Forever His & His Ghost

Chapter 24: Good Friday

After Valentine's Night, my world started slipping away, most would think I was just being a teenage drama queen, but in truth, my life would never be the way it had been again. I was watching the world crash and burn around me, while smothering me with the thick smoke.

       The notes became constant, every Friday I would receive one, my locker, backpack, my pillow, just random places, and it was always on Friday. They became more vulgar and life threatening, some even told me what they were going to do with me personally if I didn't change course with Jaxon. I hid them all, and never let anyone know that I had been receiving them, I didn't want to worry anyone, I didn't want to drag anyone else under the bus with me, so I kept it all bottled up and hid them away.

       Jaxon had also changed, he started to become a little more distant day by day, he still did sweet things, still told me he loved me, but there was something off with him, I just couldn't pinpoint it, and no matter how many times I tried to get him to talk to me, he wouldn't. I starting spending more nights at home than with him. The nights I did stay with him, he would sneak out in the middle of the night when he thought I was fast asleep and would return the next morning before the alarm clock would go off, jump in the shower and act like he had just got up before me to get ready. There were even nights that he would drop me off at his place, leave and wouldn't return till the next morning, saying his dad had him out on business.

      The beatings from Darlene and Samantha had also started to get more frequent, again, I could take a slap or a punch, I had become use to it, and I promised myself I would never let them see me cry, never. Good Friday was the first time that when I looked in their eyes while they were beating me, I could have sworn it looked like they wanted to kill me.

       That particular day there was no school, but I wanted to get some extra studying in for our college exams, Jaxon had some other things to do that day, Marie was working all day, so I decided to go to the school library and study for the day. They had told all students the school would be open for it, but when I got there, strangely I was the only one who had bothered to show up and take advantage of it.

       I took my time muddling through the books in the library finding the literature I needed to study on certain subjects; how to for dummy books, basically. I knew I would ace it, but I still wanted to be well prepared. I found a small worktable next to one of the windows overlooking the football field and had set myself up there to study for the day. I giggled to myself looking around the library like I was fixing to break a big rule, while I placed my earbuds in my ears, turning my music all the way up, and diving headfirst into those books.

       An hour or so had passed, and I was so engrossed in what I was reading I didn't even sense any one around me until my arm was jerked over my head and behind me causing the chair to shift and I landed flat on my back. My head hit the tile floor and I could see stars dancing in my line of sight, the music still blaring in my ears, there were shadows standing over me, I shook my head trying to clear my vision when finally, they became clear, it was Samantha, Darlene and two other girls that I didn't know. They glared at me with the evil oozing from their smiles, their mouths were moving but I couldn't hear anything until Darlene reached down and jerked my ear buds out, tossing them across the room.

      "What the hell Darlene?" I screamed trying to get up, only to realize that Samantha still had my arm twisted with her foot holding it firmly in place.

     "Well, this is going to be fun," one of the strange girls snickered.

      I turned my head to look at them, but before I could say anything Samantha spoke, "Alright girls, hold her." When I looked at Samantha, the way she looked at me made me shiver in fear. I tried to wiggle again but soon the other two girls had both my arms and they had sat me back up while one stood on each side holding me in place. "Now Skyla dear, did we not warn you of the consequences long ago?" Samantha hissed while she sauntered around me. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. And you didn't listen." Smack, my head slung to the side as I felt blood dribble from my nose, crazy lady just slapped me. "That's your first lesson today."

      "What are you..." smack, my head slung to the other side this time, cutting my words off.

      "That's for interrupting me!" She shouted while pointing a finger at me. "So, Jaxon has been spending a lot of time with me and I am slowly starting to woo him, but then he comes home to you, and all my hard work is undone." She smiled at me, and I could feel my heart beating out of my chest. No, it couldn't be true, he wouldn't do that to me. "Aw, I see you are thinking about those nights he leaves you. So anyway, we are going to put such a hurt on you today, that you will have no other choice but to be away from him for a long time." I heard her words, but they weren't sinking in, all I could hear was my thoughts racing about all the missing time with Jaxon, all the little things that I had noticed had changed about him.

      Soon though, I couldn't focus on anything but his face when the beating started. They screamed and cussed, they punched, slapped and at some point, the chair fell over and they all took turns kicking and stomping at me. I tried to move away, I tried at one point to get up and run, yet they still managed to pull me back. The last thing I remember was praying that I die right there, I wasn't sure if I would ever recover from this, I felt a hard hit to the back of my head, and it was instant lights out.

         Beep, Beep, Beep, that was all I could hear. It was making my head dizzy with the constant beeping, I tried to open my eyes and the light was so bright I closed them immediately. Beep, Beep, Beep, I groaned as I tried to open them again so I could turn that stupid alarm off.

       I felt a warm hand grab mine and I instantly froze, now I didn't want to open my eyes. "Who, who's there?" I managed to croak out as it felt like my throat was full of sand and glass.

      "Easy Skyla, you are okay." The voice was soothing and deep. "Take your time opening your eyes, everything is okay."

      I know that voice, "Mark?" I croaked again. This time my eyes managed to open, and I looked around slowly. I was in a hospital room, there were machines everywhere, and next to me sat Mark holding my hand and giving me a half-hearted smile. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, dark circles, messy hair, definitely more than a five o'clock shadow. He got up and handed me a glass of water to which I gladly excepted as he held it to my lips. "Thanks." I whispered.

     "Mark, what happened, where am I?" I finally got out after I felt like the water had washed away all that sand and glass from my throat.

      He sighed and took my hand again taking a seat, "What do you remember Skyla?"

     I raised a brow and he nodded for me to go on. I closed my eyes taking a deep breath when suddenly it felt like I couldn't breathe, every inch of my body felt like it had been rolled over by a mac truck, it hurt everywhere, and then flashes of the library, Samantha, Darlene, those girls. They almost killed me, my eyes shot open again and Mark was still sitting there waiting for me to speak. "That's not important, please tell me where I am." I couldn't tell him, I couldn't tell anyone, I would not let anyone suffer like I have.

     "You are in the hospital, I took you to the local ER when I found you, but your injuries were pretty severe, so they had to fly you over to the next county hospital where they were more equipped to handle your situation."

      "What all is wrong with me?" I whispered.

      "Maybe we should call your family so they can tell you, I am not the one that should be telling you these things." He mumbled.

     "My family, where are they, do they know?"

     Mark shook his head, "No, I haven't contacted anyone. You have been out for three days, and I did not want to leave your side, plus they informed me that as long as you were breathing, and over eighteen it was not my place to call anyone, we had to wait till you woke up, but I will gladly go call them now."

      He tried to get up and I pulled him back down. Mark was Marie's brother, I felt in a sense he was mine too, I knew I could trust him, and I didn't want him to leave. "Please don't, please don't tell anyone. Just tell me what's wrong with me."

     Looking at me, he finally figured out I was serious as he sighed and opened his mouth, "You have a torn rotary cuff, three of your fingers on your right hand are broke, you have lots of internal bruising and even had some small bleeds internally. The socket around your right eye is fractured but they said it should heal on its own just fine. Thank goodness you didn't have any brain damage, but you do have 4 cracked ribs and three broken ones. That isn't the worse part though." He dropped his head, and I could feel my heart stopping. I squeezed his hand, I couldn't say anything, but I needed to know, I needed to know what was going on. He held his head up to look at me and I swear it looked like he was going to cry, I offered him a small smile in hopes that it would comfort him, but he didn't return the gesture. "Your right Fallopian tube was ruptured, you were hemorrhaging, they had to remove it and the ovary attached to it. Unfortunately, you may never be able to."

      "Have children," I whispered finishing his sentence. My world stopped turning yet again, and the room was spinning.

     "Close your eyes, deep breath Skyla." He cooed.

      "Thank you, Mark." That was all I could say in that moment, thank him for finding me when he did, thank him for being here for me, thank him for everything.

      "Let me go call your family." He tried to leave again, and I just shook my head.

      "Let me see your phone." Mark handed it to me and with a shaky hand I dialed a number holding it to my ear. "Aunty?"

     "Skyla, honey is that you, where, are you, what's going on,  is everything okay?" I finally broke down and cried in her ear. "Honey, do you want me to come get you?"

      "Yes, and please do not tell anyone where I am. Just tell mom and dad that I showed up at your house tore up, and that you came back here to get my belongings." I told her where to find my suitcase and what to grab for me and then handed the phone to Mark so he could tell her the address to where we were. To say she was freaking when she heard him tell her the hospital was an understatement, the woman was losing it.

      Mark hung the phone up and turned back to me, "You are leaving?" I nodded my head while the tears strolled down my cheeks. "Are you going to tell Jaxon?" I shook my head no. "Skyla the boy is head over heels for you, I know you haven't had any fights and I know he would never do this to you. He is going crazy calling me and Marie to help find you, says he doesn't know what went wrong."

      I finally wiped the tears from my face, "I understand that, and this will be easier if I just disappear. All of this is because of my love for Jaxon, because I didn't stay away, I went with my heart. It's only a matter of time before they go after him for not leaving me, I have to protect him, I have to protect all of you." He opened his mouth to say something, and I shook my head, "No Mark, please. I can't do this."

      He huffed and I knew he was angry, "Fine. But if I see him causing self-harm, I will tell him everything, he is my best friend, and I will not let him harm himself, not when it comes to you, and knowing how he truly feels."

      I just nodded my head, sleep, I need more sleep. I closed my eyes, and all I could see was Samantha and hear her words, So Jaxon has been spending a lot of time with me and I am slowly starting to woo him, but then he comes home to you, and all my hard work is undone. The tears rolled and soon darkness consumed me.