Hidden Girl

13- Saved Me

"I got to go," I tell them as I get up and yawn. "It was nice meeting you guys."

Sebastian decided that we should have a movie night and we ended up watching some action movie. I couldn't really pay attention. I only really thought about going home and how mad my dad will be about me not coming home last night and late tonight. He may not want me home, but he needs someone to clean the house.

I get off the couch from next to Azalea and they all say goodnight to me and promise to hang out soon.

"Let me walk you out," Alex says with a contagious smile, and I just nod my head in reply. I grab my book bag and put Alex's hoodie, that I have back on since they're are still some snow flurries falling.

"It was nice to meet your friends," I tell Alex as I open the door to leave. "I was actually... really happy tonight. Thank you."

"For what?"

I sigh and look at Alex standing in the hallway to the door, his hands in his jeans' pockets casually. Such a normal guy, but the world to me already.

"Being around you is the happiest I have ever been," I tell him truthfully. "So thank you, for showing me what happiness was. I almost forgot."

His smile drops and we walks towards me. Before he can reply I fling my arms around his neck again, just like we did in his bedroom earlier tonight. He picks me up a little bit from the waist and squeezes me back.

"Come back here whenever you need to. I'll show you happiness again and again until when you hear the word happiness, you'll think of me," he says to me quietly, making the hairs on my neck stand up from his warm breath.

"I'd like that," I mutter as I squeeze him back harder. "I'd like that very much."

He finally sets me down and smiles widely, our bodies still only inches apart. "Well goodnight," I smile as I back away out the door. "And thanks again. For everything."

"Anytime," he smiles back. I finally back out of the room apartment and shut the door behind me. I sigh in relief that I actually had a lot of fun tonight.

But that fun can't last forever.

"You can't just leave this house for no good reason and then finally come back and expect me to take you in!"

"You're my father!" I scream back. "You're supposed to always take your daughter in! That's the point of you being my dad! And why I left? Because there is no food here and I almost starved! That's why I left!"

"Well I provide for myself," he argues back as he walks closer to me. His face is red from screaming and his veins are bulging from anger. I back up as he approaches but I finally hit a wall. "So you should provide for yourself."

He slaps me once and I hit the floor hard, my cheek on fire. I stand up as fast as I can and he just shakes his head at me. He turns around and leaves me alone, for now.

I go into our only bathroom and check if my face still looks okay. I can see the outline of a red hand print, but that should fade by morning.

I don't bother crying; I just hold back the tears. He isn't worth crying over.

I walk back into my room and change into sweatpants and a tank top. I throw Alex's hoodie over my head since it's getting cold out and the heater doesn't seem to be working anymore. It's the only way I fall asleep anymore, with his hoodie.

I press play on my playlist and crawl into bed. I let Luke's words surround me as I drift off to sleep.

...---...

I wake up screaming Alex's name.

The details were so real, I swear that it was really happening. It was my dad of course; like always. He was angrier than usual and he was going to hurt me. Bad.

So I screamed the first words that come to my mind when I need help.

Alex.

I am slightly embarrassed to wake up screaming a guy's name that I haven't even known for a week, but it feels like I've known him forever.

I can't fall asleep again, so I decide to draw. When I got my bag together last night, I tore out the page with the drawing of Alex playing guitar on it. I set that one on the desk for him.

I decide to start a new drawing and I know exactly what I want it to be.

I draw a picture of Alex carrying an unconscious girl; saving her, just like how I sometimes feel that he has saved me. The unconscious girl starts out faceless, but I finally draw her one and it ends up looking just like me.

Shoot.

It is now a drawing of Alex saving me. Just like how I feel. I feel like he saved me from doing who-knows-what, but he saved me nonetheless. Somehow.

He saved me from going insane from being on my own. He saved me from that crappy job and from starving.

He saved me.