The Tide Began to Rise - 11. Chapter 11

I woke up early in the morning to a nurse checking my vitals. At first I couldn’t remember why I was here in the hospital. When I tried to move there was surge of pain shot through my body. I remembered everything that happened. I remembered the look on my dad’s face. I remembered the look of sheer pleasure on his face as he choked the life out of me. When I couldn’t keep my eyes open any more, I remembered hearing my mom begging him to stop. Then I remembered myself fading into nothingness. I was floating in utter darkness. There was no light. Then the thunderous, calming voice explained things to me. When I woke back up from being literally dead to the world, the love of my life and my best friend were there. They told me that I have more family that cares for me. The last person in my entire family that cared enough about me to try and stop my dad gave her life for me. That thought brought tears to my eyes.

“What can I do to repay her for that sacrifice?” I asked out loud.

“Who are you talking about?”

I looked over and saw Brent sitting in the chair. He had a blanket over him.

“Did you sleep in that chair all night?”

“Yes, I said that I was not leaving and I meant it.”

“Well you’re going to have to so you can go to school.”

“I will worry about that when the time comes. For now I want to make sure you ok.”

“I’m great. Just knowing that you are here for me, makes me feel better.”

“That’s good. I need to call my mom really fast. I will also call Brie to let her know that you are awake.”

“OK, I wana talk to her anyway.”

Brent left the room. “What does he see in me?” The question has been on my mind since I found out that he had set up that plan. I know that I was doing the same thing, but I know why I did it. He is one of the hottest guys in school. I, on the other hand, am ugly. I don’t find myself attractive at all. I don’t take pride in my appearance. The only thing that I try and do is cover the marks of my home life. I think that this time it is going to be kind of hard to do that.

“Oh my god, what am I going to tell people. I have hid it for so long. Am I going to be able to tell people or am I going to lie. I don’t know what to do.”

After about 20 minutes of thinking, the silence was starting to get to me. The only sounds in the room are beeps from the annoying machines that I’m hooked up to. I looked at one of the machines and said “Holy shit I wana turn these damn things off.”

“Well if you do, you will be in a lot of pain.”

I looked over at the door to see who it was I really didn’t need to do that. I recognized the voice. It was Brie.

“Hey girly, how are you today.”

“Well better now that I see you are in high spirits. How are you feeling?”

“Well I think I feel good. I don’t feel much of anything right now, thanks to this liquid wonder stuff.”

We both laughed. We talked for a while about nothing. I knew what Brie really wanted to talk about. If I’m going to have to explain this to other people, it should start with my best friend. I was worried how she might react to what I’m going to tell her. I like to think that I know her quite well, but this is one subject that I don’t know how she would take.

“Brie, will you just ask the questions that I know you’re dying to ask me.”

“OK. How long has your dad been doing that? How long were you planning on letting it go on? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“How could I tell you what my dad was doing to me? I was ashamed of it. I know that everyone says that it is not your fault, but I felt like I was not a good enough son. And because I was not good enough, he beat me. I don’t know how long I was going to take it. He made me feel like I was useless to everyone, that I would never be good at anything. That son-of-a-bitch made me feel like nobody would ever love me. Even though I have you as a friend, I felt alone. For 3 years, that’s how I felt. It started happening when Tristan moved in. Up until then my dad showed me nothing but love. He hugged me, kissed me on the forehead at night. He cared about me back then. Then the favored child came along. When he showed up, all the love my dad had for me became hate. The hugs became punches. The kiss became bruises. My mom took me to the store so I could get long sleeve shirts to cover the bruises. I would cry myself to sleep. When I was with people, I would put on a mask to hide my sorrow.”

Just talking about it brought tears to my eyes. Brie came over and started to rub my shoulder. I know that she wanted to give me a huge hug, but she knew that she couldn’t. Brent came back into the room.

“Hey guys, I had to call my mom and let her know where I was. She is coming down here.”

“Why” I asked

“I have no clue maybe she thinks I’m lying.”

We all laughed. I kind of laughed. It hurt for me to do it. After about 30 minutes of the 3 of us mindlessly talking about nothing, Brent’s mom showed up. The moment she saw me, I guess that mother instinct kicked in. She came over to me and tried her best to comfort me.

All of a sudden I got this weird feeling in my stomach. It wasn’t like I was going to throw up or anything like that. It was the feeling when you know something bad is about to happen. I thought about it for a minute, but I couldn’t come up with anything.

“Tyler, how come your mother isn’t here?” ……………………………