The Dark of the Night More Inviting Than the Sunlight

Dawn's Point of View

It was Friday morning and I was on my way to the classroom for my usual detention with Sky and Mr. Howard. Tears were slowly making their way down my face and my legs felt like they were about to give in under the weight of the world that was placed upon my shoulders. I slid down to the floor with my back against the lockers; I simply couldn't bear myself to continue walking.

I was both mentally and physically exhausted from my father's harsh words and the beating. But that wasn't why I cried. No, those were tears of relief. He got a call last night, which means that he's leaving one week earlier than planned, he's leaving tonight. I could just stay away from him for the rest of the day and this would be over for now. It would take at least another six weeks, maybe more, before I had to see him again.

"Dawn?" I heard someone ask, snapping me out of my train of thought. I looked up, confusion glued on my face, I sure hadn't heard anyone approaching. Branden the school nurse was hovering over me. I quickly wiped away the tears from my face and smiled briefly at him.

"Hi," I whispered. My voice was hoarse from spending the second half of the night outside, since my father locked me out. It had been freezing and I hadn't slept anything at all, just walked around to keep my body heat up and finally walked into a public bathroom to clean myself up and rest against the dirty radiator. His chocolate brown eyes were serious and had a hint of sadness as he helped me up on my feet. "Thank you," I said and was about to leave when he asked me to come with him. "Why?" I had asked and almost fainted as I turned around too quickly.

"That's why," he said as he caught me in my fall. He placed my arm around his shoulder and walked me to the nurse's office, where he sat me down on the comfortable couch. "Get some rest, I'll be right back," he said friendly, handing me a blanket. I was so tired I couldn't think straight and before I knew it I was fast asleep.

I finally woke up to the pleasant sound of a song I recognized as "Killing in the name of" by Rage Against The Machine, playing on low volume on the radio. I smiled when I saw that Branden was tapping along on the desk while doing some paperwork. Then I realized where I was and sat up quickly, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. He looked up and smiled at me.

"Are you feeling any better now?" he asked approaching me. I stood up quickly, which was a mistake since he had to catch me again to stop my fall.

"Yeah, a lot better actually," I smiled, blushing a little. I hadn't felt this rested since dad had come home... and now he's leaving again, I thought to myself with a smile. Then a thought hit me and I looked up at the black framed clock on the wall; it was one o'clock in the afternoon. "Oh my... I've missed half the school day!" I was about to get up when Branden pushed me back down on the couch.

"You're having the day off. You needed the rest so I told Jeph to register that you were ill," he explained to me, causing me to utter an 'oh'. "You stay here and I'll get you something from the cafeteria. You're a vegetarian right?" I nodded slowly, trying to take in everything that had just happened. I hadn't moved an inch by the time he got back with a tray of vegetarian food.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" I asked as he placed the tray on the low table in front of me.

"Because I want to," he smiled. "Now, eat something." I reached out to grab the fork with my left hand, but dropped it and winced in pain. I had forgotten about that. "Here, let me have a look at it," he said, kneeling down in front of me for a better view. "Well, now it's broken. Yesterday it was just sprained, but now it's definitely broken. Do you mind telling me what happened to you?" I pulled my wrist away from him and shot him a glare.

"Actually, I do mind," I told him honestly.

"It's okay, I won't push you," he said with a little smile. "But just so you know, since I'm a school nurse I have something called professional secrecy, which means that anything you tell me will never leave this room, unless you want it to." He pulled out a roll of bandage from a locker and started to gently wrap it around my wrist. "You should get a plaster bandage around this, I'll drive you to the hospital once you're done eating."

"Really, there's no need to," I started to object when he interrupted me.

"Dawn, let me do my job, okay?" he said and pushed the tray of food towards me. "Now eat." I rolled my eyes and grabbed the fork again, using my right hand this time. I sighed when I saw that I'd need the knife to cut the food into smaller pieces. "Here, let me do it," Branden said and started cutting my food for me.

"Thank you," I smiled. Once I was done I followed him out to his car and he drove me to the hospital. I sighed deeply, I didn't feel like sitting around waiting for ages. "Come on, do I have to? A plaster bandage is only in the way anyway and we'll probably have to wait for ages too!" I started to object when it all of sudden was my turn. Branden smirked at me and soon after that I had a plaster bandage placed around my left wrist.

"At least now you know what it's like to not fake a damage," he teased me on our way back to the car.

"Howard told you! Didn't he?" I cried in embarrassment, stalking him to the car.

"Yeah, Jepha told me," he admitted, laughing. "It was so fucking hilarious that you even came up with such idea! You must really hate physical education!"

"Now I'm confused, is his name Jeph or Jepha?" I asked with a puzzled expression.

"Oh, those are both nicknames for Jepharee," Brandon explained, looking at me thoughtfully.

"I've honestly never hear that name before!" I laughed and he joined in.

"Do you want me to drop you off at home?" he offered in the middle of the car ride and I shook my head violently in response. I couldn't go back home until tonight after dad left. He should be gone by eleven o'clock, I thought to myself.

"I really want to meet up with my friends once school's out," I explained to him and he just nodded at me, asking no further questions.

I decided to wait outside of English class for Sky and Quinn, since it was their last lesson for the day. I noticed that they were both being held back by Mr. Howard, so I sighed and coughed to let them know that I was present.

"Oh Dawn!" Sky had her arms wrapped around me before I knew it. I chuckled and hugged her back. "What happened to your arm?" she frowned. 'Later' I mouthed to her as Mr. Howard called her back.

"Should I wait outside?" I asked Mr. Howard insecurely, but he just smiled inviting me to join them, since I most likely was going to hear about it sooner or later anyway. I sat down on top of a desk, ready to learn about what my two best friends had done to get in trouble this time. I got to admit that it felt pretty good to not be the one in trouble for once.