The Fault In Our Parkour

No One There

" Fine! I'll go and I'll NEVER come back to this--"

"Don't talk to me like that, boy!" Liam's drunken father slurred his words, then gashed Liam  his left cheek, right under his eye.

Liam fell back, his cheek stinging with pain. He felt hot in his head and blood dribbling down the side his face. His eyes burned as he tried to keep tears from streaming down.

He could hear his mom in the next room. "Hey, Chris!" She poked her head around the corner. Black bags were under her eyes, and she looked stoned. "Leave... Liam alone. Just..."

Liam's father glared at Liam from the corner of his eyes. He yelled for a few more minutes as Liam cowered in fear, bracing for the next punch, but luckily it didn't come.

-

Liam held the ice pack to his bruised cheek, while he sat down on his front porch. His dad had passed out, and his mom told him to get out of the house while he could. He snagged an icepack on the way to the door. Liam was sitting outside for about 2 hours, just pondering on life.

"There's no way I can hide this sucker. And I have to go to Kyle's today." He sighed as he heard crashing and glass being smashed inside his house. His dad must've woken up. This was routine to him, but this 'routine' was getting worse over time. His head pounded as he tried to think of a way out.

"I'm out!!" He yelled over his shoulder, as he got up and tossed the ice pack aside. He turned off the corner of his lawn and began to begin the long walk to Kyle's house. He figured that since he was starting out and hour earlier, he should arrive on time.

-

Liam knocked on Kyle's front door 45 minutes later. "Dude!! What happened to your face?!" Kyle playfully teased.

"Shut-up." Liam pushed past Kyle,  into the house.  "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Woah, so serious. " Kyle raised an eyebrow. "Did you get in a fight?" He locked the front door and sat on the couch across of Liam.

"....yeah."

"With who?"

"No one."

"You liar."

"Whatever. "

"Seriously,  man. Tell me."

Liam took a deep breath and then said quietly,  "My dad." He hung his head in shame.

"What?" Kyle was confused. "Why would he do that??"

"I said I don't wanna talk about it! Please...! I know you come from a perfect family, so you wouldn't understand- I don't want to talk."

Kyle crossed his arms and leaned back on his seat. "You're my friend,  Liam. Just because of my family doesn't mean I don't care about yours. I'm here for you."

"Just... just mind your own business!" Liam protested, leaning back as well and tugging on his hair in frustration.

"You expect me to stay quiet? When you show up to my house with a huge bruise on your face??" Kyle almost yelled, but managed to keep his cool.

"Look, Kyle...." Liam rubbed his palms together, nervous and unsure what to say.

"I'm outta here." He got up from the couch and un-locked the front door, bursting out just as Kela and Jae arrived.

"Oh hey, Liam---" Kela started.

Liam brushed past her, his shoulder making impact with her smaller one.

Jae shook her head. "He probably got mad at Kyle again. He does this once in awhile."

Kela looked over her shoulder at him, as he just got over a fence.