Ch. 4


It is now 5:15 am. Today will be a sunny cloudless day. With a high of…

Hiss!

I opened my eyes to see Crookshanks swatting my digital alarm clock. I rose slowly, yawning as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I turned off the alarm and scratched Crookshanks between the ears before I stood up. Heading off to the bathroom, I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth. Seeing that it was still early, I changed back into my pajamas.

Arriving at the kitchen, I realized two things then 1) My parents weren't home yet and 2) There was still nothing to eat. I groaned at the latter realization as I stood before the opened refrigerator. I am not going to touch that! Five minutes later I was sitting down by the counter eating cold pizza. I went to my parent's bedroom to see if they had at least left a note, but when I opened the door, I was surprised. All of my mother's belongings were gone, her clothes, jewelry, scrapbooks, everything. Some of my dad's belongings were also missing, but the majority was still there. The suitcases were all missing as well.

Sighing, I went to the telephone.

" 'lo?" a groggy voice answered after the sixth ring.

"Tony, hey."

"Hermione? Its…5:48 in the morning, why are you calling this early?"

"Tony, can I come over?" I managed to ask without crying, yet I could hear my voice quivering.

Silence.

"Yea."

" 'k."

Hanging up, I changed into a light blue long sleeve sweater and khaki pants. Slipping on my white tennis shoes, I headed over to Tony's house with Crookshanks at my wake. Less than ten minutes later I stood outside his door. He opened it as I reached to ring the bell. He ushered me in after hugging me.

"So, you hungry?"

I grinned. As he prepared breakfast for us, I told him about my unfortunate luck the night before and that morning with food. As could be expected, he laughed at me.

"I had a peculiar dream last night," I said as we were eating.

"Oh, what was it about?" he asked genuinely curious.

"Hmm…" I frowned, " I can't remember the specifics, just that it was odd."

He chuckled as he lightly pushed me. We finished our meal in silence, enjoying each other's company.

"What happened?" he asked quietly as I washed the dishes.

Inwardly I groaned, but what else was I to expect?

"They weren't home."

"When did they leave?"

"Who know," I said shrugging my shoulders, "Days, weeks, maybe months ago."

"Wait, then how did you get home yesterday?"

"I waited at the station for nearly two hours before calling a cab," I responded, drying the dishes.

"Why don't you stay here with me?"

"No, I don't want to impose, besides I've got things to do."

He looked at me for a while before finally acquiescing.

"You know you are always welcome here, right?"

I nodded.

"Good," he said placing an arm around me, "Be back."

He headed upstairs, and before I could ask what he was up to, I heard the shower running. While he showered, I helped clean the house. It was while cleaning his art supplies, that I accidentally spilled green paint on my sweater. Damnit! I knocked on the bathroom door and told him I was going to borrow a shirt. In his room, I found a small black polo shirt with a small Western style dragon over the left breast pocket. When he emerged, dressed in baggy blue jeans and a white muscle shirt, I modeled for him.

"What are you doing with a small polo shirt?" I asked him.

"That isn't mine."

"Oh."

"You can have it if you want it. Besides, I don't think I'd fit in it."

"Thank you. You know, I should head back, it's getting late."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, "its barely 8:00!"

I shrugged my shoulders in apology. I called Crookshanks but he couldn't be found. Sighing, I grabbed my stained sweater.

"Leave the sweater."

"Why?"

"I'm doing my laundry today. You can pick it up later today or tomorrow."

"Thanks!"

Tony walked me to the door, and gave me a kiss on my forehead as I left. I saw a silver Audi drive by but thought nothing of it. By the time I arrived home, it was 8:20 according to my wristwatch. As soon as I opened the door, a strong hand pulled me in and closed the door. I winced as the grip on my arm increased. The hand belonged to my father.

"Dad!" I exclaimed in both surprise and pain.

"Shut up."

He dragged me to the den and pushed me inside. He turned around to lock the door.

"Where were you and mom?" I asked rubbing my arm.

"I had to go to a convention, you mom is away."

"Oh."

"Now, where were you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"Tell me, did you ditch school and come back early so that you could screw around with that boy?" he asked in low, but menacing tone.

"No," I replied, shaking me head, "I arrived yesterday at the station along with everyone else."

"Don't lie to me," he said approaching me.

"But it's the tru-"

I was nearly sent to the floor with the backslap he gave me.

"I told you not to lie to me," he replied calmly, the anger evident in his eyes, " I saw you leaving his house just now."

"I went to go see him this morning," I answered, holding a hand to my face.

"This early in the morning?" he asked, "What? Do you think I was born yesterday? Do you think me so-"

"Dad, no I-"

I was sent crashing into the bookcase as the result of another slap.

"You know I hate to be interrupted," he said coldly, " I know you spent the night at his house, doing God knows what."

Tears threatened to spill, but I forced them back. I shook my head to his accusations. He narrowed his eyes at me.

"No?"

I shook my head, not trusting my voice.

"So, you're calling me a liar, are you?"

My eyes widened in fear as he drew near. I grabbed a thick book and hurled it at him, hitting him in the chest. He looked down at where the book hit him and then at me.

"You'll pay for that."

What happened next was a blur. He threw me against the bookcase before I could escape and promptly began to hit me with the book I'd thrown at him. When he tired of that, he began to kick me. My father's attacks were too powerful, and all I could do was curl myself into a ball while he inflicted his damage. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally ceased his blows. I barely heard him walk away and unlock the door.

"I expect this place to be cleaned by the end of the hour, and that after this incident, you'll remember never to contradict me," he said, "Tell no one, or else I won't be so lenient next time.

I groaned as I managed to stand upon shaky legs. I leaned on the bookcase and touched the back of my head; I felt something warm. Blood. I tasted something metallic in my mouth, putting my fingers to it, I found more blood. I fought my feelings of nausea and dizziness as I began to clean up the mess my father had created. Somehow, afterwards, I managed to drag myself to my bedroom, where upon entering, I barely made it to my bed before passing out.

It read 10:32 p.m. on my alarm clock when I opened my eyes. I tried to sit up, but ended up crying in pain as I did. I could taste blood in my mouth and in doing so I remembered what happened. Gritting my teeth, I stood up. Taking slow and labored steps, I exited my room and then the house. Stepping outside to the cool night air, I noticed that my dad's car was not in the driveway, and began to walk. It took me almost half an hour to get to Tony's house. My arm felt as if it were attached to a hippogriff as I raised it to ring the doorbell. After what seemed like hours, I heard footsteps approaching the door. The unlocking of locks and opening of the door seemed like music to my ears.

"Hey, surprise!" I said giddily, not noticing it was a girl. I made my way inside and sat gingerly on the couch.

"What's going on?" I heard Tony ask.

"Don't know. I opened the door and found your friend standing outside," a female voice responded, "she just came in. She looks a mess."

I heard Tony approach me and upon seeing his startled face. I smiled.

"Hey you," I slurred.

"Hermione?" he gasped, "What the hell happened to you?"

"The hell…" he responded, " Eliza, call the doctor and tell them…"

"No!" I cried sitting up straight, before gasping out in pain and leaning back. As I did, I started coughing. Coughing out blood.

"What happened to you?" Eliza asked.

I shook me head slightly, looking down at the floor.

"It was your father, wasn't it?" Tony asked coldly.

I said nothing, avoiding eye contact with either of them.

"The bastard!" he exclaimed, "I'm calling the fuzz."

"Fine, you do that while I help clean her wounds," replied Eliza.

The next thing I knew, the police were there, asking questions. I then found myself on a stretcher and sent to the hospital. During the ambulance ride, I finally succumbed to the darkness that had been threatening to envelop me since I had woken up.

Once I came to, it was morning. I was lying in a hospital bed and my wounds were all dressed. My left arm was in a sling, my head was wrapped and I could feel my chest bound tightly. I let out a groan.

"Ah, I see you are finally awake," a strange voice said.

"Whose there? Show yourself!"

"Oh, a feisty one, eh?" said a young looking doctor, "Relax, I'm Dr. Scott. You're here at -"

"Right, when can I leave?"

"I have to run a few tests," he replied chuckling as he approached my bed. Sitting up it, he reached over to pat my hand, but I yanked it back.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"No, it is all right. Now," he said removing a pen light from his coat, "look at the light."

After the tests were run, I was released from intensive care and moved to a different ward that day. I learned from Dr. Scott that my ulna was broken in three places; I had a fracture in my humerous; five ribs were broken (one had punctured my lung); I had suffered a concussion; and my left femur had sustained substantial damage but had no fracture. He told me he had doubts that I would have survived had my friend delayed called the police. Later that afternoon, I gave the police my statement

 That evening, Tony and Eliza visited me.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Tony asked, concern evident in his brown eyes.

"Pretty good," I said smiling, "Check out these battle wounds."

"Don't joke like that," the both said with a grim expression on their faces.

"Why not?" I asked, "Humor is what's keeping me going right now."

Silence.

"So, you're Eliza."

"Yea," she responded.

"You know, Tony here has had a crush on you for…how long?"

We chuckled while Tony blushed slightly.

"Hey how was your date on Friday," I asked.

"It went great. Tony took me to this club, where we danced the night away. We got home around 3 in the morning."

"Oh, so that's why you were tired when I called you," I said to Tony.

We spent about an hour talking about our lives until Tony finally asked the one question I was dreading.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit, Hermione. I've known you for most of your life. Don't lie to me."

I took a deep breath before recounting the events that I had told the police.

"When I got home, my dad grabbed me and dragged me to the den. He then started to accuse me of leaving school early so that I could be with you. You know…"

They both nodded at what I was referring to.

"I told him that I had arrived the day before along with everyone else from school. He called me a liar and slapped me. He then said he'd seen me leave your place that morning and proceeded to say that there was only one reason for me to be leaving that early. When I told him I was just visiting you, he slapped me again. I threw a book at him, and that's what did it for him. He threw me against the bookcase and began beating me with a book. Then he began kicking me."

Tony clenched his jaw in anger.

"Once he grew tired, I was told to clean up the den, know never to contradict him again and not tell anyone about what happened. After cleaning up, I went to my room and passed out. When I came to, I went to your place."

"The cops are looking for him," Tony told me.

"I know."

"Listen, we've got to go. We'll be back tomorrow."

"All right, I'll hold you both to that," I informed them as we hugged goodbye.

When they left I felt antsy; I could sit still. It was well past 3 am as I lay there watching television when I heard the door slowly open. A privacy curtain was between the door and the bed, thus blocking my view on who my visitor was. Hearing said person clear his throat, I imagined it to be Dr. Scott.

"Hey there Scottie," I called, "Are they paying you overtime?"

I heard a chuckle that froze my blood.

"Hermione, Hermione," he said patronizingly, coming into view dressed as a doctor, "I thought I made it clear that you weren't to tell anyone what happened."

"Dad," I said, shrinking back as far as I could.

"Didn't I also tell you that if you did, I wouldn't be so lenient next time?" he asked sitting on the edge of the bed.

"No, dad. Please don't," I begged.

"Too late for that, sweetheart."

With that, he slapped me hard across the face. I saw stars explode before my eyes as a result. In an effort to silence any noise, he placed a pillow over my face. I screamed as he pressed the pillow down harder. With my right hand I frantically began to claw at his hands, and then his face; he loosened his grip on the pillow as he cursed in pain. The button! My brain screamed. I took a shallow breath as I fumbled to locate the panic button. I was barely able to press it, when he brought his hand down on my stomach. With my voice, hoarse from the yelling, I was barely able let out a pitiful cry help for help. Tears sprung to my eyes as he leaned onto my mending ribcage and slapped me. I thought my life was about to end when he began to strangle me.

Over the roaring sound in my ears I was able to faintly hear the hurried footfalls of people. Must be some nurses my mind absentmindedly observed. The next thing I knew, I was able to take shallow breaths. Black dots swam before my eyes, but I could see several security guards restraining my father.

"Why?" I coughed.

"Shut up!" he yelled at me, "It was because of you that she left!"

"Mom?"

"That's right. You were an accident, you hear that?" he screamed, " I knew that much, but I wasn't until recently that she told me you weren't mine!"

"But-"

"You're a bastard! Why do you think she never wanted to do anything with you?"

"No, you're lying…"

"It was because you reminded her of her shame. With you around, it was as if she was permanently branded for life," he was near hysteria at this point, " When you got accepted to that school of yours, didn't you ever wonder why she was so eager about it?"

"We thought that if you were gone, I-We, could repair our marriage. It got to the point where she could no longer bear the sight of you that she left me in May. However, if you're gone, then she'll come back to me. We could be happy again."

He said the last bit as he was dragged away by the guards. The few nurses that remained looked shocked at what had just transpired. I felt my heart shatter but luckily, before any more pain was felt, my body gave into exhaustion.