I relieved, shocked? So many questions are running through my mind at a mile per minute.

I look up and see that the five boys are no where in sight and I'm left laying on the ground with Blake only 10 feet away with blood all over him. I can't bring myself to see if he is still breathing. All I can think about is leaving. I need to leave right now before anyone sees me here with Blake's unconscious body and suspects be of anything.

I take one last quick glance at Blake and quietly murmur "look who's the one hurt now" and begin to quickly walk towards the street so I can get out of here. Only where do I go? My mom's house? My best friend, Kayla's house? The police?

No. No. I can't go to the police. I can't. If somehow Blake survives and finds out I went to the police, he won't only hurt me, he will hurt everyone I love. I can't let that happen. Not to my loved ones.

I decide to go to Kayla's. She will be there to help me, but I know she will give me space and not ask too many questions. I begin to walk towards her house and my mind is going crazy. Why were the boys laughing at me? If they were being so cruel, why would that curly haired boy help me? He was the scariest out of all of them and yet he was the one to help me. I don't even know what to think. I didn't even have the chance to thank him.

Why would they leave me there just laying in a park next to an unconscious body? Ugh, I have so many questions going through my mind. Cassie focus on one. Thing. At. A. Time.

15 minutes later I find myself on the doorstep to Kayla's house. I wipe underneath my eyes and try to prepare myself to what's to come and knock on the door.

It feels like 5 years before I hear footsteps coming towards the door. I take a deep breath right as the doorknob turns and opens to reveal Kayla's familiar face.

She spends the next 30 seconds examining me and I can tell her brain is whirling in every direction trying to comprehend why I look like an ugly puppy that has been without a home for a year. As harsh as that sounds, it's probably true. After all of the crying, and the running, and having probably the scariest/weirdest day of my life I am positive I look like crap.

All of the sudden a warm hug tears me out of my thoughts. And Kayla frantically starts asking questions so fast I can barely even comprehend what she is saying.

"Kayla slow down." I manage to get out in a soft voice.

"Cassie what happened to you?" she repeats again, but this time much slower so I can try to think.

"Umm, well...uhhhhh" I look around to make sure that no one is in sight. "can we go inside first?"

"Yes, of course!" She leads me into her tv room and sits me down on the couch. She then proceeds to get me a warm blanket and a cup of ice water.

"Thanks." I mutter. I take another deep breath and take a sip of water and begin to tell Kayla what happened.

"Holy shit Cassie! What the actual fuck?! I'm so happy you're okay!!" she practically screams and brings me in for another tight embrace.

"So let me get this straight...you finally left Blake because he's an asshole and then you ran all the way to Pelican Park where you saw five boys making fun of you. And then you collapsed out of exhaustion near them and right when you heard Blake threaten you he all of the sudden became quiet. And next thing you know, you see the scary boy beating the shit out of Blake. Then you passed out again, and when you woke up Blake was unconscious and all of the boys were gone?! Shit. Holy fucking shit." Kayla stops and takes a breath after rephrasing my story.