Rikki brought her hand up to her stinging cheek. "I'm sorry." She said again. Terry glared at her.
"Do you think I care if you're sorry?" He asked, mockingly. Rikki shook her head in response. "Who the hell is this boy you were out with all night?"
"He-he's nobody." She stuttered out, causing her father to slap her across the face once again.
"Who is he?" He yelled.
"He's just a boy I go to school with." She tried to explained.
"I don't send you to that school so you can act like a slut." He yelled at her. Rikki felt herself begin to shake, at his anger.
"I wasn't...I, I was-" She stuttered. Terry groaned in annoyance with her stuttering.
"You weren't? You expect me to believe that?"
"He wanted me to be safe." She told him.
"Safe?" He repeated. Rikki nodded, avoiding his gaze.
"From you." She stated quietly, causing Terry to lose the remaining control he had left over his temper. He grabbed Rikki by the throat and began to choke her. Rikki gasped for air and tried to push her fathers hands off of her. Rikki could feel herself begin to lose consciousness, but before Rikki could pass out, Terry loosened his grip on her neck and threw her now weakened body at the wall behind her. Rikki screamed as her back hit the wall and she fell to the floor. She began gasping for air as Terry walked back up to her. He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her across the room into the kitchen. Rikki screamed and cried, begging him to let her go but he ignored her. Once in the kitchen he dropped Rikki back onto the floor and walked over to a drawer. Rikki watched him pull out a knife and tears streamed down her face as he walked back over to her. He crouched down and grabbed her hair again, pulling her up into a sitting position so they would be at eye level. "Please." She begged.
"This is what you want, isn't it?" He asked, pure hatred in his eyes. Rikki shook her head in response. "You wanna be away from me?" He yelled.
"I don't. I wanna stay here. Please. I'll be good. I'll do whatever you want." She begged through her tears. Sobs racked her shaking body as he ran the knife down her left arm. Blood trailed it's way down her arm and Rikki weakly tried to push him away but he just tightened his grip on her hair, causing her head to jerk back. He stopped the knife at her wrist and began to cut a deeper wound then he had cut down the rest of her arm. Rikki screamed in pain as she continued to beg him to stop. Rikki thought she heard the sound of banging, but her hearing and sight quickly began to fade and she could barely hear the sound of her own screams anymore. She could feel the knife leave her wrist and her fathers grip on her loosen as everything went completely black.
Rikki slowly opened her eyes to find herself no longer on her kitchen floor. She looked around and realized she was lying in a hospital bed. She attempted to sit up but felt too weak to even move her arms. She noticed the remote attached to her bed and reached over for it. She clicked a button to call for a nurse, and within seconds her nurse was walking into her room.
"You're awake." The nurse noted, happily. Rikki stared at her confused.
"What am I doing here?" She asked, wondering why she wasn't dead right now.
"You're hurt." The nurse said, pointing to Rikki's arm. Her arm was covered in bandages, practically resembling a cast. "Your friend called an ambulance." She told her.
"Friend?" She asked even more confused. The nurse nodded and walked over to the door. She opened it and asked somebody to come in. Rikki was surprised to see Zane walk into the room. The nurse walked out, giving the two some privacy.
"How are you feeling?" Zane asked, sitting down on the chair at the side of her bed.
"Weak." She told him. "What happened?" She tried to sit up again. Noticing her struggling to sit up Zane helped her.
"You don't remember?" He asked once she was sitting up comfortably.
"I remember my dad cutting me, and then I guess I passed out." Rikki told him. "I should be dead." She stated. Zane could hear the fear in her voice as she said that.
"You nearly were." He told her. "I got there in time to stop him."
"How did you know where I lived?"
"I didn't. I figured you lived by the beach I ran into you on. The closest place to it was the trailer park so I started there." He began to explain. "I heard you screaming." He stated, trying to make a long story short. Rikki nodded, trying to absorb everything that's happened.
"Where is he?" She asked, sounding scared.
"I'm not sure." Zane told her. "He took off when he realized I had called the cops. I don't think they found him."
"You called the cops?" Rikki asked nervously. "You shouldn't have done that, he's gonna kill you." She told him, panicking.
"He's not going to kill me." Zane assured her, trying to calm her down.
"Yes he is! Look what he did to me and I'm his daughter."
"Why did you go back?" Zane asked, slightly changing the subject.
"I had to." She told him.
"You didn't have to."
"Yes I did. He called me, and he was saying all these mean things about me. I just wanted him to stop so I told him I'd come home." She said. Zane sighed, trying to understand why she would go back there.
"He was just trying to get to you, Rikki. He was manipulating you." Zane told her. Rikki's eyes filled up with tears.
"I know."
"Do you? Because you can't keep letting him do this." Rikki nodded in understanding.
"I won't." She agreed.
To be continued...
See? I got this chapter up faster this time! I'm trying =). Nobody have a heart attack ;). Review please =)
