So Long and Goodnight...

When you woke up you found that the rain had finally stopped and that your arm still hurt,
but not nearly as bad as last night.

There was a rather large hand shaped bruise there that hurt like Hell when you touched it, though.

You took a quick shower, straightened your hair, and changed into your favorite pair of baggy black pants (the ones with all the pockets and the red straps that cross in the back), a red and black, slim fit tee, and your black lace up combat boots. You did your makeup and grabbed Frank's sweater, which was, not surprisingly, still a little damp.

You picked up your book bag and after gingerly testing your right arm, slung it over your left shoulder, which was really odd feeling because you were totally right side dependent.

You opened your bedroom door and poked your head out into the hallway.

You looked both ways and decided it was safe to go out.

You went about halfway down the stairs, pressed your self against the wall and listened.

So far everything was going the way you wanted.

If you could just make it out of the house you'd be fine.

You peeked around the corner.

The living room was empty and you had a clear shot to the door.

You took it.

When you were there you opened the door, stepped through and reached around to close it with your right arm.

Bad move!

You winced in agony as your arm exploded into fiery pain.

You again looked at the bruise your father had given you last night and silently cursed yourself for not grabbing a sweater for you to wear.

You had Franks with you but he needed it back.

The bruise didn't look too bad when you examined it in your dark room with your thick, black curtains closed, shielding most of the light.

Now that you were outside in the early light of morning, you realized just how bad it was.

"Shit! How am I gonna hide this from them?" you asked yourself.

You considered running back upstairs to grab a sweater but you heard your dad cough at the top of the steps.

You closed the door with your left hand this time and hurried across the lawn to the sidewalk.

When you were far enough away from the house that you were sure your dad wouldn't see you, you draped Frank's sweater over your arm to cover the bruise.

It would work for now but not for long.

You began walking again and not long after, you came to Gerard's house.

All five guys were already waiting for you on the porch.

They all got up and walked down to the sidewalk when they noticed you.

After greeting everyone you headed off to school. Gerard, Mikey, and Bob were having a conversation with each other, totally unaware of anything going on around them.

You were thinking about the bruise and how to hide it the rest of the day.

You weren't expecting to hear Frank say your name so it kind of startled you.

"Lana, you okay?"

"Huh? Oh ...yeah."

"You sure? You look like shit."

You looked at him over your shoulder and smiled as you said sarcastically:

"Wow, Frank. You really know how to make a girl feel good, don't you?"

You heard Ray laugh behind you and turned to smile at him.

He smiled back.

"I didn't mean it like that," Frank said defensively.

"I know," you said laughing.
"I still love you."

"But seriously, Lana," Ray sounded concerned.
"He has a point. You don't look bad just ...different in a bad way, like you have something pretty heavy on your mind."

Sometimes Ray amazed you with how well he knew you.

"Is there something that you wanna talk about? We'll listen," he continued.

"No, I'm okay." You replied after a pause.

They looked extremely doubtful and for a split second you thought about telling them but you didn't know what would happen.

You were afraid all five of them would go to jail for the double murder of your father and step Mother.

So instead you said:
"For real, you guys'. I'm fine. I promise."

"Okay," Ray said, throwing his hands up. "You win."

You were almost at school when Frank brought it up.

"Oh, hey, do you have my sweater? I would let you keep it longer but I get in trouble when I show my tattoos at school. Apparently it's a "distraction to class.""

Your heart started racing but you knew you had to give it to him.

"Uh, yeah," you said, trying to keep the nervousness out of your voice as you held out your right arm to him.

"Here."

Your plan was to let him take the sweater and pull your arm back before he had a chance to see the bruise ...but you weren't quick enough.

Frank took the sweater and started to look away but whipped his head back around to your arm.

You crossed your arms in front of your body and tried to act as natural as you could.

You knew for a fact that both Ray and Frank had seen the bruise.

You could almost feel the weight of their eyes on you.

You were hoping against hope that they would just think they were seeing things and let it go.

You should have known better than that.

Frank cleared his throat, and you could feel his stare as he calmly asked you the inevitable question.

"What happened to your arm, Helena?"

All of a sudden you felt extremely exposed and vulnerable.

You became dreadfully aware that Franks question had drawn Bob, Mikey and Gerard out of their conversation.

All five pairs of eyes were on you now.

"Nothing, Frank." You said in a way meant to tell Frank to drop it, but he didn't.

He stepped in front of you and blocked your way.

You instinctively turned your head away and looked at the ground.

Frank put his hand under your chin and gently forced you to look him in the eye.

He asked you again, a little more forcefully this time.

"What the fuck happened to your arm, Helena?"

"Nothing, okay? I ran into a wall," you lied.
"Just drop it."

"The last time I checked walls don't have hands."

"Frank stop. Please just stop," you pleaded with him. He wasn't hurting you or scaring you.

You just wanted to get away.

You didn't know how to handle any of this.

"Helena?" Gerard asked, his voice full of concern.

"Did your dad do that to you?"

"Do what, Gerard?" you asked with tears in your eyes.

"This." he said softly as he gently grabbed your wrist and turned your arm over.

You didn't say anything.

You could only stand there and stare into his eyes, pretend this whole thing, had never happened.

"I'll fucking kill him." you heard Bob say, from behind Gerard.

"Look, you guys," you said, desperately trying to convince them to just let this one slide.
"It's really not that bad. It doesn't even hurt," you lied.

"Oh really," Mikey said like he knew you were lying and was about to challenge your statement.

He was.

"Then it won't matter if I do this," he said as he reached over his brother's shoulder and poked you where the bruise was.

"OW! SHIT!" you yelled as you yanked your arm away from Gerard and doubled over in pain.

When you finally looked up, Mikey was staring at you, not understanding why you lied about it.

They were supposed to be your friends, your BEST friends ...your brothers. Yet you felt the need to hide this kind of thing from them?

The look on Mikey's face broke your heart into a million pieces.

It hurt even worse when you looked around and noticed the same look on all of their faces.

Mikey shook his head and walked away.

Gerard licked his lips like he was getting ready to say something but just looked at the ground for a couple of seconds and followed Mikey into the school building.

Frank, Ray, and Bob walked to the doors with you without saying one word.

You knew they were all disappointed in you for taking your fathers crap but, on another note, sad for you because they had no idea how much pain you were going through, physically, emotionally, and mentally.

They just knew you were suffering.

Before you got all the way to the doors of the school building, Frank held his sweater out to you but didn't look at you.

"You need this more than I do."

You gingerly reached out and grabbed the sweater, noticing that Franks gaze never left the bruise on your arm.

Before you could thank him for the sweater, he sighed and walked inside.

Bob and Ray glanced at you for a fleeting moment, shifted their gaze to the ground, and followed Frank.

You stood there for a few minutes just holding the sweater, your book bag dangling from your shoulder.

After a while you dropped the book bag, slipped on the sweater, picked your book bag back up again and dragged yourself into the school building.