Losing a Winning Battle

5

Gerard's P.O.V

We continued to search the forest for Sylvia. We eventually find her sitting next to a boy by the river. He had brown hair, he wore a leather jacket and dark jeans with red converses. He pulled a rag out of his pocket and dipped it in the water. He carefully rubs it across Sylvia's cheek making her flinch. Who is he?

Sylvia's P.O.V
After I ran ignoring the pain, I sat by the small stream.  A boy sat next to me. "Hi, from where'd you get all those cuts," he asks pointing to my face and legs.

I reply "r..runing fr..from something."

He sighs and says, "would you like me to clean the cuts and blood off your face." I didn't reply so he pulled a rag out of his pocket anyway and dipped it into the water of the stream. I flinch from the coldness of the rag but soon adjust to the coldness. "Who are you," I ask. He shrugs and says, "I go by Austin."

I shrug and say, "well Austin, I'm Sylvia." I stick my injured hand out and Austin shakes it. I flinch in pain, but I still managed to ignore the pain. Austin and I just started talking and trying to skip rocks across the stream. Someone tackles me to the ground and we both land in the water. I start hyperventilating due to my past and my fear of drowning. Then the person pulls me out of the water. I just sit there coughing as my whole body trembles.

Austin's P.O.V
This guy runs and tackles Sylvia to the ground sending them both into the stream. I stand up and the guy pulls Sylvia out of the water. "Hey dude what's your problem,  you just tackle an injured girl to the ground," I say.

The boy then says, "well I'm sorry, I didn't know she was hurt."

Sorry didn't seem good enough to me so I punched him. A couple of guys came and told me to stop and that they were her friend. I sigh and say, "sorry, I kinda got a little protective". That's when we realized that Sylvia was coughing badly. My eyes widen. Oh my gosh, she is hyperventilating?  The boy who tackled her wrapped his arms around her and tries to calm her down. After a minute she calms down and wraps her arms around the kid. So they are friends? 

She then whispers through tears, "I'm sorry."

Gerard's P.O.V
She nudges her head onto my chest tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry," She whispers.

I quickly pull her away and say, "why are you sorry."

She seemed to snap back to reality and says to herself, "did I say that out loud." We all nod and I ask again. She looks down and says, "I was just reliving a part of my past and I guess I said 'I'm sorry' out loud."

I tilt her face up by her chin with my thumb so she looks at me and I ask, "who were you saying sorry to."

She looks back down trying to avoid eye contact. Sylvia then says, "m..my fa..father."

Ryan then asks, "why."

She goes to stand up to run and I quickly pull her down. "Nope, you ain't gonna run again, until you tell us."

She then says, "I need time, its..its......complicated."

I then say, "no it's not, your just making it complicated."

She rubs her arms and says, "err can't you all just wait a day. I don't really know how to explain it."

Miles then says, "just say it how it sounds in your head and we will understand."

She hesitates with a small sigh. Shadow then starts. "My mum died halfway through last year so I had to move in with my father who refused to take care of me when I was born. That first winter day, I got here he locked me in my room and didn't feed me for almost a week. When he did bring me food it was only a piece of bread. Then he would get drunk and beat me. A few days ago before I started school he dragged me to the bathroom and tried to drown me."  

I hear the boy with red converse gasp because of that. This isn't new to me, my father beat my mother when I was a kid. I'm pretty sure they stopped, but I don't pay attention so I don't know. I wrap my arms around Sylvia once again. There was a thick silence but it was a welcoming silence, not an awkward one.