Innocence

Dad's Home

Macy wakes up with a jolt. The door had been flung open, and slammed shut. He stomped into the living room. Without showing her fear she commented, "You're drunk." She stood up while he was talking. "Yeah? No kidding." Her hands were clenched in fists with her nails impaling her skin. Her anxiety was through the roof. "I must excuse myself in order to work on homework." He pushed her into a wall when she tried to walk past him.

(Jem's POV)
Jeremy walks through the door of the bus. "Thanks, bye." When he gets inside his house he feels a sharp pain in his shoulder. That's not where Mace usually cuts, and that's not how a knife feels. Jem thought about when she rammed herself into the wall multiple times, and decides to text her.

Macy

Hey, are you okay?
3:40 pm

Now all he has to do is wait for a response.

(Macy's POV)
Macy was sitting with her back against the wall, looking up at her dad. "I'm the adult here, not you. You don't tell me what to do. It's the other way around."
"You've hardly been in my life. Why would I listen to you when the three things you know how to do well are drink/abuse, sleep, and work? You don't deserve to be a part of my life."
"I am the parent here! I am here and now you have to listen."

Macy started yelling, "Yeah? And all these?" She rolled up her sleeves to reveal the many cuts, scars, and bruises. "What do I do about these? I cut myself as a distraction from all my other problems, Dad, and that includes you."

He seemed stunned sober. He looked at her arms, then at her. After looking at her his expression hardened. "Get out."
"What?"
"You heard me, Macy, get out. I don't care what you do, or where you go, just get out of my house."
"But this is our house. My house too. You can't just kick me out."
He tightened his fist around her arm. "I pay the bills, and come home to find out my daughter has been cutting herself. If you don't leave, I will force you to."

With that he pushed her out the door. Macy didn't have anything but the clothes on her back, and the phone in her pocket. She looked at the screen. One unread message:

Jeremy

Hey, are you okay?
3:40 pm

Please, can you just come
pick me up?
3:48 pm

I will be over ASAP
3:49 pm

She looked away from her phone, and longingly back towards the house. Then sat down on the porch steps to wait.

(Jem's POV)
Jem kept thinking about what Macy had texted him. She needed him to come over. He focused on the road. The radio was blasting as he sped over the speed limit. He had to get to Macy, he had a bad feeling in his gut. 60 MPH didn't seem fast enough, but he couldn't risk getting pulled over and waste more time trying to get to her.

Finally, he pulled into the driveway, and there she was. She was sitting on the steps with her face in her hands.

(Macy's POV)
Macy looked up. She had been crying. She quickly wiped away her tears before Jem could get out of the truck. He walked over to her. "Hey, hey," he cooed, "You are gonna be alright, okay?" She just nodded at first. She desperately needed to talk to someone, but she felt like now was not the right time for words. Macy jumped into him for a hug. She buried her face into his sweater. Then she spilled. "My dad, he came home, he was drunk."
"Hey honey, calm down. You are alright now."
"Jem, I tried getting downstairs and he pushed me into a wall."
"Shhh.." He tried comforting her.
"I showed him my scars and cuts, and he goes off about him paying the bills."
"Hey." He grabbed her shoulders gently, and made it so she was facing him. "You are okay now. Until you are 18 I can help you. No one will get you back if you don't want them to. I won't let them. I will keep you safe, and you don't have to worry about any of it."

Macy was suddenly exhausted. She smiled into his shoulder as her eyes fluttered closed. She exhaled in a sigh, "What would I do without you?"

(Jem's POV)
Jem smiled down at his girl. Macy was asleep in his arms. He looked up at the house. He could hear yelling from inside, but he couldn't make out the words. Little did he know it was Macy's dad yelling at himself in full blown anger at the realization of what he'd done. Kicking his only daughter, his daughter that hurt herself to cover up the way he hurt her, out into the world at 15, a week before her birthday, December 13th.

Jem picked Macy up as she stirred in his arms. He put her in his car so they could get out of there. He reached over her to buckle her up, but then she grabbed his arm. "No, he feels bad." It pained him to say it, but he said, "He doesn't deserve you. He's not capable of taking care of you." Macy nodded, and let her hand slip off Jem's arm, and into her lap.

He went around the truck and climbed in. Sleepily Macy said, "Where are we going?" Jem looked at her, "To my house."
"But won't your parents get mad?"
"They won't care, they are... out of town."
"But when they get back.."
"Hey, don't worry about it. Okay? I've got this."
"Okay."