I walked up the driveway quickly, hoping to slip past my father. Unfortunately, I didn't.

I seemed to get beat every time I walked in the door or tried to talk to him. It's increased a lot in the past couple of months-ever since I asked him if I could be put up for adoption (because Mr. Hayes and I were really close). I even got beat more than once a day sometimes.

"Cody, come here." Dad was working on his truck.

I walked toward him hesitantly, noticing the beer bottles on the ground and the half-filled one next to him on the concrete.

When I was in front of him, he squeezed my chin, looking at my eye. "Who did this?"

"Nobody." I shoved his hand away.

He chuckled. "You want me to show you what you do when someone bullies you?" Without giving me time to answer, he punched my cheek hard, causing me to fall onto the ground.

I quickly stood, held my cheek, and walked into the house.

"Hey! Don't you walk away from me!" He came after me with his beer in hand. "Get back here!"

I went toward my room, but was cut short when something hit my head. I suddenly fell to the floor. My vision went black.

I opened my eyes to find a shattered beer bottle next to me. My head was hurting. I forced myself onto my feet. It wasn't until then that I noticed that someone was knocking on the door. I hurried toward it, then opened it to see Mr. Hayes.

"Hey, Cody."

"Hey."

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah." I stepped outside and closed the door behind me, then followed him to his car. I got inside, sitting on the passenger's seat while he got in the driver's seat.

He strapped himself in, then noticed that I wasn't doing the same. Kindly, he said, "Buckle up."

I did as I was told, then relaxed myself in my seat.

Mr. Hayes had taken me to Applebee's. We sat in a booth, eating our food.

He broke the silence. "So what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your cheek?"

I hadn't realized that I had a large bruise on my left cheek from where my father had punched me. I quickly thought of an excuse. "I just wanted to tell them bye."

"Cody, why do you go there if they hit you?"

"It's just one of them that doesn't like me. But I'm leaving a really good friend there. I had to see him one more time and let him know why I wasn't going to be around anymore."

"So that's it? Your not going back anymore?"

"That's it."

"Good."

"So have you heard from the adoption agency anymore?"

"They said in just a couple more days you should be able to move in. So you can go ahead and start getting your things packed."

That got me excited. "Okay."

A waitress came with the bill and set it onto the table before stepping away.

I glanced at it before Mr. Hayes picked it up. I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket and took out the money for the cost of my food.

The man noticed this. "That's okay, Cody. I got it."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." He pulled out his wallet and got the money out, then left a tip for the waitress.

"Thanks for taking me to dinner."

"You're welcome. See you tomorrow, Cody."

"Bye." I got out of the car and crossed the yard, then went inside, where my father was waiting for me, drunk and angry.

"Where the f*ck have you been?"

"I was with Mr. Hayes."

"You know that you're supposed to tell me before you leave this house! What the h*ll were you thinking?"

"I didn't think that you cared 'cause you sure have a funny way of showing it!" I blurted.

He stood and quickly unbuckled his belt, then removed it.

"Dad, that didn't come out right. I didn't mean it."

He came toward me, then slung the belt, hitting my shoulder with the buckle. I winced, tensing up. I had to get out of this.

I thought quickly in my head. Dad was drunk. Maybe I could slip past him and lock myself in my room.

I took this chance and broke into a run toward my room. My father stuck his arm out, trying to grab me, but couldn't since his coordination was off in his drunken state. I went into my room and slammed and locked the door behind me, sighing with relief.

It wasn't long before my father started yelling and banging his fists on the other side of the door. "Let me in, Cody! Now!"

I just took a seat on the edge of the bed, staring at the door.

"Now, Cody! Open this f*cking door!" He started ramming it, which worried me.

I slowly got onto my feet and swallowed, tensed.

A few more curses and minutes later, the door swung open, and my dad stood there. I could only look at him and try to hide my fear. He angrily hit me with his belt.

My beating was ten times more painful than it would've been if I would've just let him do it the first time.