Saving Darcy

Darcy reached her arm out before dropping it after it caused her far too much effort. Zacky sprinted over to her, his face painted with worry, his eyes filled with panic.

“I chased you around the whole block! What's wrong?” He asked in a slightly demanding tone. He placed a hand on her shoulder as she crouched down in front of her, his eyes stared into hers.

After waiting about a minute to catch her breath she looked back up at him, “I-I need to tell you something.”

He nodded slowly and after a moment of hearing nothing but complete silence, he squeezed her shoulder and arched an eyebrow down at her. She looked into his eyes for a moment, biting her lip, as if she didn't know what to do. He turned his head slightly and watched a single tear drip down her face and landing on his knee.

“He- he...”

“What? Who's he? He what?” Zacky asked quickly, placing his leg net to her side so that he could move closer to her. He noticed she was shaking, but he couldn't tell if that was due to how scared she was or the fact that it was quite cold tonight. Either way, he made sure that he was close to her to try and calm her down.

“Brian!” She finally exclaimed, “He's- He's making me do things, h-horrible things.”

Zacky's face fell. Out of all the things he expected to come from her mouth, he never expected that, “You mean Haner? The Math teacher Haner?”

She nodded slowly. The tears falling more freely down her face now. She felt happy that he knew, she finally felt completely safe.. she just couldn't figure out why she was crying. The images were flashing through her head from his house making her reached forwards, her arms out in front of her like a child’s. Zacky stood up, lifting Darcy up by her arm pits and guiding her back towards his car. He didn't say anything, he couldn't, he was in shock.

When he buckled in her and closed her door he ran around the other side, sitting in the drivers seat and starting up the gas. He looked over at her to see her head slumped against the window, her arms were crossed over her legs. She was sobbing quite loudly, it made him feel terrible.

“Darcy you know he's never going to touch you again right?”

“H-He has a key to my house.” She sobbed, rubbing her eyes with the backs of her hands, “He's everywhere, all the time. He won't .. He can't go away.”

Zacky couldn't even believe what he was hearing. He had seen abuse on the television, he had heard his mother talk about it, but he had never met a victim of sexual abuse and knowing that it was Darcy, killed him. His grip on the rubber steering-wheel went so tight his knuckles whitened, his jaw cracked due to him tensing it. How could a teacher think he could get away with touching his student? Not just a normal student, a grade A student. Nothing made sense, he felt so angry, so pissed off. She's just a girl, a small, fragile teenage girl. How could a grown man pray on something so innocent? It just couldn't register in his head, it couldn't.

“Darcy look at me.” He had pulled over when her turned the car around, he needed to catch his breath, “I won't let anything happen to you. I'm not letting you out of my sight, I'll call the police-”

“No!” She yelped, jerking forwards into her seat. She began crying even more, placing her hands on her knees, “You can't! Please, please don't! I need this, I need my Math grade, it'll stop soon!”

Zacky couldn't believe what he was hearing, yet again. His eyes went wide, “There is no way in hell that I'm letting him touch you! You're crazy.”

“Y-You don't understand! He's making me do things with him because that's the only way he'll give me a good grade to go to college, I need it, I need it so bad. I need to get away from my dad.. I can't-”

“No.Just- I can't.. No!” He snapped, his voice extremely loud. Darcy quickly pushed herself back against her seat and nodded quickly.

She felt stupid for telling him, but she had too. Her mind was confusing her so much, one moment she wanted one thing and then next moment she wanted something different. It must have been the fear. The anxiety. What it was, she wished for it to go away. She wanted Zacky to call the police, she wanted Brian locked away, she wanted to feel safe with him. But something at the back of her head was screaming for her not to do that, and hell, it was screaming loud.

Zacky drove quickly to his house. He was trying his best to remain calm around her, he would later put a hole in the dry wall,but right now, he needed to remain completely calm. It was hard. He couldn't bare the thought of any man touching her without her permission. He could just picture her face in his head, it made him sick.

“Darce, c'mon sweetheart let's get you inside in the warm.”

He didn't waste any time running up the path and carrying her into his house. He sighed deeply as he locked the door behind them and set her on her feet. She looked down at the floor, her cheeks a vibrant red and her hands moving together with sweaty palms.

“It's okay,” He cooed rubbing her back and guiding her into the kitchen. He wanted to be as gently as he could with her, he wanted her to be able to trust him, “Are you hungry?”

She shook her head and looked back down again, “No.”

“I'll make you some soup.”

“I don't w-”

“Just sit down, I'll make some soup and we can talk after, okay?”

She nodded and placed herself against the kitchen counter. This was it. He knew. She was safe.