One Last Hope

Fifteen

✽Kaylee's POV✽

It was about 2 am when I stumbled through the front door to find my dad sitting in a chair just waiting for me to arrive. I started to panic which triggered some wheezing. Great, just great. I'm about to get an asthma attack at the same time that my dad is going to beat me. Not to mention the fact that I have this aching pain in my head. Seems to me like the alcohol effect is warring off and very quickly. I stared at him for a moment, hesitant to take a step further.

"Daddy," I managed to say through my wheezing. "Please don't." 

"Of course not, pumpkin. How about I make you a nice hot cup of tea for that hang over there?" He walked over to the kitchen and put a tea kettle full of water onto the hot stove. I stood there watching him, not able to comprehend why he was pretending to be so nice. "Get over here, don't be shy." 

I slowly walked over to the edge of the kitchen and waited there. I had no idea what else to do. The tea kettle started whistling, signaling that it was at boiling point. He carefully grabbed it and poured steaming water into a mug with a tea bag stuck in it. He put the mug in front of me for me to take. As I reached for it, he moved it away and spilled it on my face. I gasped in pain as he grabbed the piping hot pan and slapped my legs with it. He opened the basement door and pushed me in, making me roll backwards down the stairs, landing on my back. He locked the basement door and walked over to me, grabbing me by the hair.

"You stupid bitch. I told you not to not to disobey me! Yet you did it anyway." He smashed my face against the metal stair railing. "Do my threats honestly mean nothing to you?" 

That's when asthma attack started its course. I haven't had one of these since that time I fainted in the sixth grade. I couldn't breathe as he punched me against the wall. I laid on the floor trying to catch my breath, waiting for him to strike again. My inhaler would be very useful right now.

"Get up." He pulled me up and pushed me out the door toward the back yard. He grabbed my hair again and threw me into the pool. He jumped in and got a hold of me before I could try and swim away. He pushed my head down into the water. He was trying to suffocate me! I moved my entire body, trying with all my might to reach the top of the pool and catch some air but dad had all his weight on me. I started to get dizzy, water filling up my lungs.

"Now tell me.." He said, pulling my head out of the water and onto the concrete floor. "Are you going to fucking disobey me again? If yes, then I'll do that all over again but this time, I wont fucking pull your bitch ass out. Tell me your answer right now."
 
"No, I wont ever disobey you again!" I cried, still wheezing.

"Good choice." He forcibly pulled me up and put me in the passenger seat of his car. We drove for an  hour before arriving to our destination. My asthma attack worsened as I stepped out the car. I fell to the floor heavily wheezing, desperately trying to get some air into my lungs. I started coughing like crazy and eventually threw up a bunch of water.

I looked up at the familiar driveway and realized that I was at my grandmas house. I wasn't sure if I was more afraid of my dad or my grandma. Dad and I walked into the house, soaking wet. By now it was probably 4 in the morning.. no wonder I was so sleepy. I waited in the living room as my dad talked to my grandma.. I really don't need torment from that old woman right now.

Dad went out the front door and drove off. Crap, I'm in for it now. Grandma walked over to me. I thought she was going to punch me or something but instead she handed me an inhaler. I quickly pressed it down into my mouth and felt immediate relief.

"Take the guest bedroom down the hall," She pointed to it. "And for gods sake, take a shower, you smell like fucking chlorine."

I nodded and ran into the bathroom to take a hot shower. I changed into my cousins old pajamas and went to bed. I locked the door and put a chair and a bookshelf in front of it so that nobody could come in. I laid there for probably an hour, trying to control my breathing and putting pain medication on my cuts and bruises. 
 
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▲NO POV▲

The next day, Tom was really worried because Kaylee wasn't at school and she wasn't answering any of his calls or text messages. He heard about the party last night and how she got wasted. What if she didn't make it home and got kidnapped or raped? He didn't know what else to think. He decided to go ask Jasmine about it.

"Hey, Jasmine? Have you seen or heard from Kaylee? She's not answering the phone and I'm worried." Tom stood next to Jasmine who was getting books out of her locker.

"Um." Jasmine slammed the locker shut. "Kaylee's choices and actions no longer concern me." 
 

"Okay? So is that a no? Or.." He awkwardly questioned. 

"Hey, Underwear humper, why don't you go away and stop bothering this beautiful little lady?" One Logan's friends, Jason, pushed Tom against the lockers. He looked at Jasmine. "Is this loser bothering you?"

 "No.." Jasmine really didn't want to start a fight.

"Why're you bothering her, huh?" Jason got all up in his face.

"HEY! Get off of him." Macie raced over, pushing Jason away from Tom. 

"Aw, little Tommy boy needs his girlfriend to rescue him. Ha! Hey, how come you hang out with a bunch of girls and haven't made one of them your girlfriend yet? It's okay, buddy. Come out of the closet already." Jason caused a scene. There was now a huge crowd of students watching them. 

"I'm not gay." Tom got really defensive.

"What was that?"

"I'M NOT GAY!" He yelled from the top of his lungs. 

"Gosh, your more of a wuss than I thought! You don't even have the balls to tell the truth about your sexual preference." Jason and his friends started laughing.

"Enough. Stop tormenting him. He already told you, he's not gay." Jasmine stood up for him only because she knows what its like to be the victim and she couldn't stand to watch someone else go through it. 

The guys walked away after Jasmine spoke up. The crowd dissembled as Logan walked through them and towards Jasmine. Tom picked himself and his books off of the floor and angrily walked right past Logan, hitting shoulder to shoulder. 

"You let your friends do that?" She pointed at Tom scurrying down the hallway.

"There's nothing I can do to get them to stop even if I wanted to." Logan shrugged. "My brother and I aren't exactly the best of friends."

"Ditto."