The Dark of the Night More Inviting Than the Sunlight

Dawn's Point of View

" "Please dad, don't!" I whimpered to deaf ears. I could see how his threatening silhouette was approaching and I shut my eyes tightly, bit my lip and prepared myself for the pain that I knew was about to come. " I sighed deeply, crumpled the sheet of paper and rested my aching head on the desk. It was English class and our new task was to write a short story that fit on one sheet of paper. Of course I couldn't write about a subject like that considering the fact that the words might as well have been taken straight out of one of my journal entries.

"Writer's block?" Sky asked, throwing me a sympathetic glance. I managed to force a weak smile and nodded at her sadly. She frowned and reached out to wipe away a tear that had managed to sneak out from the corner of my eye. I took a deep breathe hoping that I would manage to swallow down the lump in my throat this time, but instead I winced in pain. My ribs hurt so bad from last night.

'Only one and a half more week and he'll be gone,' I thought to myself. 'Just ten more days and this will be over for now. Ten more days and dad will get back to his work on the oil rig, far far away from here.' I was so exhausted from the lack of sleep and food.

"Ms. Jones? Are you alright?" I could hear Mr. Howard ask carefully. I looked up at him and tried my best to force a smile, but it seemed like I was running out. I sat up straight in my seat and gasped at the pain that was shooting through me.

"I'm okay sir, just a little tired," I lied. I could tell by the glance he gave me that he didn't buy it. Why couldn't they all just leave me alone to suffer? I was relieved when the class was finally over and hurried towards the door opening when I felt someone's hand on my shoulder. A treacherous cry of pain slipped past my lips and I was quick to cover my mouth with my hand.

"Dawn, what happened to you?" Mr. Howard asked worriedly. He was actually referring to me using my Christian name, which wasn't like him.

"What do you mean?" I asked putting on a face of confusion.

"It looks like you're in pain and you seem exhausted," he said seriously, his soulful brown eyes seeing right through me.

"Oh, about that," I actually laughed, though it sounded more like a cough. "I was clumsy enough to slip in the stairs at home last night." He looked at me for a moment before speaking again.

"Do you want me to take look at it? After all it's called physical education and health."

"Oh, no thanks. My father took me to the hospital last night, you know how parents worry over nothing sometimes," I said rolling my eyes. "The doctor said that the pain would pass within a couple of days." I made it sound so natural that I almost believed myself there for a minute. The lies comes naturally when you're living in denial.

"So did the doctor prescribe any drugs for the pain?"His question caught me off guard. What should I reply to that?

"No, he didn't think it was necessary," I replied and was about to walk out when he said my name again.

"I can take you to the nurse's office and give you something for the pain." I thought about it for a while before I finally nodded and followed him to the nurse's office. I learned that we have the most awesome school nurse ever. He was blasting Metallica and drumming along with two pencils on the desk when we walked in and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh hey Jepha, what's up?" he said turning the volume down as he noticed our presence. 'So that's his name, Jepha.' I thought to myself.

"Hey Branden," Mr. Howard smiled. "I was just taking Ms. Jones here so that she could have some drugs for the pain."

"Please, skip the formal shit talk, you're not forty Jeph," Branden smacked his forehead dramatically causing me to laugh quietly. "What's your name?" he asked me friendly.

"Dawn," I smiled.

"Rad name!" he said grinning at me. "So what happened to you?"

"I fell down the stairs," I explained.

"Her ribs apparently hurt," Mr. Howard filled in for me and Branden nodded at him.

"Can I have a look at it?" Branden asked me and I shook my head in response, backing off. "Okay, here you go then." He gave me two pills to swallow with a glass of water.

"Where were you?" Sky asked as I walked over to our usual lunch table.

"Did you know that we have the most awesome school nurse ever?" I smiled at her taking a seat. "Mr. Howard took me to the nurse's office," I began to explain. "Once we got there the school nurse was blasting Metallica drumming along on the desk with pencils. He's name's Branden."

"Yeah, I met him last week when I was faking a stomach ache to get out of social studies class," Bert laughed. "He's rad!"

"Oh, why can't Mr. Howard be more like that?" Sky smiled at me.

"By the way, I know what Mr. Howard's Christian name is," I remembered. I was starting to feel a lot better now that I didn't have to deal with the physical pain anymore.

"You have to tell me!" Sky jumped out of her seat. I laughed.

"I'll tell you tomorrow in English class," I smirked.

"You're so mean," she pouted. "Crap, it's Thursday tomorrow, which means going up early to run fucking lapses with that fucking fuck Mr. Fuck-face!" She cursed.

"I really hope that you're not talking about me Ms. Stevens." Mr. Howard came from out of nowhere. "You seem to feel a lot better now Ms. Jones," he smiled and walked over to sit with the other teachers. For some reason his smiles always left me with a warm feeling inside. It felt good to see him smile and even better to hear him laugh.