Disclaimer: what do you think? Of course I don't own RENT!

A/N: and here, my friends, is Part 3! It was hard to write this part, since I had something totally different planned for this "scene," but thought this was more dramatic. Again, italicsbackground but still being told to them. don't worry, this is the last part of chapter 8.

Chapter 8: Here Goes Part 3

"So that's why you ran away?" Maureen asked.

"Actually no," I replied. "Not until…."

Because Brad was hurting me whenever I was home, i tried to spend as much time as I could away from home. This particular day, I spent it at the mall with Luke.
Later that night I came home to see Brad, watching TV in the "living room."

"Hey! Where the f-ck have you been?!?" he yelled at me, eyes glazed over signaling he was drunk or high or both.

"At my friend's house, I told you before I left!" I told him.

"Oh, right," he said. "At what's his face's house. Does mommy's little girl have a boyfriend?" tears came to my eyes when he mentioned my mother, who had died last year from his abuse. "Is mommy's little girl sleeping with this boyfriend? You spend enough time with him. Is mommy's little girl a whore?"

I went to punch him but he grabbed my wrist.

"Answer me you little bitch!"

He punched my jaw with his other hand when I didn't respond.

"No, he's not my boyfriend and I'm not a whore!"

Brad slapped my face and pushed me across the room, causing me to land on the floor and hit my head on the fridge.

"Liar!" he ran over to me but I ducked away just in time so he wouldn't catch me. He crashed into the fridge as I ran into my sorry excuse for a bedroom.

In this moment I realized I couldn't do this anymore-constantly being abused, lying to my friends, hiding my bruises with make-up, taking myself down to the free clinic, lying to them about my injuries, and coming back here to do it all over again.

I hurriedly packed a few of my things in my old, worn backpack, planning to go out the fire escape that was just out the window of my room.

"Where do you think you're going?" Brad said as he entered my room. Then he grabbed my arm and dragged me into the other room.

He slammed me against the wall and punched me in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me for at least a minute.

"Trying to leave, huh?" He slammed against the wall again, by now my nose was bleeding and I tasted blood in my mouth. I was sure I had bruises forming on my face and stomach too.

"Well that's not happening!" he said in an evil whisper. He held my hands above my head against the wall, to keep me from escaping.

"You're a sick bastard," I said, spitting in his face, causing him to slam me against the wall again after he wiped his face with his sleeve.

"You're gonna pay for that missy," he said as he grabbed my hair and slammed my head against the wall, hard, causing me to slowly drift away into unconsciousness as I slid to the floor.

When I opened my eyes, my head was pounding with pain. I looked around. I saw IV tubes in my hand and a sticker with a red light attached to my finger. I was in a Looney Toons covered gown. When my vision became clear I looked up and saw Luke standing in the doorway, flowers in his hand.

"Hey," I said with an attempt at a smile, even though I knew I had bruises on my face and arms.

"Hey yourself," he said, setting the flowers down on the bedside table and pulling a chair over to the bed.

"What happened?" I asked, rubbing my forehead.

"One of your neighbors heard shouting coming from your apartment and called the cops. When they got there, they found you passed out in the kitchen," Luke told me. the events of the night before came flooding back to me.

We sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Luke asked, not making eye contact with me, it looked like he was on the verge of crying.

I sat there silently, feeling like a little kid who'd just gotten in trouble.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he said a little louder, stronger.

"I don't know," I said weakly.

"Why the hell not? He was hurting you, Kaila, hurting you again and again and you didn't do anything to stop it."

"Again I don't know why I didn't do anything! I was scared ok? I figured I could make through high school, and leave here, get away from him, far away. I didn't want some big mess. I didn't want to have to be passed to a different home! You and I sure as hell know what that's like. I didn't want to have to go through that again," I said. He nodded in response.

At that moment the doctor entered with a clipboard.

"Hello Kaila, glad to see you're awake. I'm Dr.Gonzalez," she began. I shifted uncomfortably on the bed. "We did an X-ray and you have two bruised ribs, which isn't too serious, but can be quite painful, so we're gonna get you set on some pain medication. Fortunately, that's as serious as your injuries get. You're a very lucky girl Kaila."

And with that she left.

"Lucky, yeah, right, this is what you call lucky," I said sarcastically.

"Well, she was right, it could've been a lot worse-," Luke began.

"Yeah, and I could've died. He could've beaten me to death, just like he did to my mom." This was the first time I told Luke the real reason she died, before I just told him she was in a car accident.

"Well he didn't do that to you. You're gonna be okay."

A few days later I found out that they had caught Brad and had him in custody down at the police station. When I got out of the hospital I was to go I.D. him and go to court to serve as a witness against him to send him to prison.

I stayed in the hospital for a week longer before I was allowed to be discharged. Since I couldn't check myself out of the hospital since I was still a minor and i had no where else to go at the moment, my Aunt Abbey had to come down from Somerville to pick me up and take me back to her house.

When we arrived at her house, I was greeted by my two and a half year old cousin, Hannah.

"Kay, Kay!" she squealed from my Uncle James's arms. He put her down and took my backpack from Aunt Abbey. Hannah came up to me and I kneeled down to hug her.

"Hey Hannah," I said in as happy of a voice as I could, which wasn't much.

"Kay sad?"

"Yeah, Kay's a little sad right now," I replied, picking her up.

"Kay needs ice-ceam. Ice-ceam always makes me happy."

"I don't know if ice cream can make me happy , but it will surely make me feel better right now," I said to her.

I got settled into the guest bedroom later that night after dinner. It was a lot nicer than the old bedroom I knew. Pictures by famous photographers were hung on the light green walls. The full size bed was neatly made with a white comforter. The room also connected to its own bathroom, which was equally fancy.

As much as I knew I would be best off staying here, I couldn't. Everytime I closed my eyes I saw Brad's face. I couldn't stay where I was constantly reminded of what happened to me. I had to leave, even though I knew how much it would hurt those who cared about me. But I knew I would be in more pain if I stayed here.

I took out my notebook and a pen from my backpack.

Dear Everyone,

I'm sorry, but I can't stay here. I can't stay here and expect to recover from what happened to me. Please understand that. That whatever I do, I can't escape it. Not here. I need to at least try to forget, but as long as I stay here, it's all I can think about. Please don't worry, and don't be sad. Be happy in the fact that I am trying to find happiness for myself. Tell Luke I'm sorry. When I'm ready to talk, I'll call.

XOXO

Kaila

I placed the note on my pillow, and left.

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