Take My Hand

After a lot of running and a lot of tripping over lethal cracks with my clumsy feet, Brendon and I made it back to my house safely, puffing and panting all the while with our heart pumping a hundred beats per second. I think we had lost the bad guys far back down the road, but we never stopped running. No. Never. Not once did we stop to get a breath or to rest our legs. We just kept moving to wherever our legs took us, frightful of that we might lose our lives if we were to stop. It's better safe than sorry. I think I would have probably stopped if it wasn't for Brendon. He practically dragged me along the streets, since he was a lot faster than I was. Once again, I thank Brendon for saving my life. I felt so guilty. Not once had I re-payed Brendon, for all the times he had saved me, which is three times by the way. We were now safe and in my bedroom trying to be as quiet as possible, hoping not to wake my parents up. Once I had gotten my breath back, I thought it was time for some serious talking.

"Brendon, are you alright?" I asked as cupped his face gently to examine the wounds. He was badly beaten. It was obvious that he wasn't alright. There was a nasty, purple bruise forming under his eye, deep, red blood had dried where it had previously been pouring from his nose. There were various other marks and cuts around the face area, which looked extremely painful.

"It doesn't matter about me. What about you?" Brendon said avoiding my question. I had been abused, but I was nothing compared to Brendon. There was a gash on my lip and a deep cut on the corner of my forehead. They weren't painful, but they sure looked grotesque. The thing that was bothering me most was, what people were going to say about the injuries tomorrow and even worse what was my mother and father going to say about them. I'd have to think up a lie. Obviously I couldn't tell the truth about what happened. Besides, who'd believe me?.

"I'm fine, Bren. You look worse than me. I can't believe they've done this to you." I whimpered on the verge of tears as I wrapped my arms around Brendon's middle, before he teared away quickly, letting out a quiet scream in pain.

"What!? What's wrong?!" I questioned, trying not to raise my voice.

"My ribs. They hurt." He managed to say, as he held around his stomach in agony.

Without thinking, I quickly lifted up Brendon's top to take a look at what damage had been done. There was a purple bruise showing all around the rib area. "Brendon, what have they done to you!?"

"It isn't that bad, Belle."

"Isn't that bad!? Look at it, Bren. What if they've cracked a rib?"

"They haven't, it's just a bruise. Don't worry about it." Brendon placed his hand on the side of my face, then kissed me tenderly on the lips, instantly calming my nerves. I could taste the bitter metallic sensation, most probably coming from the blood on my lip. I hated the taste. "I'm sorry." Brendon apologized, once he had broken away from the kiss. I stared up at Brendon with a look of confusion across my face.

"Why? What for?" I questioned.

"I made a promise. And I broke it. I promised that I wouldn't hurt you or let anyone else hurt you, but I didn't keep it." He turned away from me and pulled his hair in frustration. "I'm such an idiot!"

"Don't say that. You're not an idiot. I should be thankful for you, you save my life yet again and I still haven't done anything to repay you. Thank you." I looked outside of the window and noticed that the sky was beginning to brighten slightly, from the hot Vegas sun rising slowly. "I think you should be getting home now." I told him.

"I suppose so. I guess I'll see you at school, then." Brendon sighed as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Or," I started as I stepped closer to Brendon and wrapped my arms around his neck, "we could stay at your house, instead of going to school?"

"Bunk off school?"

I nodded biting my lip which, may I add, hurt since I had forgotten about the gash there.

"Sounds good. I don't think I can be bothered with all of the rumors and lies that people make up about our injuries."

"Exactly what I was thinking."

"So," Brendon glanced down at his watch to check the time, "I'll see you in approximately, an hour and a half."

"Will do." I yawned as I collapsed onto my bed exhausted. Brendon made his way towards my bedroom door, "Uh, Brendon...Window." I reminded him, pointing towards the window.

"Oh yeah, whoops." I watched him struggle to get out of the window, because of his ribs, but he eventually made it out. He managed to climb down the tree, without much pain.

"You okay?" I asked, once his feet touched the floor. He looked up and nodded with a smile in reply. He looked so cute standing there, just looking up at me. What am I talking about, looked? He is cute.