Seventeen: Wound

Temperance

I stand in the middle of the living room. Both my father and the bitch circle me like hawks. Anger is visible on their faces.

I and my father have been like this before. I would stand helplessly as he would walk around me in circles to taunt me.

One abuser turns into two.

One punch turns into two.

I slouch in shame and look at the ground. My face is swollen from the hits along with my discolored body. My hair is a mess and blood drips around my eye from a gash on my forehead.

"Why the fuck were there people outside your hospital room?!" My father yells, shoving me backward into his girlfriend.

I can smell the alcohol in his breath. And the smoke on her clothes.

They had only returned a few minutes ago. They yanked me out of bed after ten minutes of being in a deep sleep

They are mistreating me the day of getting out of the hospital. How stupid can you get? You would think they would be careful with how much pain to inflict on me.

They seem to share one brain cell, they cant be stealthy with the mistreatment. Which is best for me.

Erin grips my arm, digging her bony fingers into my skin. I wince at the pain that is running through my body.

"T-they are j-just friends..." I whisper as her nails start to indent into my arm.

"You don't have any friends." He tries to punch me in the stomach but I lunge out of the way, taking Erin down with me.

"Those... a-are my friends.." I grunt, rolling away from Erin who seems flabbergasted that I brought her to the ground with me.

"You bitch!" She lunges for me, her hands slapping my face.

My hands fly over my face, "You can't k-kick my stomach! Y-you will rip the s-stitches. I'll end up in the h-hospital again."

Her brutal force stops for a second before she tears my arms away from my face. I look at both of them in horror as I watch Erin grab a small gun from the coffee table.

She cocks it and looks at me.

"You're so pathetic. We want you to die. Whether it's from bleeding to death or from a bullet lodged in your skull."

She points the gun at my head. Please do it. Please kill me. Death is what I want.

Waiting for my inevitable death seems like the only option. It's taken me a while to accept that this is my fate. But knowing that this will stop the torture I live with every day makes me almost excited to die.

One twitch of the finger, and I will be dead. My brains would splatter everywhere in a gruesome mess. That's how I want to go.

Of course, my funeral will have to be a closed casket. My face is already unrecognizable with these bruises. Imagine a bullet further ruining my face.

Breaking me out of my thoughts, Erin points the gun at the side of my stomach and shoots.

There is a ringing in my ear from the loud shot. Fire erupts in my side, causing a deafening scream to be released from my lips.

My hands cover the wound on my side. I press down on it, trying to stop the blood from gushing out. Crimson covers me and the floor around me, seeping through my hands.

Then within a second, the front door swings open.

******************************************************************

Alec

I walk down the stairs to see my guys lounging on the U-shaped couch.

"Well, well well. Look who finally woke up." Damien looks at me.

I roll my eyes. "Yeah. Happy to see me?"

"Nah."

I shake my head with a smile. I stop myself, noticing the ends of my lips bent upwards, I never smile. I already know I'm dying so why am I still so shocked.

I glance at the tv. They are watching football like always.

I sit down beside them. "Did you guys poison me?" I ask seriously, concerned about the strange things I have felt since Temperance came into my life. "Did Temperance poison me?" I ask, mostly to myself.

Although she doesn't seem like the type to fiddle with poison I can't rule her out. I'll have to be wary around everyone for now.

"Hey, Alec." Lidia smiles and plops down beside me.

She sits RIGHT by me. Our thighs touching.

"Uhhhh boss... what about your girl?" Zander glares at us, mostly asking the question to ward Lidia off.

There was a point in my life when I found Lidia attractive. It's safe to say that isn't the case anymore. Not since I've been poisoned. For some reason, my heart only wants one person, and that's Temperance.

"For real, answer my question about the poison," I demand, realizing they never answered my question.

"What? No, we didn't poison you." Ethan rolls his eyes at my stupidity. Well, something seems to be seriously wrong with me. If they didn't poison me then someone else did.

"Who's his girl?" Lidia interrupts.

"Temperance." The guys and I speak at the same time.

WHY DID I SPEAK UP? My actions are starting to scare me.

"Someone poisoned me. I feel myself dying." I place my hand on my heart, making sure it is still beating.

"Well, you know... she wouldn't know if we went upstairs like old time." She winks at me, licking her lips.

"Get the fuck away from me. I don't want you." I grunt, taking my hand off my chest, suspecting Lidia poisoned me.

"I can change that." She smiles.

"Are you deaf? Do you want me to put a fucking bullet through your head?" As I say this, she immediately gets up, backing away from me. I watch as she turns, running off into the hall.

Zander laughs, "Never liked her anyways. Temp is better for you, man."

*************************************************************

I have all of Temperance's papers in the passenger seat of my car on Zander's lap.

I just want to knock on her door and see her beautiful face.

I pull over on the street in front of her house. I sigh, reaching for the papers as a piercing gunshot stretches throughout the area. An agonizing scream follows.

I scramble out of my car, slamming the door behind me. The gunshot and scream came from Temperance's house. I stop at the door, cursing as I realized it's locked.

I ram my shoulder into the door until it bursts open.

In front of me are three people.

Temperance's dad is smiling, his eyes filled with darkness.

A woman looks at me with a gun in her hand.

And Temperance laying on the ground with a gunshot wound on her side. Her screaming ceases, leaving her with painful cries. Her body is covered with new wounds that she didn't have a few days ago. Her face is swollen, full of blue and black bruises.

I hear Zander gasp behind me and it drags me out of shock.

"What the hell?!" I yell, whipping out my own gun. I point it at the two adults, ready to pull the trigger. I pull the trigger, watching Temperance's father yelp in pain as the bullet goes through his arm.

"Ian!" The woman gasps, grabbing him and leading him to the back of the house.

As much as they need to die, I have to tend to Temperance.

Zander and I rush to the crying girl on the ground.

"Temperance, breathe. Breathe." I try to tell her. She refuses to calm down, I watch as she falls in and out of consciousness.

"I'll call Connor." Zander takes his phone out of his pocket and starts dialing.

I pick Teperance up in a bridal style position. She is heavier than she was when I first met her, which means she's eating.

I shrug it off, realizing there's a bigger issue to tend to at the moment. I rush out the door, Zander on Call closing it behind us.

I put Temperance in the back seat and sit with her. Zander is in the front seat.

I lay her down on my legs and put my hands on her wound, pressing down to stop the bleeding. By now, both of us and my car are covered in her crimson blood.

Her eyes are open. She isn't making any more noise. She looks like she isn't fully here.

"Flower?"

She is unresponsive.

"Hurry the fuck up, Zander!" I yell at him as he zooms down the road.

I gently touch her bruised face and move a piece of hair out of her face and to behind her ear.

I leave blood on her face.

"You're gonna be ok," I whisper. I don't know if I'm lying to her or not. I can only hope she will make it.

"How far are we from the house?" I ask, looking up at the highway we speed down.

"Three minutes." He replies.

I get my phone out and dial the doctor's number.

"Hel-"

"Meet me at my house as fast as you can. It's an emergency. And make sure it's you." He's lucky I didn't put a bullet in his head last time.

"Yes, sir." With this, he hangs up.

I look down at Temperance in my lap. Her eyes are empty. She is losing a lot of blood, and there is nothing I can do about it.

I place my hands on the wound again to help slow down some of the blood.

"It hurts." I hear her faint whisper. I am surprised to hear her voice. I didn't know if I lost her or not.

"I know it does. Stay with me, Temp." I beg her.

She goes back to being unresponsive. She keeps her eyes open, at least. Her breathing is shallow. Her chest barely lifting.

"HURRY THE FUCK UP, ZANDER!"

I don't know if she'd be ok. Or if she'd make it. There is one thing I know.

I know that her father and that woman did this to her.

I know that she always showed up beaten because of her father.

She was scared of everyone because of him.

If she dies, I'm going to find them and torture them to death.

If she lives, I'm going to find them and torture them to death.