Thank you, Kelley

Chapter 8

Meghan's POV:

I enter the dim living room and I can hear the Tv is on. Some stupid sports announcer is yelling. I hate this place with a burning passion but this is home for me. The smell of alcohol fills my nose. Uhh... it's going to be a long night. I attempt to sneak upstairs before he notices me but I have no luck.

"Hey slut! Where do you think you are going? You know you are supposed to have dinner made for me when I get home on days my wife is working late. You little bitch. You're late."

My foster dad stalks toward me with a beer in his hand.

"I had soccer practice, you know that." He doesn't like this answer and suddenly a beer bottle is flung at my head. Luckily my reflexes are good and I dodge it. It shatters against the wall behind me.

Suddenly he advances towards me and I know I am in for a long night. He pushes me against the wall.

"You worthless piece of shit." with this I feel his first punch with my stomach. I try to fight back but this angers him more. Soon his forearm pins my throat against the wall. I struggle to breathe and he continues his onslaught of punches to my stomach and ribs. He then moves to my face. One swift punch and I now have a broken nose.

He finally releases me and I fall to the ground in pain. But the night isn't over yet. He begins kicking me. Anywhere that is exposed he makes contact. I try to curl up to resist but this just makes him kick harder.

"Ahh!" I let out a gasp as he kicked my ribs again. And I know that I have made an error. The rule has always been to not make a sound.

"You little shit!" He picks me up by my hair and drags me toward his bedroom.

"No. I'll do anything. AHHH! Stop. No. Please don't hurt me!" I scream out knowing what is coming next and desperately not wanting to endure it.

Emily's POV:

I wake and look at my phone to see what time it is. We have about an hour until we have breakfast so I decide to just get up and start my day. I look over at Meghan who is still asleep. She is cute when she sleeps. She likes to sleep on her side all curled up in a ball like a little kid. I giggle a little while I watch her sleep. Wait a second, what am I doing. If she wakes up now that would be really awkward.

I proceed to get ready. I come out of the bathroom and go to put my dirty clothes away and hear some rustling coming from Meghan's bed. I look over to see if she is awake yet. I can see her face and her eyes are closed but her face is contorted in pain. She continues to squirm around in the bed. I don't know what to do. Should I wake her up? She clearly seems uncomfortable. Suddenly her screams fill the room.

"AHHH! Stop. No. Please don't hurt me!"

I rush to her side. I gently place my hand on her shoulder and rub it up and down trying to wake her.

"Hey, Meghan. It's ok. You're safe. It's just a dream. Come on wake up." It is not working. I don't know what to do. She continues to move under my hand. Maybe I should get Kelley. She seemed to be able to calm her down when she took off the other day.

"You're safe. Meghan. Come on. Wake up please." I whisper. At this point I am close to tears. I just want to help her.

Suddenly she jolts awake. She pulls away from me and sits up quickly. I can see fear and pain in her eyes. She turns towards me and her face shows me how scared she is.

"Hey it's ok you're safe. It was just a nightmare. You were yelling so I tried to wake you up. Are you ok?" I quietly ask her. As I speak I can see some of the fear evaporate but the panic and pain remains.

"Mmm ya...I'm fine. Sorry."

"No. No need to be sorry. Meghan I'm worried about you." she looks like she is on the verge of tears at this point.

"I'm ok. Sonny. I ahh... I have a bad past and I ah... get flashbacks and panic attacks sometimes. Thank you for waking me up. It is actually the best thing to do when that happens. I'm sorry you have to see me like this."

"I just want to help you Meghan. I'm here if you want to talk about it. Do you need anything? Breakfast is in about half an hour."

"No, I'm good. I'm just going to get ready. Thanks again." and with that she climbs out of bed and heads toward the bathroom.

Well ok. So that was a lot. I just want to help her and understand what is going on. But I guess she isn't ready to talk. Uhh... This sucks. I get up from her bed and grab my phone. I write Meghan a quick note telling her I have headed down to breakfast early but really I'm going to talk to Kelley. I not only want her to know about that little ordeal but I also want to vent. I feel emotionally overwhelmed and I'm not even the one who had the nightmare.