A Huge Nightmare

The next day when we woke up, we ate breakfast and got ready for school, once we were ready we headed to the bus stop, Nate kept looking at me, his bruises we’re bad, mine were slowly starting to fade, but they were looking worse from the color they we’re becoming. Once the bus arrived we got on and sat in our seats in silence, Nate and I were definitely troubled kids struggling to make our lives work, we had each other, that’s what mattered most, we got off the bus once we were at school, walked to class together, all the girls always gave me this jealous look, since they all thought I was Nate’s girlfriend, they saw how he acted with me and we were both bruised up. They all tried to question the bruises but we wouldn’t tell them, we had this thing we always said, “We fell down our basement stairs while playing tag inside.”

They all shrugged and accepted it as an answer, they didn’t push us for more, thank God for that, Nate and I went to chruch on Sundays hiding in the back with our families so no one would question our appearance, school went by fast today, it was like we blinked and it was over, the silent bus ride home got us both lost in our thoughts, I was beginning to doubt any good for me or Nate, I would have to face my dad again today, he had texted saying I needed to come home tonight and sleep at home. I was so afraid, but Nate was the only one I talked to about my fears, he understood me, we we’re the same, both from broken abusive homes, lying to everyone and being the outcasts amongst our classmates, we had too much fun with our imaginary friends, since most of the others didn’t really want to play with us, their parents would see us and call us damaged kids, it was hurtful and so hateful to only have Nate as a friend and being 13 for us sucked. We still had to make it to 18, then we could be free of hurt and pain. My mom didn’t care, neither did his, if they loved us so much they wouldn’t let us be abused by the ones they were with, my dad’s drinking would probably get worse, in turn my mom’s addiction would also get worse, along with Nate’s mom’s addiction. I feared coming home one day to my mom overdosing and dying on the floor, my drunk dad passed out in his chair while she dies in front of me as I dial 911, I had severe problems now. It’s the years of abuse, I don’t think I’m good enough for anyone, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to love anyone, hell I think I’ll die alone one day, I know I’m too young to think about this stuff, but next year Nate and I go to high school, things are going to get crazy, I hope we’ll still have each other for friends, but the lying is going to continue for us, we can’t tell a soul what goes on in our homes, we’re too afraid to lose each other as friends for us to speak a word of it.

We’ve always been close to each other, even with the abuse, but we didn’t trust each other , fuck we trusted no one at all, that was our biggest issue. As the bus pulled up to our stop, Nate and I got off, he kissed me on the cheek and hugged me as I flinched from the contact, he sighed and looked at me,

“Brook, I swear if you don’t somehow contact me tonight to let me know your okay I’m going to come over and check on you okay?” Nate says looking into my eyes.

I nod, “I will Nate don’t worry, I’ll see you in the morning and I’ll text before I go to sleep.”

He nods, “You better Brook.”

I smiled softly, “Okay Nate, bye.”

“Bye Brook.” Nate replies.

I turn and walk towards my house, taking deep breaths I was terrified to step into that house, I walk up the steps, open my front door and walk inside. I look into the living room where my mom was dozing off already high off drugs, my heart hurt so much at the site, I didn’t feel strong enough for this anymore, I felt like I was going to break, my dad was in the kitchen,

“Welcome home Brooklyn! I missed you sweety!” He says as he walks towards me holding a kitchen knife.

I dropped my backpack and ran towards the stairs, he caught me half way up them, shoving the knife into my arm, I screamed in pain as blood poured down my arm, I tried to break free from his grip, but couldn’t he turned and threw me down the stairs, when I hit the floor, landing on my left elbow hearing a loud crack, the wind was knocked out of me, blood was everywhere on the stairs and floor around me. I was covered in my blood and I was in a lot of pain, tears were streaming down my face, I could faintly hear knocking at the door as I passed out from the intense pain and blood loss. Little did I know it was Nate knocking.

Nate’s POV:

I watched Brooklyn walk into her house, I walked towards my porch slowly, I stopped by the mailbox checking the mail when I heard her scream loudly, I knew something bad was going on, I pulled out my phone and dialed 911, then I walked towards her house. I walked up the steps and knocked on the door, I needed to know if she was alive because I heard a loud crack right before I knocked, almost like a bone snapping in half, to my surprise her dad answers the door,

“What Nate? Brooklyn can’t come play right n.....” He says.

I push the door open, to my horror Brooklyn is lying in a pool of blood, she almost looks like she isn’t breathing, I grab her dad by his shirt and punch him so hard I break his nose, then I shove him to the side and run to Brooklyn, I kneel down not caring that I’m getting blood on my clothes, she looked dead, I checked for a pulse,

“Brook.....I’m here, please be alive....” I say as tears form.

I was so angry inside at her father for doing this to her, I found her pulse finally it was so faint she was dying, I pulled her into my arms, scared she wasn’t going to be alive when the ambulance showed up, her dad had gotten up and took off, taking the kitchen knife with him. I could hear the sirens as they approached, her mom was awake now, totally sober and starting in horror at the site in front of her,

“Nate...what the fuck happened?” She says.

“Your husband.” Was all I said as the sirens were so loud.

The ambulance pulled up, the EMTs got out and grabbed the stretcher, bringing it in, they made me keep Brooklyn in my arms and climb onto the stretcher carefully, they strapped us down and wheeled us out to the ambulance, Brooklyn’s mom grabs her keys and locks up, leaving the horror scene inside their house behind, she gets in her car to follow us as they start to get an oxygen mask on Brooklyn to keep her breathing, they look at me,

“Do you know what happened?”

“She fell down the stairs and landed on her elbow, she accidentally ran into a piece of metal siding I was holding and lost her balance.” I replied without hesitation.

They nodded as they grabbed some towels and applied pressure to her stab wound, then we were off heading towards the hospital, sirens blaring, Brooklyn’s mom following behind us. When we arrived at the hospital, we stopped near the ER doors in the ambulance bay, the EMTs opened the doors and wheeled us out on the stretcher,

“Brooklyn.....I love you.” I whispered to her nearly lifeless form, “you need to pull through, I can’t survive without you....my best friend.” I had tears falling.

I heard shouting and doctors yelling stuff as we we’re pushed into an empty ER room, they took her from me and placed her onto the bed, I climbed off the stretcher and was told to stay clear and quiet as they did their thing. I nodded as her mom walked up to me,

“Nate how often does this happen?” She asks.

“Too often Mrs. Daniels.” I replied.

She sighed, I knew she’d go get high again as soon as she went home, she wouldn’t stay sober long, she’d begin to withdraw and she’d take off. I wasn’t leaving Brooklyn’s side until I had to go to school tomorrow, which I’d just take a cab from here, I’d done it before. After about 10 minutes of the doctor’s assessing Brooklyn’s injuries,

“Okay you guys need to go wait in the waiting room we will come find you, when she is out of surgery.” The nurse says.

I nod, “Okay.”

We went to wait in the waiting room, when the doctor came to update us that she was doing good in surgery, her mom left, she was sweating and needed her fix. She was pathetic, she couldn’t even wait until her daughter was in recovery, I stayed put.

3 hours later

The doctor gently shook me awake which caused me to jump up, looking around scared,

“Hey Nate it’s okay, Brooklyn is out of surgery, she’s awake and she’s asking for you, come with me.” He says.

I nod and follow him to her room, when I walk inside my heart shatters, her left arms in a cast, her right arm is bandaged up, she has new bruises over the old ones, she was broken for sure and it hurt me deeply.

“Hey Brook, how you feeling?” I ask her.

Brooklyn’s POV:

I looked over as I heard the door to the ICU room I was placed in opened, I saw Nate with the doctor, my heart fluttered slightly, something it never did before looking at Nate, was this a feeling? Was I beginning to fall for him? Fuck I didn’t know, I definitely trusted no one now, my dad had really done it this time..

“Hey Brook, how you feeling?” Nate asks.

“Sore, tired, broken.” I reply weakly, I was also very strung out on pain meds.

He sits next to me and slowly places his hand on mine, I flinch and cry out in pain, his face falls and he moves his hand away from mine hurt filling his eyes,

“I’m sorry....” He says crying.

“It’s not your fault.” I reply and slowly reach for his hand.

He meets me halfway, carefully holding onto mine, we lock eyes and mine fill with tears.