The Truth

She stood in front of Mrs Carson's door facing the street filled with homeless people and trashed up houses. She looked at her phone as she saw it flashing with an unknown caller ID. She answered the phone and put it to her ear, confused as to who could possibly be calling her.

"Hello?" Ava started.

"Hey..." a raspy voice asserted.

Ava thought she recognised the voice, but she couldn't figure out who it was.

"Who is this?" she inquired.

She heard them clear their throat before speaking again.

"It's me, Ava," he said melancholy in their voice.

"Noah?! Are you okay? Where are you?"

"It's okay. I'm alright."

She breathed and tried to calm down before asking him anything else.

"Where have you been?"

"I... I just had to think about some things," he said as his voice broke.

"Why haven't you answered your phone? Your friends have been really worried about you; you just cancelled your plans with them without an explanation. I was so worried, you just disappeared," Ava said tearing up.

"I'm sorry. I know I messed up."

"Where are you?" Ava asked.

"Ava you can't come..."

"Why Noah? I've been looking for you everywhere...I know you were kicked out of your house."

There was an unnerving silence on the phone.

"Ava..." he said with a shaky voice.

"Noah, I want to help you. Please tell me where you are," she insisted.

Noah hesitated at first but then told her. "Behind the school in the woods. If you walk inside the woods, you'll find me there."

She sighed a breath of relieve and hung up the phone as she looked back at his parents' house. She couldn't believe people were this cruel and not even care for their own son. She started walking towards the woods.

As she passed the school, she saw the place where she was almost attacked by a man and that was the first time her powers were revealed to someone. She had no power over her body. As she snapped back into reality, she realised that she had stopped walking. She continued walking towards the woods. She was determined to help Noah as much as possible. He had helped her so much that was the least she could do for him. She walked inside the woods as the monstrous trees hid her from the rest of the world. As she turned a corner, she saw Noah sitting down facing the other direction.

"Noah!" she said, happy to see him again.

As he turned to face her, she stopped in her tracks. She covered her mouth and looked at him, her eyes tearing up. A tear streamed down her cheek. She rushed up to him and embraced him. She looked back at him as she lightly passed her hands across the bruises and cuts in his face. His face still bore congealed blood, and his clothes were an utter mess. She looked down at his arm and saw many bruises and cuts. One of his eyes almost shut with swelling. Her bottom lip quivered.

"Noah... What happened?"

He stayed soundless as he flinched at every movement he made. He looked down, not able to make eye contact with him. He couldn't bear see her sad, especially if he was the reason.

"Noah, talk to me. Please," she pleaded as she choked on her tears. "Who did this to you?"

"Ava...I'm fine," he croaked.

He coughed, and bloody spit drooled from his slack jaws.

"Please," Ava begged as she started crying.

"Ava, please don't cry," he said as he wiped away her tears.

"My dad hit me."

Ava stared at him in dismay.

"Your...dad?" she repeated in disbelief.

He nodded with shame. She took a tissue from her bag and put some water on it as she tried to clean the blood that was dripping on his face.

"What happened?" she asked as she cleaned the cuts.

"I got into an argument with my dad. He was drunk, so he hit me."

"Want to talk about it?" she asked him.

He looked up at her who was clearly shocked about the situation. He saw her gaze go to her arm. His scars and bruises went up his shirt.

"Do you mind taking off your shirt?" she whispered.

He nodded as he took off his shirt, hissing at the pain of the bruises and his shirt going into contact.

"About a month ago, my dad kicked me out because he said I was good for nothing. My mom never objected or tried to stop him because she was scared of him and every time he gets angry at her, he hits her," he explained as he tried moving away from the Ava because of the pain.

Ava then remembered how his mom was very skinny and seemed to have been hurt a lot. Maybe that was the reason. She soon started to acknowledge things.

"Sorry," she said as she gently cleaned the blood from his chest.

"He then said something about Annie..."

Ava stopped everything she was doing and looked at him straight in the eye.

"I asked him about it since we don't have a TV, nor does he read the newspaper. I asked him if he had something to do with it, but he just smiled and started yelling at me."

She sighed and continued to treat his wounds.

"I got lost control, so I told him how he was an abuser and that he was going to regret ever touching I and my mom. He got grew mad and threw a bottle at me which hit my back."

Ava looked behind his shoulder to see a large wound with pieces of glass stuck to his skin and blood in most part of his back.

"He hit me multiple times, and then I managed to get away. I ran away here, and I have been moving from place to place without anywhere to go to. I came here a few days ago, so I haven't stayed long. But all this happened yesterday. I was kicked out, and I came back yesterday to get some of my things which led to this."

Ava stayed silent as she tried to clean the wounds on his back.

"Why didn't you call me?" she eventually asked.

"I didn't want to give you any more problems. You've already been dealing with so many things I didn't want to add any more pressure to you," he explained.

"Noah, you've been here for me with everything. I want to be there for you too. I don't want you to feel like you can't come to me because I've got a lot on my plate. I'll always try to be there no matter what."

Noah smiled at her, and Ava smiled back.

"We have to get you to a hospital," she said.

"What! Why?" he exclaimed.

"You're really hurt, and you've got many bruises. Also, the massive cut on your back has to be treated properly, and I don't have the things needed to treat it."

He sighed and nodded. He tried to get up, but he fell back down because of the pain.

"Do you want me to call a taxi? I don't think you'll be able to walk with the pain."

"I don't have any money," he replied as he winced.

They looked around to see if anyone was around until Ava remembered that she had some spare money in her purse as an emergency.

"Come on. We have to walk up to the road," she stated.

"Okay."

He held onto Ava as she held his arm. They slowly walked out of the woods to the street, and they sat down on the bench. Ava stood up as she called a taxi to their destination. A taxi came, and they got inside as they were driven to the nearest hospital. Ava kept noticing that the driver was looking at them strangely, but she just ignored it. They dropped off in front of the hospital, and Ava paid the man as he weirdly took the money. Ava helped Noah walk to the hospital as he was laid on a stretcher and carried to a patient's room, Ava following behind.