runaway.

chapter 9 - trouble finds me.

tw - sexual assault

stella.

i have this ongoing theory: i don't find trouble, trouble finds me.

-

i keep walking down the street, away from the cafe. my gaze is focused on the pavement as i contemplate what has happened before me today. i let luke get way too close to me, comfortable enough to ask the outrageous question that really isn't so outrageous at all. now i am left with no other option than to push myself far away from him. it was a dumb mistake to start letting him anyways. i knew better than that. but the comfort felt so good.

my shoulders feel heavy with the weight of being responsible for blake's removal. its all my fault. he was stealing that food for me. if we had never met, he would still have his job today. maybe my parents are right... maybe i do ruin everything. despite it being the last place i want to be, i am left with no other choice than to go home.

i open the door to my mother standing with her arms crossed as my father sips his beer on the couch behind her. my eyes dart to her fingers tapping across her arm menacingly, then shift up to her pursed lips. my backpack falls off the side of my shoulder and lands with a thump on the tiled floor.

"i didn't do it." a nervous defense blurts out.

her volume is instantly fifty times that of mine. "oh yeah you little twerp, then why'd the hospital call? did someone take an unexpected trip?"

i try to gulp down my spit, but my mouth is completely dry. i was beyond unprepared to walk into this mess. i forgot luke said he called her, but that was also a few days ago. she hadn't said anything about it so i assumed she had drunkenly forgot. unless he called her again... right after i ran away from him.

"are you mute?" she raises her voice even higher. i flinch back towards the door. "why were you at the hospital stella jade?"

"i- i..." i stutter.

"you - you what?" she mocks. "spill it, or so help me god, child."

my dad is too drunk in the back to even pay attention to what's going on. he's lost in his own little world of watching football on the flatscreen tv. all he cares about is beer and that stupid fucking flatscreen tv. not about his daughter. not about his family. barely about his wife most times. it's an endless cycle of fake love and endured abuse.

"i met this doctor." is all i can force out at the given moment.

her eyebrows scrunch together while she advances slightly, "you met this doctor?"

i nod frantically. my parents are the only people who scare stella jade madden until she's shaking at her core. other than this, she's fearless, ruthless, and emotionally untouchable.

"i think he cares about me." i squeak out.

now, she's standing directly in front of me and forcefully grabs my chin to force our faces inches apart. "nobody cares about you. let's set that straight, do you understand me?"

"yes."

a forceful smack turns my cheek in the other direction. my eyes and teeth clench together in response to the pain, but i manage not to make another noise.

"yes what?" she barks.

"yes mother." i clarify with my eyes still shut. she makes me say it every time, just to reinforce that she'll always be my mom no matter how she treats me. it's a display of power more than anything.

i take a slow, deep breath before i open them again. her face is not any farther from mine. in fact, it's so close, i can smell the lingering remnants of liqour in her breath and smoke on her lips. the smell is so horrid, i almost gag, and have to force myself to hold it back.