(TW) Warning!! This Chapter shows graphic child abuse and may be a trigger for some!! Read at your own discretion!

Leo's POV

As soon as class was over I started packing my books when two girls walked over to me. I sighed to myself knowing what was going to happen next.

"Leo, can you help us for a moment? We didn't really understand the Math problems from earlier," one of them asked with a smile.

I wasn't here for the Math part because I was showing the new kid around school and zoned out completely before that but I'm too nice of a person and took her book anyways with a smile. Math was easy for me so I just quickly looked it over and I knew how it works right away. Same as yesterday with a few added steps.

After getting the, "Oh okay. I understand it now," from the girls I quickly packed my things and left in a hurry. My dad was going to kill me. I was so late. I completely lost track of time with them.

Running out the door I started running out of the iron gate to leave the school grounds when I smacked into something at full force and fell backward landing on the ground. Holding my nose painfully, I looked up to see none other than King looking down at me.

He rolls his green eyes with a loud sigh before holding out his hand for me to grab. "You need to watch where you're going." He said as I grabbed it, noticing a few rings on his fingers that I didn’t notice before.

He pulled me up without any effort. "I'm so sorry." I patted the dust off my black pants and looked back at him. "What are you still doing here so late?" I looked down at my watch and realized where I was going in such a hurry and started to panic once again. "Oh shit! I'm so sorry again King. I have to- umm I-" King's bright green eyes looked up and down the road like he was missing something. "Are you lost? Do you need some help?"

His eyes shot to mine quickly. "No. My uncle is just running late. Not a surprise though." He sighed again then looked at the ground as he's cheeks reddened a little.

"Oh, okay. Um, would you like some company while you wait then?" I smiled. I really shouldn't have offered because I'm already so late as it is but he looked like he needed it. Damn my niceness.

"Nope." He popped the P as he fake smiled at me. "I'm a big boy. I'll be just fine on my own."

"Are you sure?" I asked. I just wanted to make sure before I took off. I didn't want him out here for long by himself or getting lost.

"Yes, I'm sure. Now leave, you seem to be in a hurry anyway."

"Uh, okay then. See you at school tomorrow." I waved before walking over to the street and started looking both ways. Once I saw it was clear I went to go take off when something grabbed my backpack and pulled me back mid-step making me stumble a little.

"Wait, um h-hold up," King said nervously. "Can you-" he rubbed the back of his neck and let go of my bag as I turned around again to face him again. His cheeks were red and he had a look of defeat. "Could you by any chance point to where WaterRun St is before you go?"

He was lost, I knew it, but he clearly didn't want me to know so I kept that to myself as I tried to hold back a chuckle by biting inside my bottom lip.

WaterRun was in a pretty bad area though. Honestly, I don't know anyone from that part of town because everyone was too poor to send their kids to a private school and it was full of gang violence. 

"Umm, yeah. You just go down to the end of this block, take a right when it Ts, and go down three blocks to the left is Ashland Ave and it's a few streets down from there, to the right if I remember correctly," I told him.

"Thanks," he said turning around and started walking that way. 

"Hey!" I yelled, getting his attention again. "Be careful that way, it’s not the greatest part in town."

"I can handle myself," he yelled back as he turned around again and kept walking.

I, however, wasted no more time as I looked down at my watch again. My heart dropped as the fear washed over me, and my breath heavied. "Shit!" I ran as fast as I could across traffic and down my street to the small blue two-story house just after all the shops.

Once inside I leaned my back against the door. Taking a few heavy breaths before wiping the sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand and walking down the small hall into the kitchen. I set my backpack down on the table and looked around. It was really quick in the house and that made me feel uneasy.

I started walking back into the hallway that passed a small office before opening into the living room again. "Hey, dad? I'm sorry I'm late, they needed my help cleaning after-," 

Something hit the side of my mouth, knocking me to the floor. I could taste the blood that quickly filled my mouth and could feel the hot liquid run down my chin not even a second later.

Holding the side of my mouth, I looked back up to see my father standing in the doorway of the small office, I didn’t remember seeing him in there when I walked past the first time. In his hand was a small glass with a little bit of light brown whiskey still at the bottom.

"Tsk. You think I care what your school needed? Your mother is up there in bed dying. I think her needs come first. Don’t you? I had to call off work cause you wanted to be over an hour late and I wasn't sure when the fuck you were ever gonna show up. Worthless fucken kid," he spat out the last three words. Without warning, he threw his glass cup into the kitchen, shattering it against something, making me jump and looked that way.

I looked back at my father who had already taken a few steps closer. "I- I’m- I'm sorry dad." I looked down to see him take another step forward, my heart throbbed even more.

"Sorry isn't gonna pay the bills to keep this house. Is it? Sorry isn't gonna pay the growing pile of medical bills to keep your mother alive. Is it?" His hand quickly snapped out and grabbed my arm hard as he pulled me up to my feet. His tightening grab made me whimper in pain. "I'm here every day changing her sheets and piss bags. Then I have to go to work and kill myself all night long so you can play around at that expensive fucken school and have fun with your little so-called friends," he spat the words in my face. The smell of alcohol filled my nose making me cringe.

I was shaking so badly. "Ahh." I cried out as he tightened his hold even more. "Please, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I tried pulling away as he started to twist my arm. "Please please, please. Ahh... I'm sorry dad. It won't happen again." 

Was he going to break my arm! It felt like it was going to break as his nails dug into my skin! I started to panic. My heart was beating so fast as my eyes look into his darkening face in horror.

He let go as I fell to the ground, pulling my arm to my chest in pain. A few tears escaped my eyes but I quickly wiped them away before he saw them. 

"You're such a failure as a son. Putting your needs before your own dying mothers. The one who carried you for 9 months and gave birth to you."

He kicked my chest hard, making me cry out and fall back against the wall behind me, but he didn't stop talking as he got down on top of me, pinning me down and punching me again in the stomach making me feel sick. "The one who would sing you to sleep." Punch. "And changed your diapers." Punch. "The one who wiped your tears and took care of you when you were sick!" Punch.

I couldn't hold it in anymore and puked everything in my stomach up mixed with the blood from my mouth I had to swallow all over the floor next to me. I let out a small sob from the pain as my dad pushed off me and stood up.

"What a waste of space. You can't even take a hit right! Clean up this mess because I'm not cleaning up after you too." He turned and started for the staircase before turning back around again. "If I see you when I come back down these steps, I'll beat you again." And with that, he walked up the stairs again.

I let out the cough I was trying to hold back and wiped the blood and vomit from my chin before I started dragging myself off the floor and into the kitchen to grab the cleaning supplies I needed to clean up the mess. I even cleaned up the broken glass from the shattered cup that hit one of the cabinets before making my way to my room.

Sadly that wasn't the first time my dad's beating me. He was never like this before. To be honest, my dad and I used to be close before my mom got sick. We weren't as close as my mother and I were but we were still close. He never laid a hand on me before then.

But with all the stress he now goes through with my mom's illness, he started drinking more. When the stress and lack of sleep from working so much started to mix in with the alcohol he, himself, started to change.

It's hard watching your loved one slowly die in front of you. Knowing you can't do anything to save them or soothe their suffering just made it even worse. I'm not saying it's okay or that it gives him the right to act this way because I know it's not but I guess I could understand at the same time why and how it changed him.

Once in my room, I locked the door behind me and looked in the mirror to see the damage. My lip was starting to swell already but thankfully the bleeding stopped. It's going to leave a bruise for sure.

After taking off my green school tie and white button-up shirt, which was now stained with a few drops of blood, I could see the red marks already turning blue and purple around my ribs but my arm was even worst. The red finger marks were littered with blood spots and my whole arm hurt to move from when he started twisting it. 

Tomorrow isn't going to be fun since it's my right arm he messed up and I'm right-handed but I guess I would just find a way to work around it, like always.