Closing yourself off from the rest of the world

Locking yourself in your mind

The memories haunt you

They linger behind your footsteps

Stalking you

The past is tapping you on the shoulders

But don't look back.

The night that everything changed

The moment when his fist struck out

And you crumpled to the floor

The night when you decided that home-

Your safe place

The place where you're loved most-

Wasn't home anymore.

I woke up and Zach's hand was still holding mine, our breaths mixing together, our noses almost touching. I just laid there and stared at the shadows his eyelashes were casting upon his cheekbones, and drank in the protected feeling he gave me.

I breathed in the scent of him, knowing that just his smell gave me comfort.

It felt good that someone else knew the secret now. It felt like a weight was lifted off of my heart, finally letting me breath a little.

For the first time in five years, I felt...loved.

I felt loved and protected and warm.

But that all ended too quickly when I heard the front door slam shut, and footsteps on the stairs.

Shit. My father was home. I quickly sat up, my head still a little foggy. I gently removed my hand from his, and his breathing faltered for a second. I froze. It went back to normal, and I started hiding him. I quickly covered Zach with blankets and pretended the bumps were pillows, and got my textbooks and scattered them around his body so it looked like I had been studying. I added pencils – anything to distract my father from the sleeping boy in my bed.

"Whatever you do, please don't wake up." I whispered.

My bedroom door flung open, and I flinched and spun around. My heart was pounding and my palms started sweating – just like they always did when I was around my father.

He was drunk.

That made it even worse.

He reeked of alcohol and his clothes were all wrinkled. It was disgusting.

He slurred some unintelligible words and stumbled, catching himself on my desk. I just stood there, watching him. Suddenly, my phone went off, its ring shrill and loud.

I jumped about five feet in the air and picked up my phone, planning to ignore the call.

Suddenly, it was slapped out of my hands and a fist connected with my face.

"Don't answer the phone when I'm trying to talk to you, girl." My father growled.

"I was going to ignore the call!" I protested, on the floor now.

Big mistake.

"Don't-talk-back-to-me!" He grunted, kicking my wounds back open.

Zach's POV

I woke up underneath pillows and blankets, and I could barely breathe. I heard whimpers and a deep voice, and loud thumps.

Still half-asleep, I tried to remember the contents of my dream. I couldn't remember anything, except a beautiful voice whispering, "Whatever you do, please don't wake up."

I woke up. I thought in my mind. I woke up to the cruel world that I live in – I'm not in dreamland anymore. Suddenly, all of the memories started rushing back into my head.

Finding Cammie half-dead on the bathroom floor, bloody and crying.

Picking her up and carrying her to her room. She was so light I probably could have carried her for hours without getting tired. Note to self: Get her to eat more.

Realizing her dad had done this to her, and after she fell asleep I re-bandaged her wounds and wrapped her in my arms and fell asleep with her.

My eyes flew open, and I quickly sat up just as I heard a door slam. I whipped the blanket off my face, and was surprised at the textbooks and pencils scattered around me.

I saw Cammie on the floor, and realization dawned on me.

Those thumps and whimpers...

Why did I not come to my senses earlier?

My blood boiled and I clenched my fists, working my jaw.

I am such an idiot.

I promised her I would protect her, and look. Only a couple hours later and I sleep through her beating. I was so angry at myself I wanted to hit something.

But instead I just came over to Cammie and took her in my arms, rocking her back and forth and checking her body for her new injuries.

"I'm so sorry." My voice broke as I ran my hands over her new cuts and bruises, tears threatening to spill out of my eyes.

Do you ever have those moments where something so horrible is happening, and you feel like you're not really there? Like you're an onlooker who just...speculates. Like this isn't happening to you, because shit like this only happened in movies and books.

"Don't be sorry. Please don't be sorry. It's not your fault." She opened her eyes, looking into mine.

My best friend was a victim of abuse.

My best friend was a victim of abuse.

I couldn't help it. Tears spilled down my cheeks and I bit my lip, hard.

"Don't cry." Cammie said as tears started flowing out of her eyes, too. She brought her hands up and wiped the salty tears off my cheeks.

I just shook my head and put her down, letting her lean against my shoulder. It was a disgustingly bright day, sunlight bursting through the windows.

I wanted it to rain.

I wanted the weather and everything else in the world to feel the same pain as Cammie. I wanted everyone to know what she was going through.

She shouldn't have to go through with it alone.

But she wasn't alone. She had me.

And I swear: As of right now, I will do everything in my power to protect this girl.

I silently got up and got the first aid kit again, and bandaged her new cuts.

"How do you do it?" I asked, wrapping up her legs.

"Do what?" Cammie replied, leaning against the wall, closing her eyes, legs in my lap.

"How are you so strong? On the outside, you smile and laugh as if nothing's wrong. But everything's wrong. Nothing in your world is going good." I crinkled my eyebrows together.

She smiled sarcastically. "You know what they say. Hide your problems behind a smile."

"You shouldn't have to. Hide your problems, I mean." I played with the edge of her pants, her legs still in my lap. I had finished treating her wounds, and we were lounging in her room. Her father had gone out somewhere to do who knows what.

Once the front door slammed closed, Cammie had audibly taken a sigh of relief, and she had stopped shaking. We were on the bed now, which was pushed into a corner. She was leaning against one wall and I was leaning against the one to the left of it.

"Whatever. Let's stop talking about it, please." She begged. I smiled.

"Alright. What do you want to do?"

"Let's watch a movie!" Cammie brightened, getting out her laptop. I got out her favorite movie and popped the CD into her laptop, and Cammie shut the blinds so the room was dark. We snuggled up together under blankets and watched the movie.

It was hilarious – and Cammie laughed so hard I couldn't help but laugh just because she was.

"I really do care about you, Cam."

"I know." Cammie smiled teasingly back. I smirked.

"When are you going to tell the others?" I questioned.

Cammie's answer was quick and sharp. "Never."

She looked at me, her blue eyes demanding. "You won't tell them, will you?"

"Why won't you tell them?"

"It'll just change everything. I want things in my life to stay the same. As normal as possible. Promise you won't tell." She held out her pinky. I grinned at her childish ways.

I hooked pinkies with her anyways, and muttered out a promise. We connected pinkies, then pressed our thumbs together, and twirled our hands around to make a heart.

We laughed at the silly tradition we did since we were little.

"You should probably get going." Cammie sighed. I frowned.

"I want to stay."

"You don't have to. Go home and shower, and stuff. I'll see you tomorrow."

"But what if your dad tries to...?"

"He usually calms down after a while. It's okay, Zach. Really." Cammie smiled reassuringly, and it was a genuine smile.

"Alright. Call me if you need anything. Really."

"Will do!" Cammie waved at me, and I walked out of her house. I heard her door click shut.

Little did I know that as soon I turned my back on her, my best friend dropped her fake smile and the tears that had hidden themselves for so long started escaping.

Depressing? I'm sorry. ]: This probably isn't going to be a very happy story...but it'll have a happy ending! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed and wished my friend and I good. You guys seriously made me a lot happier.

Thank you.

Oh, and did you guys like the poem in the beginning? I wrote it myself. I'm proud of it.[:

I really love writing poems, so there will probably be a lot of poems in this and my other fanfictions as well. It's a new-found passion, ahha.

Anyways, thanks for reading.