Burning Happiness
"You can bend it and twist it... You can misuse and abuse it... But even God cannot change the Truth."
― Michael Levy
Chapter 8: The Truth is Feared the Most….
Last time on Burning Happiness:
As soon as my dad stepped into my room he slapped me hard in the face. I winced at the pain, and I'm pretty sure Brandon heard it.
"You stupid bitch! Now you're out stealing cars" he said as he punched me. "I should've let your mom keep your ass considering you both are criminals" he then punched me again.
By the time he punched me for the third time, I heard my closet door open.
Oh Shit
5 minutes earlier….
Brandon's point of view:
I felt a gentle nudge, indicating it was time for me to get up.
"10 more minutes mom" I mumbled, expecting to hear my mom go off on another rage about how lazy I am at such a young age. Instead I heard the sweet voice, of my sunshine.
"Brandon you have to wake up. And I'm not you mom" she whispered into my ear, but there was an edge to her voice. Almost as if she was scared.
"Huh" I managed to say as my eyes began to flutter. "Stella why are we whispering?" I asked once I was fully aware of my surroundings. And she began to sit me up.
"I'll tell you later, right now you have to go my dad's home." She said tugging on my arms, forcing me to stand up. I looked down at her smiling.
"What, really? I want to see him." I stated as I started to approach her door. I haven't seen the man for at least 4 years, and I wondered what he looked like or if he remembered me. But all of my wondering quickly ended as Stella quickly blocked my exit. When I looked down at her face all I saw was pure terror.
"No,no,no,no, ." She said in one breath, as sloppy footsteps began to approach us. "He's coming, if he sees us like this he'll think we slept together. You have to hide in the closet, and promise me you won't come out." She said with pleading eyes. She looked like she was going to hyperventilate, as she continued. "I promise it'll only be a couple minutes, and then I'll sneak you out" at this point I felt like I was going deft, because I couldn't hear a word that was coming out of her mouth. But what I could hear was the unbelievable amount of fear that was dripping in between each letter of her words. She was scared and I couldn't understand why. It was driving me out of my mind.
I finally shook my head as I gave her one last peck, and headed for her closet. As soon as I closed the door I heard her room door open, and soon after I heard a loud bang. Almost as if someone had fallen, crazy right?
Then I heard yelling, loud slurred yelling. I couldn't make out the exact words, but I knew half of which were profanity. That was followed by another loud bang. Stop Brandon, you're just being paranoid. But that thought was quickly cancelled when I heard another loud bang.
At that point I didn't care for whatever promise I made to her about staying in the closet, it didn't matter. It wasn't as significant to the one I made to myself the day I first saw her smile. Always protect that smile no matter what. It was the day she turned into my Sunshine.
Rage.
Anger.
Pissoffisim, okay that one's not a word, but I still felt it.
Those were the emotions I felt when I opened Stella's closet door, and took in the scene in front of me. Stella was on the floor, shielding her beautiful face with her arms, as her father towered over her repeatedly sending powerful punches at them.
I heard a horrific scream from Stella, and before I even realized it, my fist had collided with her dad's face. He fell back faster than a bag of bricks. He didn't have time to get up, because I was already on top of him punching him like there was no tomorrow.
I couldn't hear Stella's frantic cries to stop. All I could hear was a 12 year old Stella begging her father to stop hitting her. I couldn't see that Stella's dad stop responding to my punches. All I could see was a 14 year old Stella with a bruised eye telling the class how she fell off her bike. Why haven't I noticed until now? How could she still manage to be so happy?
All the thoughts that were going through my mind came to an abrupt stop, as I felt the soft touch of my sunshine. And just like that my vision and hearing suddenly came back, as I looked into her eyes.
"Brandon" she sniffled as tears streamed down her face. "Stop" then more and more tears flowed from her beautiful hazel eyes, "Please". She added, and as soon as another set of tears came she was in my arms.
Stella's point of view:
My crying increased rapidly, when Brandon wrapped his arms around me. This wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to find out, at least not this way. I looked at his face to see that he had shed a tear or two.
"I'm sorry" he whispered into my ears. "I'm so sorry" then instantly I broke out into another round of tears.
I broke apart from his embrace to give him a soft kiss. I was hoping my kiss would speak for the words I couldn't form. It's okay.
"Stella" he said once he broke our kiss. "What are we going to do?"
I quickly shook my head. "We aren't going to do anything. You're going to put him into bed, and go home. He's drunk and once he wakes up he'll think his pain is just a hangover. I'll put some pain killers, and a glass of water on his dresser, then I'm going to bed." I explained to him, praying he'll understand my logic.
I'm guessing he didn't understand it at all. Because he looked at me like I was crazy, before standing up from our comfy spot on the floor.
"Hell no, Stella! You must be out of your mind if you think I'm leaving you here with this man. Come on we're going to the police station." He stated as he began tugging my hands, forcing me to stand up. He did not just say that!
I quickly yanked my hands from his grip, before placing them on the rightful place of my hips.
"For what, Brandon? So they can ship me to their nearest clinic? Or better yet an orphanage! Is that what you want? To never see me again?" I said, as tears began to make their way back up to my eyes. God, I'm so tired of crying.
His face softened as he looked into my eyes, and placed a piece of my blonde hair behind my ear. "I don't want any of those things, and you know that." He whispered. "But I don't want to leave here either" he added, as he whipped a tear from my face with his thumb.
"You're not leaving me. I'm fine, okay" I said trying assure him, as I looked at his guilty face. "And before you even think it's not your fault. You did not disappoint me."
He smiled at me. "How do you always do that? How do you always read my mind?" he asked as his smile got a little brighter, when I laughed.
"I don't have to. You always where you emotions on your sleeve" he chuckled as hugged me again. "Now hurry and put my dad in bed, before he wakes up and realizes that you beat his ass."
He rolled his eyes and threw my dad over his shoulders effortlessly. I almost forgot how strong he was.
…
Once we finally got my dad settled into bed, it took me another hour to get Brandon out the door.
I finally got in bed around mid-night, but it didn't do me any good considering I cried myself to sleep. My life officially sucked, and this time I couldn't call Flora, I can't risk another person knowing my secret.
ATTENTION ALL READERS!Before you guys start to think that Brandon is some crazy guy who just almost killed Stella's dad, you should that he did what any normal boyfriend would do if the saw some dude beating on their girlfriend. Regardless if it's her dad or not! So please don't think Brandon is crazy and over protective! Plus her dad was drunk so technically he didn't beat him unconscious, the alcohol did have a huge part in it. So DON'T HATE BRANDON!
A/N: Omg poor Stella :( sorry but he had to find out sooner or later. Not feeling so great about this chapter, so I'm sorry if it sucks I wasn't feeling good when I typed it. Reviewer of the week is cheekymonkey2106 AKA Popstar Lily. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, You Rock! :) review and tell me your thoughts :).
Ps. Yay over 50 reviews!
