Torn

CALLIE'S POINT OF VIEW

My breathing is practically nonexistent when I put my backpack on, and prepare myself for what is about to happen.

"I just want to know one thing." Sara says, standing across from me with her pale arms crossed. This REALLY isn't the time Sara. I nod anyway. "Did he cheat on me?"

Well, that caught me off guard. "Er. Calum?"

"Yeah." She nods.

"Callie! Come on!" My foster mom yells from downstairs. I hesitantly look back at Sara.

"Please." She says quietly.

I bite my lip. "Uh. Y-Yes."

"With who." Her eyes are practically full of fire, like she knows it was me already.

"Me." I whisper.

"What did you do." She says seriously.

"What?"

"Did you have sex? Did you kiss?"

I look at the ground, "Oral?"

"Him on you or you on him." She says flatly.

"Both." I say slowly. She doesn't say anything more, she just says a quick goodbye, and then I leave. The social worker drives me to Jonathan's (my dad's) house, nervously glancing at me the whole time. I just wanted to punch him really bad. How could anyone even consider putting me back with JONATHAN? God I want to be so high right now.

I already recognize the neighbourhood. "This- My- She died here." I frown, looking out the window.

"What?"

"This" I say as we pull up to the house, "is the house my mother was killed in." I whisper. I turn to the man, "How did he get the house back?!"

"I- I'm sorry, I don't know what the problem is?"

I shake my head, "I can't go in there."

"Why?"

"He's- He's going to..." I don't even want to finish the sentence. I don't think I CAN finish the sentence. I just get out of the car.

You're a bad bitch Callie Fire, you got this.

Right when I opened the door, and found Jonathan standing in front of me, I knew I didn't stand a chance.

"Welcome home you worthless piece of shit." He laughs a little, his shoulders rising and dropping. I gulp. This isn't home anymore. I slowly look over at the spot I saw my mom. "Don't look over there." He snaps. I just keep staring at it. There are too many memories here. I don't want to be here. "Hey, what did I just say!?" He screams. I close my eyes. That sound is to familiar. "Don't fucking look over there!" He shouts. I feel a fist connect to my face. I just look at him.

"Where's my room again?" I say quietly. He rolls his eyes and huffs, walking out of the room. I go to my former bedroom, finding a message spray painted on my wall.

YOU LITTLE TATTLE TAIL BITCH

I bite my lip. Taking deep, slow breaths, I try and regain emotional contact with where I am. Everything seems so blurry, as if it's going in slow motion. I set my backpack down, and lock my door. The sound of that lock hits me in the gut. I remember every night locking that door. I look at the now very dusty window. I can still see younger Calum climbing in at the middle of the night, because my parents wouldn't quit screaming. He'd cuddle me, whether I cried or not, and whisper sweet little things to me about how it'd be okay. It's never been like how he described things being for me when I got older. He said everything would be more simple. He told me about the cute little blue house I'd live in, with my parents being happy, me with this perfect boyfriend, a stable relationship. Why can't I have that? Why does it feel like everything is against me? I look out the window, and realize, I live next to Calum now. I climb out the window, just out of curiosity, and knock on his door. Mali answers.

"Hey Callie." She smiles, "What's going on?"

"Hey, um, can I talk to Calum?" I ask. She nods.

"Yep, he's up in his room." She says, and walks away.

"Thanks." I say, shut the door, and run up the stairs. We've always been pretty close (besides the last year), so I just swing his door open, in panic. He stands up from his bed.

"Callie what's wron-" I just run up to him and wrap my arms around his neck, my breathing completely unsteady from wanting desperately to cry. He doesn't question me, he just hugs me back.

I sniff, "I'm so happy to see you right now."

"Yeah- What's going on?" He asks softly into my shoulder.

"You know how today, I was supposed to move back in with Jonathan?" I sniff again.

"Yeah.."

"He got the house back."

"The house the.. Incident, happened in?"

"Mhm."

"Oh my god." He holds me tighter. He pulls back a tiny bit, and brushes his fingers over my jawline. "Did he do this?" He asks.

"Do wha-" I push down on my jawline, "Ow, fuck. Uh- Yeah, probably."

"You have this like, purple bruise." He frowns, one arm still wrapped around my waist.

"Well. There'll probably be more to come." I look at the ground.

"Do you want to stay here?" He asks. I shake my head.

"It'll probably just make it worse."

"Okay." He hugs me again. "Are you going to be okay tonight?"

I close my eyes to avoid crying. "Uh huh." Lie.

MICHAEL'S POINT OF VIEW

"You're so cute." I smile at Morgan, while she sits on my lap. She laughs, but stops faster than she usually would. She turns a little and looks at me.

"Uhm." She looks at me like she's confused about something, then her expression changes to something I haven't seen on her before. "I love you." She says. I just stare at her.

CALLIE'S POINT OF VIEW

I sit on my bed, arms crossed tightly over my chest, and knees against my chest. Mascara is running down my face from all the crying. The dark room just makes flashbacks easier.

I cry harder than I ever had, "MOM!" I look at my dad, fire in my eyes. I stand up, "YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" I shriek. I try punching him, but he just kicks me in the gut, down onto the ground.

I close my eyes, tipping my head onto the wall. I've only been here a few hours, and multiple large bruises are already littered over my body. I'm not going to make it through the next two weeks, am I?

I hear my window open, and I flinch, but I don't look to see who it is. What does it matter, anyway? Whoever it is, crawls onto my bed, and then I realize it's just Calum.

"I told you I'd be fine." I say quietly.

"I know when you're lying." He says, just as quiet. "And you obviously were." He says, his warm fingers brushing over the bruise on my shoulder. "Are you tired?" He asks me, his fingers now tracing over the scratch on my cheek. I just keep staring forward.

"I can't sleep." I quietly say simply.

"Why not?" He whispers, his eyes on my cheek.

"It's too risky... Too many nightmares." I say. His fingers lightly go down to my collarbone, a blue and purple bruise covering it.

"Would you be able to sleep if I were here?" He asks softly, his eyes on his fingers.

I close my eyes, liking his fingers lightly on my pained skin. "I don't know." Lie.

"Do you want to try?" He asks softly, his eyes flickering up to my eyes for a second. I don't answer him. "Here, come on." He whispers, gently putting his hand on my waist, which makes me flinch because of all the memories and everything today. "It's okay, it's okay, just lye down?" He whispers. I nod slightly, slowly moving down, resting my head on the pillow. He does the same, and as softly and delicately as possible, rest a hand on my hip. "You're going to be okay. I promise you that." He's so lying. How could he possibly promise something like that?

"I'm terrified." I whisper, squeezing my eyes tight shut.

"I know. I know." He whispers, rubbing light circles on my stomach with his thumb.

Notes

:(

So I want all you critics and haters out there to know: I am NOT trying to romanticize what is going on with Callie right now. I swear. I can't give that much away to back it up, but I can just say, I'm not trying to romanticize this. In this chapter, basically nothing sensual or hot happened that best friends wouldn't do, so just trust me here, okay?

Stay strong my friends
xx
-BeautifulHood