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Chapter 9

~Brittany's POV~

Hearing that makes me want to cry but I keep my tears in to stay strong for her. "Ok, what's up"

I can hear Fred whispering encouraging words to her. At one point I heard him say "she needs to know"

At that point, I interrupt and ask "What's going on Mom?"

She lets out a sob before proceeding. "It's your brother brit"

"What about him?" Hopefully, he's ok.

"Something terrible happened today."

"Ok...Is he ok? Where is he?"

"Honey this is so hard to tell you, I know how much you loved each other.."

"Mom, tell me what happened now"

"The school called me earlier and said he saw a dog in the road and he went to go pet it and got hit by a truck" She let out a sob and started crying again

My whole mind just went blank. I couldn't hear my mom crying. I couldn't even hear my own thoughts. I had to know if he was alive or not. "Is he going to be ok?"

I barely heard Fred respond "He's dead, Brit."

At that point, I just got up and went into my room. I had no words to say to him or my mom. Ryan was my best friend. I was his protector. He can't be gone I thought. I could feel the tears start to stream down my face. I got up in the desperate need to do something to stop the tears. I walked over to my closet and grabbed leggings, a sports bra, and a sweatshirt. I put on my running shoes and ran out of my door. I heard Fred yell something behind me before I shut the door but I couldn't make out what. I just ran.

I finally ended up at the gym. My eyes are still flooded with tears. Right before I walked in I realized I left everything at home. Hopefully, Janice was working tonight. I walked in, thankfully she was. I nodded my head at her and she just smiled as always. I came here a lot over summer and she was always working so she knew my face by heart now. I walk straight over to the punching bags and just start punching.

I didn't have the strength to hold back my tears anymore so I didn't. I was just punching as hard as I could. The one I normally use wasn't working well enough for me to relieve some of my sadness and anger so I moved over to the weighted one. I couldn't see anything, the tears were blocking my vision. I started throwing punches again. I didn't bother to wrap my hands and put on gloves. The first couple of punches were a little painful but I didn't notice it. I kept punching over and over until I had no more tears left and my sadness turned to anger. I progressively began to punch harder and harder.

I must've been punching the same bag over and over for hours. Eventually, I felt someone's hands on mine. I looked up to see Jacob. I rolled my eyes and started to walk away. He pulled me back. He looked so worried when he looked at me.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine"

"Your hands say otherwise.." He looked down at my hands then back at me.

At this moment I looked down at my hands and noticed they were bloody, bruised, and swollen. I flinched at how bad they looked. I could feel more tears daring to escape my eyes. I could see the bathroom in the corner of my eye. I decided to dart in there instead of trying to get past him and out the door. As soon as I reach the bathroom I lock myself inside a stall and start crying again. I hear the door open, I don't bother to figure out who it is.

Then all of a sudden I hear his voice. Sounding softer than ever, like he could break me with just one word.

"Brittany, come out, I want to help."