A/N - Well ya'll did ask for an update asap, so I tried my best and here I am with an update. But be warned it's a little darker than previous chapters. Once again thank you guys all SO SO much for reviewing, I mean without you guys, I'd be just writing for myself. So really thank you heaps!
Warning - Yup, it's a Brooke/Haley pairing, do you know what that means? Femslash, girl on Girl action...well the action hasn't been written yet, but give me time.
Disclaimer - Sulks Do I hafta beg and plead to get Bethany? Cause I will, I'm not opposed to a good old bit of begging! So since I'm still begging, that clearly means I don't own her! Which is so unfair! Damn that Mark Schwahn, why does he hafta own the OTH Gang? I'm currently putting my plan of overtaking him into action, who's with me? Whatever member of the cast you want, you can have, but you can all leave Bethany along. She's mine! Man do I ramble huh? Let's get on with the reading!
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Chapter 4 - An Evil Guy, Explanations and Everything Else
He was waiting on her, when she entered her room, she never saw it coming. Haley only felt the impact of Nathan's fist rather than saw it coming at her. It felt as if Nathan's hand had been transformed into a concrete brick and the impact had immediately left her breathless. A follow up of his first punch sent Haley reeling to the floor beneath her.
She had only came in for a change of clothes and now here she was, laying on her back staring up at an enraged Nathan. There was no mistaking the undeniable anger in his eyes. Haley was sure her own eyes reflected the polar opposite. Fear, terror and utter panic. 'Oh no Brooke, I'll be fine on my own. Really. Go home.' Yeah good going Hales, she berated herself.
Seeing Nathan start to advance towards her, she pushed herself backwards along the floor, supporting her midsection as every movement caused pain to flare across it. As she backed herself against her bed, there was no where else to try to get away to, to hide from him. As Nathan grabbed a hold of the collar of her t-shirt and pulled her to him, the fear in her eyes intensified and her whole body started to shake. She didn't know what he was going to do, couldn't even imagine what he had in mind.
"Where you gonna run to now, Bitch?" Nathan seethed in her face. "Huh, are you gonna do another disappearing act? Yeah, did you think I'd forget about that?" He continued in a rage, causing Haley to whimper and screw her eyes shut. "Couldn't get away fast enough huh? Oh you had better pray I take it easy on you girl, I don't know how long I can keep my anger in check." Nathan threatened.
"You're saying your anger's in check now?" Haley remarked without thinking, instantly regretting it as she saw Nathan's eyes harden.
"Start praying." He told her gravely, given her what resembled a smirk that would be better suited on the Devil himself. "Pray." He whispered one last time before raising his hand and bringing it down across Haley's face.
As his hand connected with her face, near the corner of her eye, Haley let out an audible yelp. She tried to protect herself by lifting her arms up to cover her face. But that only seemed to anger Nathan even more as he violently took hold of them and pushed them to the floor.
"Don't anger me even more Haley. I don't like to be tested!"
"Nathan please!" she begged, choking back a sob.
"Please what? Please what?" he yelled into her face.
"Stop!" Haley whimpered. "Just stop."
"You want me to stop? Like I wanted you to stop at school? You didn't stop for me, so why in the hell should I stop for you?" Nathan questioned.
"Cause it hurts," she told him.
"Good," he told her with a sneer. Bringing his fist up again only to bring it back down forcefully on to Haley's midsection. Repeating it over and over again until the skin on his knuckles became raw and his own blood started to seep through, leaving his blood on her, almost like he was marking a possession.
Standing up slowly Nathan walked away from Haley, to clean the mess from his hands. Leaving her in a heap on the floor. Slowly, painfully, Haley moved her body until it was in a foetal position. She hurt all over, every movement caused mind numbing pain. Why did he do this to her? What had she done to him? Was she ever going to stop hurting? Did the pain fade away until it was nothing but a dull ache? Was it over?
Apparently not, as Nathan walked back over to her again and without warning, without the slightest bit of hesitation, brought his foot forward with as much force as he could, until it collided with Haley's lower back, which in turn instantly caused her to scream out in pain.
Nathan growled at her in plain annoyance, with no sense of wrong-ness on his face. It was as if he was an emotionless man, hollow and vacant, with no sense of feeling or love. Not for anyone but himself, especially the girl, his girlfriend, the woman he claimed to care about, who he was currently beating on. He repeated his action of before, bringing his foot down until it came in contact with another part of Haley's back which only caused her to cry out in pain once again.
Stopping for a moment, Nathan crouched down by Haley's head and leaned in and whispered menacingly, "You do that one more time, I hear you so much as whimper and you won't even be conscious for the next six months. Do you understand?"
Slowly nodding her head 'yes', Haley felt the world around her spin, the combined punches and kicks to her body had added up and her body so unused to the amount of pain she was feeling was starting to shut itself down, darken around her. Nathan's punches and kicks kept on coming, mercilessly causing her even more pain, it was the last thing she felt as she slipped into unconsciousness.
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The unmistakable feeling of pain coursing through her body, awoke Haley from the bleak, dark unconsciousness she had previously slipped into. Her eyes fluttered open...well one of them did, the other was swollen shut, purple almost black in color. Saying that she hurt all over would be have been a major understatement. From what Haley could figure out; which wasn't much due to the haze that clouded her brain, she was willing to bet that there wasn't one part of her that didn't ache. She didn't have the energy to move, breathing was in itself a task, but what little logic her brain had let through, told her, pleaded with her to get some kind of help. Untangling herself from her tangled limbs she moved to sit up.
Which proved harder than expected. Bracing herself with her arm against the floor, Haley groaned, and a wave of dizziness over took her. Closing her one good eye, the darkness she saw this time was welcoming, and the spinning subsided and slowly came to a halt. Opening her eye again, she was thankful to see only one image and that it was at a standstill. Bracing herself again, Haley painfully pulled herself up into a standing position, all the while her face contorted into a picture of agony, and a fresh wave of dizziness came over her. Stumbling over to her bed, she let herself fall onto it, ignoring the shots of pain shooting through body, just being thankful that she had somewhere soft that supported her.
Taking in a few ragged breaths of air, Haley lay there until the pain eased off and it didn't hurt as much when she breathed in. Rolling her head to the side, agonisingly slowly, she saw the phone for her bedroom. It was just sitting there innocently, like inanimate objects tend to do. Waiting to be picked up and used. If only it was that easy, lifting her arm hurt like a bitch, it felt like dead weight, and moving it was like moving a cannon ball a meter from it's original place. Picking up the phone, Haley moved her arm back beside her and it fell onto the bed like all of the gravity surrounding it had suddenly disappeared. It was limp and the simply action of moving her thumb across the numbers was a strenuous task, that never before had required this much energy.
Pausing in mid dial, Haley wondered if calling Karen would be the best idea, she would only tell Lucas she was in trouble and he would rush to her rescue, like brothers were supposed to. She loved him to death, but knew him all to well, Luke would take one look at her, demand who in the hell had done it to her, not giving in till she uttered Nathan's name. Then Nathan would end up in the same pain she was in. As much as she wanted that, she would rather wait until she was at least lucid enough to enjoy it. Calling Karen was out of the question. Her parents were MIA, the last time she had heard from them was a postcard from Mexico, 'Wishing you were here.' not even so much as a 'Love from mom and dad.' Racking her brain for minutes, Haley finally decided on one person. Brooke. She remembered Brooke's words in the car. 'I'll be right there, when you need me to be.' Haley still hoped that, that was true. Her thumb slowly pressed the number she had been given day's earlier. As she listened to the dial tone, she started to drift off, only to be pulled back when she heard Brooke's bubbly voice come down the line.
"Brooke Davis, fashion icon of the world, who am I talking to?"
"Brooke?" Haley slurred helplessly, only to go into a coughing fit seconds later. She hadn't anticipated talking would affect her as much as it did.
"Haley?" Brooke asked, her voice suddenly void of the bubbly-ness of before and replaced with a concerned tone.
"Brooke, I...I need your help," Haley stuttered into the phone, wincing as her burst lip cracked, as she spoke that one sentence.
"What's wrong? Where are you? Are you ok?" Brooke questioned rapidly in a panicked voice.
"Hurt. Home." Talking was starting to make her breathless and the black dots she was seeing in front of her eyes, probably weren't the best thing to be seeing. "Hurry." Haley whispered as her hand went weak and the phone she held in her hand, slipped from her grasp, clattering to the floor with a resounding bang.
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Brooke was out her front door and in her car before she had the chance to fully put on her hoodie and zip it up, considering the downpour that was currently pelting off of the sidewalk, it showed her state of mind. Starting up the car, she heard the rev of the engine and the squeal of the tires on the wet road, as she reversed out of her driveway heading blindly down the street with her windshield wipers working furiously. Almost in sync with her own worried state. Hearing the blare of other motorists horns, Brooke knew she wasn't thinking straight and was driving like a maniac on speed. She needed to get herself together. Seeing Haley like she was right now, wouldn't be good. Haley. Haley needed her.
Before the phone call, she had been lazily laying about on her bed, fighting against the battle of staying awake. There was something calming about the rain hitting off of her window thatsoothed her. But she hadn't been tired, she had been bored. There had been nothing to do after she had dropped Haley off. What could have possibly happened between when she had left Haley on her doorstep and now? When the phone had rang, Brooke had been glad for the simple distraction, but when she had heard Haley's voice, the chill that had gone through her was so big it went right to her core. She had never heard anyone sound that scared.
Pulling to a halt at a red light, she let out a frustrated sigh, she didn't have time to sit around and watch the damn rain soak everything within sight, there was no calming her at this moment in time. Haley needed her. All she wanted to do was put her foot down and run that red light. It was the same old thing, when you needed to be somewhere you could never get there fast enough, but if you had no where to go the road was almost deserted and yours to travel and roam free. Watching as the traffic light turned from red to amber and then finally to green, Brooke was already halfway down the street, leaving the traffic light and the cars behind her in her wake.
Five minutes. That was how long it would be till she reached Haley's home. That was still 300 second that separated her from helping Haley. If she took a guess she would say she was half a mile away, that was to far. Speeding up she took a left, then a right and another, then going forward for a minute or two, up ahead was the turning into Haley's street, which she dutifully turned into, finally stopping in front of her house.
Turning off the engine, Brooke all but jumped out of her car, slamming the car door shut behind her, hurrying as fast as she could to Haley's front door. Not even bothering to knock, she pushed the door open and shouted Haley's name. Getting no answer Brooke started to panic again. She looked around her, but she didn't see anything out of place. Spotting the stairs, she moved towards them and headed up them fast.
"Haley? Where are you?" She shouted through the otherwise silent house. Please be ok, you have to be Tutor Girl, I mean think of all the untutored fools out there that need your help, your guidance. Think how much there grades are gonna go down if you're not there to tutor them. I bet outta every tutor there you Tutor Girl, are the best tutor ever. Haley don't you dare leave me, I've just found you. Brooke's last thought of her inner babble, caused her brows to scrunch up in confusion. I've just found you? What's that supposed to mean? Pushing open the last door at the ending of the landing, every thought she was thinking, anything she thought about saying, left her. Her brain was a complete blank, as blank as a painters easel at the beginning of a painting. She had prepared herself for the worst, but obviously her worst was a different worse than anything she had ever seen. The image of Haley, laying on her bed, limp, beaten and bruised, turned her stomach. She could feel the bile rise to the back of her throat, she could taste the acidicness of it, she was in shock. Plain, utter, simple, shock. Which was causing her to stand there frozen, not helping her friend.
Get it together Brooke, snap out of it! NOW! Shaking her head, she cleared her thoughts and her brain kicked in. Hurrying over to Haley's side, Brooke fell to her knees and lifted her hands, and then stalled. She didn't know where to put her hands, their were bruises of all different shapes and sizes all over Haley's body and face. She didn't want to cause her anymore pain. But ever so slowly she touched Haley's shoulders and started to gently shake them.
"Haley, wake up," Brooke demanded desperately, her voice high, and the last of her plea catching in the back of her throat. "Please wake up Tutor Girl, God you need to wake up! I..I don't, don't know wh..what to do!" she stuttered helplessly.
Breathing out heavily, she ran a hand through her hair. She'd never felt so at loss before, Haley needed her help and there she was, staring at her, not having a clue what to do. Without thinking Brooke moved her hand up to Haley's face and softly brushed away some of her hair that had fallen over her face, covering it. Moving the hair away just made the reality of Haley's situation bigger. If anything the strands of hair had hidden Haley's eye from view, and Brooke had barely been able to contain her gasp. Tenderly, so as not to hurt Haley, Brooke ran her thumb soothingly up and down the corner of her face. "Come on sweetie, wake up for me. Then we can get you help. Open your eyes, I need to see your eyes. I need you to tell me who did this to you, so I can go and kick the living shit out of them." Brooke told her, in an angry tone towards the end, whoever did this to her, they'd be lucky to see the next dawn.
With her other hand, Brooke took hold of Haley's and squeezed it tightly, willing her to squeeze it right back. Bringing it up to her mouth she kissed Haley's fingers. "Come on Haley, open your eyes for me. Just open those big brown eyes from me, you can do it Haley. You can do it." Brooke whispered, closing her eyes, almost like she was praying.
"Did you actually just call me Haley?" Was the unexpected question moments later.
"You're awake!" Brooke exclaimed relieved, as her head shot up to look at Haley. "My God Haley, I've never been so relieved to see someone open there eyes! I couldn't do anything, I tried to wake you but you wouldn't wake up and I was so scared! I mean I didn't even know what was going on and I came here and I shouted for you, but you didn't answer. Then I found you and you're all bruised and cut, and I don't know who did it, and oh God are you ok? I should have asked you that first and I didn't, I'm so insensitive! Where does it hurt? I need to get you to the hospital." Brooke babbled on with no sign of stopping.
Was it wrong to think Brooke's actions were amusing, and kind of cute, if she was in so much pain? If so Haley was the person in the wrong. It was almost a relief to feel something other that fear. If only the pain she felt all over her body, was that easy to forget. "Brooke, clam down." Haley told her as she squeezed Brooke's hand, trying to get her attention, but the simple action only cause more pain, which clearly showed on her face.
"I need to get you to the hospital," Brooke repeated, noticing the pain flash across her face.
"No, I can't, not right now."
"Haley please, we have to get you help. Anything could be wrong with you."
"Later, it just hurts," Haley wheezed. "It hurts to move. I just need to rest."
"Haley..."
"Please Brooke, please?"
"Later. Later I'm taking you to the hospital. Later." Brooke vowed. "Tell me what happened to you."
"Would you believe me if I said I tripped and fell down the stairs?" Haley asked her humourlessly.
"Not even if I was the most nieve person in the world. Tell me the truth Haley. Who did this to you?"
Looking everywhere but Brooke herself, Haley tried to find an out, so she didn't need to answer Brooke's question. If she kept quiet, then everything would go away, wouldn't it? She could forget this had ever happened to her. Forget that Nathan Scott even existed. But as her eyes settled on Brooke, catching her eyes with her own, Haley saw the worry in them. That worry was for her. Brooke cared about her, she may not be able to escape the reality of the situation she found herself in, no matter how much she wanted to, Haley knew she had to tell her the truth.
"Nathan."
And with that single word, it was almost as if everything stopped. The silence was deafening. Haley felt Brooke's grasp on her hand weaken and her hand slipped, till it fell beside her on top of the bed. She also noted that Brooke's eyes had glazed over, and it looked as if she was staring at something in front of her that was off in the distance and the rest of the world couldn't see what it was. Her face was void of emotion.
"Nathan? Nathan Scott, he did this to you?" Brooke asked in an eerily calm voice. Which was anything from what she was feeling on her inside. Blind rage, that would have been more accurate. The facade she was putting on was for Haley's sake only, it wouldn't do her any good, to get Haley worked up. No, she'd wait, let the anger, the rage she felt towards that asshole build, and when she saw him, seeked him out...well they did say 'hell hath no fury like a women scored' and she was surely going to make sure Nathan felt twice the amount of pain he had inflicted on Haley.
"He did." Haley answered her eyes suddenly full with unshed tears. "He's here with me all the time, I can't get him out of my head."
"It's gonna be ok, I swear! I won't let him touch you ever again!" Brooke swore to her, leaning up she rested her forehead against Haley's. "I'll take care of you, I'll do anything for you. All you have to do is ask." Brooke didn't know if it was the way her feelings had been seriously mixed up by seeing Haley or what, but as she felt herself leaning into Haley, getting closer and closer to her lips. Brooke realised she had no control over her action and more to the point she couldn't give a damn about what she was about to do, or what the ramifications of afterwards would be. All she knew was that she wanted this.
Their lips were millimetres apart and they were getting closer every second. It was a defining moment.
"What the hell happened to my sister?"
And the moment was shattered.
Brooke so surprised at the interruption, jerked her head back and looked at the person in the door.
"Taylor." Haley stated, shocked at seeing her older sister standing in the threshold of her bedroom door.
Taylor was the last person she had expected to see, but no matter what, she would never get tired of seeing her big sister, even if she did happen to interrupt something.
End of Chapter 4
Once again, thanks for reading all the way to the end. All I'll just direct your attention to that review button, how about you go to that and leave me a brand spanking new review. They are muchly loved. So do it!
