Celo

Chapter 5

QUINN

I walked in the back door hoping to avoid both of them but they were right there waiting for me.

"Hiya big bro!" My brother said lifting his large mug in the air. He and my father laughed till my dad passed out. I just stood there not daring to pass them.

"Look what you did you little pansy! You killed dad! I'm gonna pay you!" He was barely competent enough to talk and his speech was slurred. He grabbed a cheese grater from a drawer and tossed it. It missed me by about 5 feet.

I approached him. "Let's go to sleep." I said putting my arm around him. I had misjudged how out of it he was. He whipped his arm around and hit me square on the side of the head with the heavy glass mug. I tried not to react but I couldn't see, then I felt myself hit the floor and I passed out.

I woke up soaking wet everything smelled like beer and I was covered in it. I opened my eyes and my vision focused in and out, the floor tilting and morphing. My head was throbbing. I tried to sit up. I managed to prop myself up on my elbow, then I started seeing stars and I vomited. Slowly I tried to sit up again, this time I managed to get myself in a sort of kneeling position. I pulled out my phone to see the time, it was 3am.

I crawled outside and actually managed to get up and walk to the church, it was next door. I went into the bathroom, I had figured out how to pick the lock a while back. In the mirror I saw myself, there was a long cut across my right temple and there was dried blood all over that side of my face. I washed it off. It didn't look so bad. That night I slept in the handicap stall.

In the morning I walked to school, it was just down the street. First period I had study hall, so did Casey. I walked into the library and saw her. I was about two feet away from the table when I started feeling light headed, by the time I got there I had to grab onto the back of a chair to support myself.

"Quinn! Wait...are you drunk?" She inquired sounding a bit mad. I wasn't drunk but now that she mentioned it I noticed that these clothes were soaked In beer the night before and the only difference now was that it had dried. I must have smelled awful. I sat down and rested my head in my hands in an attempt to stabilize myself.

"No Case I'm not drunk." There was a sharp stabbing pain behind my eyes. I let my head fall into my lap under the table and squeezed my eyes shut tight. My left side was facing her so she hadn't seen the cut yet. I was afraid she was going to be concerned. I was fine. Just when I thought she was about to blow up in my face she rubbed my back.

"Let me see," she asked, "I promise I won't freak out." I looked up at her and pulled my hood of my head. She turned my face toward her gently with her thumb. "Did you clean it?" She asked.

"I rinsed it." She really was an angel and I was so thankful for how she handled all this. I knew it wasn't easy for her. Just then there was a sharp stab of pain that traced quickly through both my temples. Then again, and again. I took a deep breath and pressed my hands hard to my face. Casey saw me but she just put her hand fimly on my back.

When I looked up she asked, "Are you okay Quinn?" I stared at her for a couple seconds thinking of what I should say. I wasn't okay, I was rarely okay. I was always injured, always terrifyed, but she didn't have to know that, if she did she would just worry. But I was scared, I remember once when my little brother had gotten a concussion playing flag football in sixth grade he had been so angry for the whole week after. I remember my mom telling me that sometimes concussions can cause different feelings. I was feeling scared right now, for the first time.

"No." I said.