Big Brothers (ON HIATUS)

CHAPTER 8: THE PAST

I'm walking to the lounge area shaking. Come on Zeppelin you can do this. It was 9 months ago. He's in jail for a long time. He can't hurt you anymore. Doesn't stop the fact he's hurt me before. Way to go, be positive. Be positive. Positivity. I'm in front of the lounge room. "There is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we are apart... I'll always be with you." I repeat to myself before opening the door. Everyone's sitting in a giant circle. They look over and give reassuring smiles. I smile back, taking a seat between Wren and Devil. I squeeze Mr.Pebbles, and think 'You can do this' I take a deep breath about to begin when Ollie says "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to." I smile "It's now or later." I say "It can be later." Interjects Hayden. Everyone nods in agreement. "I prefer now or I might never tell you." I say. They just nod their heads. "When I was 14, I got my first boyfriend. His name was Wilder," my brothers stiffen and clench their jaws. "He was 15. He didn't have the best reputation, everyone always warned me to be careful around him. My brothers hated him, so did dad. That's probably one of the main reasons I dated him, to despise them. Even my two best friends, Story, And River didn't like him, but I ignored everyone. At first he was really sweet, took me on dates, carried my books, brought me little gifts, all that. What I didn't realize at the time was he was cutting me off. He never let me go anywhere, hangout with anyone, hell he didn't even let me wear some clothes. Story always said there was something wrong with him, he wasn't right in the head, what he's doing to you is wrong, and I just said he was being a good boyfriend. About a year of dating he started getting physical. Slapping me if I did or said something was wrong or squeezing my arm if I displeased him. I always covered the bruises, but one time I didn't do a good enough job of covering them. River and story we're over hanging out, and River noticed. He licked his finger and wiped my cheek revealing the bruise. "What happened?" he demanded angrily "I walked into a lamp pole." Is what I said pulling at my sleeves which he noticed. He pulled up my sleeves revealing more bruises "Its Wilder isn't it." He said it more as a statement than question. Telling me he already knew so I just nod my head. "You need to break up with him like now." Says Story "I can't. He loves me and I love him." Was what I said which's what I believed. "If he loved you he wouldn't hit you. Now either you leave him or we leave you." River had given the ultimatum, and I couldn't afford to lose them, so I decided I would break up with Wilder. The next day I broke up with him, but he didn't seem too pleased with my decision. "You can't break up with me." He says pinning me to the wall "Actually I can. I just did. You are no longer my boyfriend, Wilder." I spit pushing him off me "But I love you!" He pleads, grabbing my wrist and squeezing. "If you loved me you wouldn't hurt me like this." I yelled, pulling my arm out of his grip. "Why? Why are you doing this?" He angrily asks walking towards me. "Because, someone I know brought me to the realization that I may love you, but you don't love me." I yell back. At that moment I knew I had messed up telling him that, he smiles a sickly smile "It was Story. No it was River. Wait, It was both." he says false surprise. I don't say anything, and he takes that as an answer. Smiling he turned around, and started to walk away. Before he was out of sight he turned around and said "You made a mistake Linny. Now there will be a price to pay." and with that he was gone." By now I'm crying. Ollie is staring at me, a guilty look on his face. I squeeze Mr. Pebbles, wiping my eyes with the heels of my hands. I take a deep breath, and pull the sleeves of my hoodie, continuing.

"For the next week I didn't see or hear anything from Wilder." Before I could continue, Wren picked me up and put me in his lap. "I spent most of my time with Story and River. Me, River, and Story were planning to spend the weekend at Rivers lake house. I packed my bag, and said goodbye to everyone. River And Story picked me up. It was a three hour drive, so we stopped at a gas station to get snacks. I got Oreos, chocolate milk, and M&M'S. As I was waiting in line to pay, I looked out the window, and there was Wilder staring at me. I closed my eyes shaking my head not believing he was there, and when I opened them he was gone. I blamed my lack of sleep in the past week, but I had this bad feeling that just couldn't be shook "You ok?" Asks Story "Yeah just a feeling." I answer "Well we're here to have fun, so quit worrying." River says poking my sides "Ok, ok I will!"I said between laughs, and for the most part I do. We pay for our stuff, and start driving blasting music, and singing awfully. Finally we get to the cabin, and unpack our stuff. We decided to just all share a room, so we were closer, you know. "Let's go swimming." I suggested "I'm down." And "Let's go! we're the responses I got. We all got dressed and headed to the docks, there was another group of people around our age. For the rest of the day we kinda just hung out with them. Later that night we were having a fire and I felt like someone was watching me. I ignored it because it was the woods. It was obviously a little creepy. The other group went back to their cabin, so I decided it'd be a good time to go to sleep. "Welp guys I'm heading to bed." "Yeah me too." Agreed Story "Let me put the fire out, and I'll come too." Said River. We waited while he put the fire out, then we headed to bed. I put on sweatpants, and a hoodie, and before my head hit the pillow I was out." I pause taking a deep breath. I'm shaking, not wanting to remember this next part. I look at Devil, he smiles nodding his head, I smile back and continue.