You Idiot! You Weren't Supposed To Come Back!

I forgot almost everything in that moment. I didn’t think about my mom and her new guy, Alex in the other room wanting to rip the table apart, Kayla trying to calm him, not even my friends right in front of my face murmuring things like ‘you’re safe, we wont let him get you, you’re okay’. No, none of that was even being processed through my head. Just memories, horrible and painful memories nobody should have to go through. Even though I stayed strong through all of the past, I was slowly dying on the inside.

*Flashback*

I ran down the steps, threw the front door open and started marching down the porch. I heard footsteps running down the stairs and I started to run faster. I was running down the street as fast as I could but I knew I wasn’t fast enough for him. Not right now atleast, I was way too tired. He caught up to me after running for about 10 minutes and I was shocked he kept chasing at all.

“Pezzy, wait up please. It wasn’t what it looked like! I promise, just STOP RUNNING!” he yelled from behind me. God, that stupid nickname made me wanna punch a toddler.

“Leave me alone Carter!” I screamed back at him and kept running. Since my energy level was already low and he was on the football team for 4 years, I knew he’d catch up. And he did. He grabbed my left arm and twisted me around to face him. He was shirtless and smelled like sweat and perfume. He even had red lipstick on his neck and jaw.

“Let me go NOW!” I struggled to break free but I knew there was no use. He was too strong.

“NO! Not until you let me explain.” He shouted at me.

“You don’t need to explain anything! I saw EVERYTHING! You were on top of her naked! How stupid do you think I am?! God, just let me go and go back to that whore!” I screamed at him.

It only took me half a second to realize what I said was a mistake but I didn’t care if it was or not. It was the truth.

Toby gripped my arm tighter before lifting his hand and slapping me across the face, hard. It ached like a bitch but I kept fighting for him to let go.

“Why do you keep struggling? You know you’ll come back to me in the end, you always do.” He smirked and continued. “You know I hate doing this to you Pezzy, but it’s the only way I can keep you from leaving me. You know I can’t live without you baby.” His hand rubbed my right cheek where he had slapped me and I twisted my face away.

“No Toby. I’m NOT coming back ever again. If you really didn’t want me to leave you, STOP FUCKING OTHER GIRLS! And stop hitting me! If you were a good boyfriend, I’d stay with you all the time! But you’re nothing but a cheating abusive person! You’re not good for me and I DON’T wanna be with you anymore.” I yelled directly in his face. This might have been a stupid decision to anyone who thought about it, but if you think about it a little more, I’m being smart.

Toby glared stronger at me than he ever has before. I grew nervous and I knew what was coming but I couldn’t run. He was gripping me too tight. I’m sure there was already a bruise on my face and arm. But there’d definitely be more now. He threw me down on the ground and kicked me twice in the stomach. I gasped and choked out, clutching my stomach.

“Is this what you want?! You wanna get hurt? You wanna get beat? Fine! Then you’ll get it! But you know what you won’t get? To leave! You’ll never leave me! I won’t let you!” He kept screaming at me as he threw kicks at me over and over. He took a minute to breathe and I used this to roll on my other side so he couldn’t see me grab my phone. I pressed 2 on speed dial as quickly as I could and dialed Alex.

“Hey sis, what’s up?” he sounded happy.

“Help.” I croaked out.

“Help?! What? Where are you Maxx! What’s going on? Tell me where you are, I’m coming to get you!” he started screaming frantically.

“Help? Nobody’s coming to help you Pezzy. Ever. You’re gonna stay and be happy with me forever. And if you’re a good girl, this won’t ever happen again. I promise.” He smiled sweetly but it only sickened me.

I spit blood out of my mouth from when he decided to bend down and punch me, and used all the strength I had left.

“Fuck you Toby.” Toby’s smile turned upside down in a second and I knew he would kill me if he could. My phone was lying on the ground next to my head and I noticed Alex was still on but wasn’t talking. I heard a car honk and knew he was driving. I just hoped he would get here soon.

Toby knelt down next to me and made a tsk noise before turning me on my back and straddling my waist. The ground was cold beneath me. It was January so even though it wasn’t that bad, me wearing only a t-shirt and jeans didn’t seem warm enough. But when I felt it, it almost iced my skin and made me feel numb. That was until Toby punched me in the face.

My head almost felt as if it smacked back against the pavement but it didn’t. My cheek was completely numb now and he punched me again. This time my jaw felt broken. I wanted to cry but didn’t feel the need to, it wouldn’t help but I knew something that would. I used all the strength I had to lift my knee and hit him in his no-no spot.

Since he was wearing only boxers, it made the target an easier hit. He rolled off of me and over to the ground and I used my hands and knees to hobble as far up the road as I could. I clutched my stomach and wiped the blood off my face with my other arm. In about 2 minutes, I heard footsteps running at me. I turned to see the devil himself chasing after me. He tackled me and my back landed on the ground painfully. He positioned himself like last time and was just about to swing when I heard 4 car doors slam.

I looked over to see Alex getting out of Ryan’s Range Rover, then Ryan in the passenger seat since we were only 15 and he couldn’t drive yet, and Collin and Chaz jumping out from the back seat. Toby didn’t even have time to get off me before Alex came and tackled him to the ground. Ryan came to me first, lifting my head up off the ground and putting it in his lap. I tried to sit but he pushed me back down.

“Stay down Lena, I mean it.” I tried to nod but my head hurt too much. But I managed to look over to see Alex pounding Toby’s face in. When he finally got tired, Collin picked Toby up by his shoulders and yelled at him.

“Do you think it’s cool to hit a girl? Huh, DO YOU?!” Collin punched Toby straight in the face and knocked him back to the ground. He hit him in the gut once or twice and looked disgusted so he backed away.

“I don’t even wanna be close enough to beat him.” But Chaz hadn’t taken his turn. Chaz was a lover, not a fighter, much like Ryan. I’m sure Chaz would have come to me too but he knew Ryan had it handled. But what I saw in Chaz today was so much hatred I never thought he could possess. Chaz definitely didn’t yell as much as Collin did or punch as much as Alex, but he said enough to make Toby afraid to ever come within 300 miles of me. And then when he was done, Chaz spit on him and kicked him in his no-no spot. I secretly hoped he’d never be able to have kids.

Ryan lifted me up as gently as he could and put me in the back seat of the car. He let me put my head in his lap and Chaz was inspecting my injuries. Alex was speeding all the way to the hospital and Collin was just staring at me from the front seat, holding my hand.

After the doctor had taken a look at my injuries, he came to the conclusion that I had a broken rib and 3 were fractured, my wrist was sprained and I had some internal bleeding that would calm down after a while in the hospital. When he looked at my face, he told me not to talk for another couple hours because it could damage my jaw worse then it already was. He said the bruises everywhere else would definitely be sore but would go away eventually. And on the rest of my face, I had a busted lip and my right cheek was red and blue.

Alex called my mom and told her everything and she just cried and kept telling me how sorry she was. When I could finally talk, I assured her none of it was her fault and I thanked the guys for being there. Haley came to the hospital with the biggest smile on her face and it was hard to smile back, mainly because it hurt too much.

“I brought McDonald’s!” She waved the bag in my face and I sat up to grab at it. A pain in my side came up and I winced before relaxing. Haley realized what happened and mumbled ‘sorry’ but I just shook her off and smiled.

“Oh, I have good news too!” Everyone waited to hear her news.

“He’s moving! Him and his dad are getting the heck outta town and everyone’s saying they’re never coming back! His dad is too worried bout his reputation and he’s afraid that a-hole will embarrass him. Pathetic right? But I don’t even care, as long as they’re leaving. Oh, and it’s way far away too! My mom’s friend Katie said something about Canada!” Haley smiled really big and so did I. I was glad he was leaving, that way I wouldn’t have to go through all that restraining order crap.

*End of Flashback*