Less than Perfect

7. Torn Apart {part two}

Chapter Seven

Torn Apart

Part Two

Skye shot up in bed, her head aching from a piercing pain that shook inside her head. "No!" She shrieked, her breath rasping.

"Skye, sweetie what's wrong?" Leah cried, running into Skye's bedroom.

"I—I don't know, my—my head, it hurts." Skye stammered as her eyes let tears spill down her cheeks.

"Let me get Johnny," Leah said quietly.

Skye's eyes bugged out. "No don't; I just need some medicine, that's all." She said desperately, even though she had no idea what really had happened.

Leah looked at her daughter carefully and regarded her with sympathy. "Okay, I'll get that right away."

Skye nodded, regretting it the moment later as her head pulsed. What happened to me? Was it Bryan? Skye thought in pain. The "fall", and when he threw me to the ground pushing all of his weight onto me had to be it. He did all of this to me. I need help, desperately. Bryan's not right for me. What's another broken promise going to do to me?

Leah walked out of the bathroom carrying a glass of water and two pain killers in her hands. "Here sweetie," she said as she placed them in her daughter's small hands.

"Thanks." Skye swallowed the pills quickly and sighed, trying to forget about all that had happened in the past 24 hours. She couldn't believe that her father had been abusive, or that Jules was unchangingly kind, and she certainly couldn't believe that Bryan had overtaken her again. She wanted it all to end, but she still felt something for him that wasn't allowing her to tell anyone. She still felt something for Bryan.

Leah looked into the eyes of her beautiful daughter, she saw Skye's father so deeply, and that gave her the urge to cry. Her daughter almost died earlier that morning and Leah couldn't help but think that it had something to do with Bryan. "Skye, you weren't being completely honest with me, were you?" She asked, patting Skye's leg that was buried under the blankets.

Skye looked at her mother in shock. "About what?" She asked softly, her voice faltering. Her mom knew, she knew about Bryan, at least something about him somehow.

"About Bryan," she sighed, "you told me that everything was fine with you two. What were you both doing downstairs? You've never had trouble with your heath that badly. I don't want you to get hurt, take things slow, okay?" She was entirely too calm around the stern tone. She hated seeing her daughter, her own blood, in so much pain. She could read that something was wrong about Skye, she only couldn't figure out if it had something to do with Bryan or not.

"I know, Mom. Nothing happened down there, I didn't want anything to, and so it didn't." She lied, choking on her words but covering for it. "I'm not going to get hurt, okay, Mom?" Skye faked a smile at her mom to assure that everything was fine, even though she clearly knew that it wasn't.

"Then why are you so ill? Sweetie, we found bruises all over your arms and chest. Something's going on, and I need to know what it is." Concern and sorrow caked Leah's voice as she talked to Skye about what was troubling her so deeply.

Skye's smile faded and she covered her mouth, her eyes watering with regret. "Mom, it has nothing to do with Bryan. I have been doing it to myself, I have been hurting myself. It's all very easy, almost natural; and when I heard about Dad, I—I couldn't help but do it even more. Bryan was just trying to be of comfort, a helping hand to carry me through. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner, Mom, I—I meant to." She sobbed, her muffled words echoing through Leah's mind.