Secrets, Chapter Three

**I know the Higher Ground section isn't frequented as often as it use to be, but people are reading the story. Please review!!! I don't know what to fix if I get no reviews!**

Author's Note: This is a re-do of a story I did 8 years ago. The original story is in my profile. I still get questions regarding my Kristin stories every once in awhile, and I can't really think of any way to do a story solely on her so I decided to do this instead. The original version is pretty bad/unrealistic so a LOT has changed, but the same basic plot and details are the same. I also changed some names because I was pretty dumb in 7th grade and used a lot of names of people I knew IRL.

Summary: Twelve-year-old Kristin Maddox is given a spot at Horizon after a call from her band teacher to his best friend, Peter Scarbrow. He doesn't know what her secrets are, but he knows something is horribly wrong, and Peter may be the only one who can save her.


When Kristin opened her eyes, she did not know where she was at first. Then she saw the washed-out white walls and smelled the antiseptic air and knew that she was, again, in the hospital. This was the third time, that she could remember, where she had ended up in the hospital. Both times previously, her dad had a handy excuse on hand. The first time, when he had gotten angry and elbowed her roughly in the nose, breaking it, he said that she had walked into him as he exercised. The second time was when Kristin had scrambled up the tree in the backyard in order to get away from his rages, but he had followed her and managed to pull her from the tree. She tried to brace her fall but ended up breaking her wrist—her dad had barely even had to lie about this one.

As she looked around, her head throbbing, she had to wonder how he was going to get out of this one. She knew that she was bruised, and that she had a head injury. She even allowed a smile to creep over her face when she realized that she may be free.

"Don't get too happy," she heard a voice beside her. She whipped her head around, menacing in pain. She hadn't noticed her dad sitting there, slumped in the chair in his uniform.

"It's so sad," he said louder, standing up and leaning over to kiss her on the head. "I can't believe that my baby girl happened to be home when someone broke in, and he beat the crap out of my girl when you saw him. It's so horrible that I had just left ten minutes earlier to go hang out with friends," he sneered, then turned serious. "You've got to be more careful, Kris. I can't keep covering for you."

She stared at him, willing herself to hold back her tears of defeat.

A nurse walked in and smiled at them. "You're so lucky you have such a great dad, sweetie. He hasn't left your side since he rushed you here. The guy did a number on your head, but you'll be okay, luckily. You have a ton of bruises, but they will heal in time," she told Kristin, checking some of her information.

"Thanks, nurse. I think she's still in a bit of shock," Kristin's dad told the nurse. She nodded understandably and left.

"I have to go on patrol. You're being released tomorrow morning. Your band teacher wants to stop by today. I figured it'd look bad to deny the nosy fucker, but you better watch your fucking mouth around him," he warned before turning around and leaving.

Kristin began crying softly after he left. She had had a glimmer of hope—her first since her mother had stopped coming home. When her mom stopped coming home, she figured that she was getting ready to save her, to take her away from her dad. But it never happened.

She heard a light knock on the door and she quickly wiped away her tears. It was Mr. Davis. He smiled nervously at her.

"Your dad called the school a couple of hours ago, saying that you wouldn't be in for up to a week. I figured I'd come by and see how you were doing," he said, sitting in the chair.

"I'm fine," she replied coldly.

He looked around and leaned in. "I know that this wasn't some break-in, Kristin," he started but she cut him off.

"Don't you see what happens when people get nosy? It was a break-in. I'm sure my dad will have the police report ready for anyone who wants to see. Leave me alone," she hissed.

"Let me finish. My friend runs a school up in Canada. It's for students who need help, who need someone to listen to them," he waited for Kristin to interrupt him, but she turned to look at him instead. "You don't have to tell me anything. I can call him, and get you a spot. I know this is a lot to take in…But I can't let another student die." He was choking up.

"What do you mean, die?" She asked.

"There was a girl. She was your exact same age. I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't put my finger on it. This was a few years ago, and they weren't stressing child abuse as much as they do now. She would show up with a visible bruise every once in awhile, and she was nervous all the time, but it never clicked. Until I got called in the office one day, with all her teachers, and they told us. Her dad had flipped out and beaten her to death. Then killed her little sister, too. And then her mom. An entire family, wiped out in twenty minutes," tears were slipping down his cheeks by now, "and you don't have to say one thing to me. But I know. You are exactly like her and I will not let you die under my watch. You just give me any symbol and I will make the call to my friend. I will find some way to talk your dad into it. You can be out of that house in two days."

Kristin closed her eyes tightly, weighing the decision. She had no idea how Mr. Davis could possibly convince her dad to let her go, and she knew she could never verbalize her secret in order to get out otherwise, but she could not refuse him. She knew that she had to get the hell out. Her dad was getting braver, with every passing incident that went unreported.

She looked at her teacher and nodded slowly and uttered just a single word: "Please."