Axel hasn't said a word about my Dad beating me with the belt all week, and I guess I'm grateful for that, but things feel different now, worse. He won't talk to me, and he's smoking more. I try over and over to get him to talk, but he just shakes his head at me and walks away. I don't know why things are like this now, I thought they'd be better, but I guess I was wrong.

I catch Axel at lunch, "Wait."

He turns to me and grins that familiar grin that gets my heart racing. I ignore that and glare at him, "Why are you ignoring me?"

His smile drops, "I'm not."

"You are," I reply, crossing my arms, "And I want to know why, right now."

"I.. Roxas, you have to understand the position you've put me in," he frowns, turning to me fully.

"And what might that be?" I ask.

He frowns, speaking softly, "About your home situation.. You made me promise not to say anything, and I've kept that promise. But I'm worried about you."

I shake my head, "Don't be."

He looks away from me, "What if...?"

I lean forward lightly, "Yeah..?"

"What if he kills you?" he asks softly, I almost don't hear him.

I frown, remembering Ventus. I shake my head, "He won't."

"How do you know that?" he asks.

I shake my head again, "I just do. You have to believe me. I'll be fine."

He sighs, crossing his arms, "fine. I believe you.. Let's.. Just get some lunch, okay?"

I nod, smiling lightly, and he grins again, "Good, 'cause I'm starving!"

That grin gets my heart racing again and I ignore it as I follow him to the lunch line. I know this won't be the end of this conversation, but I'm glad for a little breather in-between. After we get our lunch, Axel and I sit at our old table, with Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Olette smiles and waves at me and I wave back, sitting across from her. Pence just smiles and Hayner tries to put me into their conversation.

I try my best to keep up, but my mind is elsewhere. I look around as Axel keeps my friends, our friends, occupied in a conversation I'm not listening to. I don't know what I'm looking for until I catch eyes with Namine again. She glances my way and smiles lightly, waving slightly. I wave back and she quickly turns back to Seifer when he says something to her. I frown and turn back to my friends.

I try to listen to their conversation, but I just can't tune myself in. So I just settle for eating my food and barely listening. I rub my left arm absently, frowning. Why is it so itchy? I rub it a little harder, trying to get rid of the itch. I glare down at my arm, openly scratching it beneath the white long sleeved shirt sleeve. I hiss lightly when my scratching breaks one of the scabs on my cuts and it bleeds.

Olette's the first to see and she gasps, "Roxas?"

Now all the eyes of my friends settle on me. I don't make eye contact, "Yeah..?"

Axel grabs my arm, pulling the sleeve up. I hiss in pain again and yank my arm away, "Stop."

I pull the sleeve down just as the first half of the three cuts are shown, the middle one bleeding. No one says anything, but they're all staring at me. I grab my tray and stand, "I'm going to the library."

I leave before they can stop me. I dump my tray and quickly leave the cafeteria. I cringe and make my way down the empty hall, heading for the boy's room so I can stop the bleeding. How could I be so stupid? Now they know I'm cutting! I get in there and yank my sleeve up. I grab some paper towels and press them against my slit skin and groan, How could I be so stupid?

The bleeding stops and I frown at my sleeve, "Well, this will get unwanted attention. There's a line of blotchy blood on my white sleeve. I'm an idiot."

I quickly head to my locker and grab my sweater out of it. I force the jacket on quickly, grabbing my back pack from the bottom of my locker. Skipping the last three periods won't be that bad for me, I'll catch up quickly. I look around to make sure no one sees me, and I run out the front door while the school secretary isn't at her desk. Once outside, I head home, going anywhere else would be stupid.

When I get home, two cars are in the driveway. I frown, recognizing Dad's only. I roll my eyes, Another person who's going to pay to hurt me. I'm not going in. I turn around and just as I'm about to bolt from the yard, the front door slams open. I cringe as my dad calls me to come in. I turn slightly, glaring at him, "No."

"Get in here, boy," he growls.

"No," I reply, "You're just going to let someone hurt me again. I'm not going in there so I can get raped again."

Dad looks extremely angry and when he comes at me I turn and run as fast as I can from the yard. He's faster than I expect and he grabs the hood of my jacket and he literally drags me back towards the house. He drags me into the living room then slams the door shut. I groan softly and sit up, glaring at him. He glares back at me, "You do what I tell you, boy."

I hear snickering behind me, and surprise, surprise, the same man from the other three times, is behind me. I glare at him and he just grins at me. I look away from him and glare again at my father. He leans against the door, arms crossed, glaring back at me. He stares at me with cruel indifference. I glare back with hatred, because that's all I feel for him. Hatred. He doesn't love me. He just wants to hurt me.

"Why do you do this to me?" I ask.