Gasoline.

Chapter 4: Releasing a smoky past.

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Chapter 4- releasing a smoky past

When I finally got home, I went upstairs to take a very needed shower. I allowed the water to be cooler than usual as my day was hot enough.

After getting out, changing into something comfortable and getting some food to eat, I went back upstairs and stood outside Grayson's door.

Deep breaths Kate, all you're doing is thanking him and apologising for how you've acted after how nice he was.

Knock Knock.

"Come in."

I push the door handle and slowly open the door. There he sits, by his desk writing what looks like a homework essay. He had glasses on over his soft, brown eyes and his brown hair was sitting a little messy on his head. He wore a loose, black shirt and navy jeans. He somehow made an everyday style look stylish.

"Hmm, didn't fancy seeing you today sunshine." He smirks, looking at me. "What brings you here?"

"It's my house." I respond with an eye roll.

"My room right now, I'll happily kick you out."

"No, please don't do that." I say with urgency.

"What's up?" He turns his chair so that all his focus is on me.

"Can we talk?" I say quietly and he nods. We both lie on his bed, looking up to the ceiling.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I feel bad for how I responded to you trying to comfort and be nice to me the other day. Thank you for being there for me during the lesson and at lunch. If you weren't there for me then, I would be in a much stickier situation right now."

"It's okay, Katie," He props himself onto one elbow and looks at me with a smile. "Now I'll listen and you speak. I think that'll be best for everyone." I nod.

"Okay, um, sorry I've never spoken to anyone else like this before." I know I should talk to someone about what's going on, I now have that chance. Come on Katie, you can talk. I take a deep breath, nod. Okay, here I go.

"It all started when I was fourteen years old. I woke up one morning and went to school, like usual of course, but it wasn't usual on the way back. I was walking home and went through the usual pathway home. Not many people went through it but I generally thought it was safe." I take a deep breath. "On the way back from school, a man grabbed my arm and pulled me to his car. I had no idea what was going on in the moment of time and even though I wanted to scream and run away, my body was in shock and no sound or movement came. He started to hit me and he pulled out a knife. In that moment, I knew I'd probably die so my instincts kicked in and I was able to break away. Although, he had removed the majority of my clothes and put his hands in areas I never wanted to be touched. I ran home crying that day but before I got home, I dried my tears and walked into the house as if nothing had ever happened. I rushed upstairs, took a shower and addressed my injuries."

I hesitate, not sure if I want to carry on explaining, but Grayson just looks at me with focus and concern, so, I carry on.

"I ended up telling my best friend, about two months later. It took so much out of me to tell Kelsey but I felt as though it was the best thing to do. Yes, I'm talking about Kelsey, the one who poured her drink all over me at lunch today. At first, she was really kind to me, promised that unless I wanted someone to know, my harassment would never be brought up. That was the last promise I had ever heard from someone. She broke it. We got into a small, petty argument over a boy about a year and a half later and she went around telling people that I had led many guys on and one of them heard that I had a boyfriend and got annoyed. All these rumours she made up were false but nobody believed me. Why would they?"

I take another breath and Grayson reaches his spare hand out to touch mine, I allow him to and he holds my hand and gives me a reassuring nod that it's okay for me to carry on if I want.

"After that incident, things were not going so well at school as many people tried to take advantage of me, especially the boys. Things at home weren't any better though. My dad and I used to be so close until he argued with my mum. They got a divorce, but he promised me that when he left, I'd still be his best friend and he'd call to see how I was after school or on the weekends. However, he started to pick up some bad coping habits and the calls became very rare until one day, we got a call from the hospital. He had got into an accident as he was walking home drunk and didn't pay attention to the cars on the street. It wasn't his first incident with drinking but, it was the most serious. I sat down on his hospital bed and he looked me in my eyes promising to never drink again. He promised he would go and get help for the drinking. He never did, and if he did, he didn't go very often as one month later, he was dead. He had also killed another family as he was driving drunk. My Dad was not only a deal breaker but also a murderer."

Now my lashes were tear soaked and my cheeks were red and wet. Grayson pulled me into a hug and all I could hear was his heartbeat. I had never felt more comforted.

***

About three peaceful hours later...

My eyes open but I can't see anything as the room is dark. I turn over to see Grayson's alarm clock telling me that it's 10pm. Oops. I try to move to get out of the bed but his arms just wrap tighter around my body, so I give up and allow myself to drift back into my friends comforting form and fall back to sleep.

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