Lyrical

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I cry. I cry in his arms and he doesn't let go. He stays with me without saying a word, until I decide to tell him everything. My past.

"Dylan, I need to tell you something." I say through my tears.

"What's wrong?" He asks, wiping away my tears.

"You know how I told you about the year. The year my playlist helped?" I reply.

"Yes, but Laine..." I cut him off.

"No I want to tell you," He nods. I take a deep breath, wipe away the remaining tears and start talking.

"It all started when I was going through a harsh time with my parents. I felt depressed and there was no one I could talk to. I had Artie, Jessie, Jock but I didn't want to bother them with my issues. So I didn't go to school and they started getting worried. After a few weeks, Artie came over to my house and we talked. He took me out to a bonfire on the beach and there I met my first boyfriend ever, Xavier. He was sweet and he made me keep my mind off of everything going on. I met lots of new people and I am thankful to Artie for that. Though after about 8 months of greatfulness, things started changing. Xavier got very abusive and forced me to buy his drugs. He needed the money to pay his abusive step-father back for stealing 5 packs of cigarettes. Of course, I gave him the money and I helped him through the difficult time. One night we went to a party and Xavier had taken too much shots. When he is drunk he gets aggressive. I tried to get him out of the party but after he slapped me once, Artie got into a fight with him and they both got arrested. I was scared of Xavier and never knew he was this bad. It brought me back into a depressing time. Eventually Artie came out and he tried to apologize but all I could do was listen to music and be alone. Xavier is supposed to come out one of these months, so I'm scared. Eventually I forgave Artie, but I hadn't seen my friends for months, until I ran away. And now I am here."

I breath out heavily and look up at Dylan who is staring blankly ahead.

Dylan seems distant and I don't know what to say. So without thinking about it I say,

"I'm sorry..."

Dylan suddenly turns his gaze to me with tears in his eyes. Why? I don't know.

"Why are you sorry!? This is not your fault. No matter what, I will protect you." He says distantly.

I try to ask him why he seems like he is crying but after what I told him, I don't want to start a scene.

After a long silence, he kisses my forehead and says,

"Let's go. You can sleep in my tent tonight."

I nod thankfully and we walk to the tent, listening to the fading music.