Chapter 4

Andy: After detention had finished and Brian, Claire and I had managed to hide from Dick, I walked Jodi home. John and Claire had been picked up by Claire's father down the road from the school, and Allison and Brian went the opposite way to the shop. So it was just us.

We walked slowly, to be honest I didn't want to leave her. We decided to buy a pizza. Jodi was reluctant at first as she had no money, but I eventually convinced her I didn't mind paying. I didn't mind doing anything for her.

So we ate our pizza and even had a few more moments like we had back in the nurses office. But then, we reached Jodi's house.

"I don't want to leave you" I told her.

"Don't get all soppy on me now, it's fine" she replied, laughing.

"No I'm serious. I mean, after this morning, are you sure you'll be alright? What if your dad hits you again? I don't want anything happening to you."

"I'm strong! I'll be fine, look at my muscles!" Jodi jokingly flexed her biceps.

"Why do you joke about it?"

"What?"

"Everything with your dad and things at home, you always joke about it. Why?"

"Because Andy, if I don't joke, I'll cry. And if I start crying, I don't think I'll ever stop." She gave me one final kiss and walked to her house. I watched her for a moment and then I left.

Jodi: I walked into my house to find my mother sat in the lounge. Dad was nowhere to be seen. I looked at her, she was stoned, as per usual. I walked into the kitchen and looked for food. We had nothing.

"Mom, have we got any bread?" I asked.

"Your dads in the shop." She replied.

"Um which shop?"

"I don't fucking know!"

"Calm down! I only bloody asked!"

I walked into my bedroom and shut the door. Oh crap. If he's gone to the off licence then he'll find out about the vodka. And John wasn't here to help me either. Oh God.

I heard the door slam shut. He was home. He was angry. I heard him shouting, asking my mother where I was. She must have pointed because I didn't hear her reply. He threw my door open and ran towards me. He grabbed me and dragged me into the lounge. He stopped for a moment and practically threw my mother into their bedroom.

"Don't touch her!" I screamed.

He laughed and walked back towards me. I panicked. I looked around and grabbed the first thing I saw. It was a glass beer bottle. I held it in the air, unsure what I was actually doing. He grabbed my hand and made me drop the bottle. Still laughing he placed his hand around my throat and pushed me to the wall. I managed to spit at him, but I missed. He let go of my throat.

"Big mistake." He said.

"What? John isn't here so you'll just beat me instead?" I struggled to talk.

He put one hand on my shoulder and pinned me to the wall. Then he lifted my hand up and inspected the bandage. He pulled his pocket knife out of his boot and cut the bandages off. They fell to the floor. He ran the blade down my hand, it was cold and it felt strange against the heat of my hand. It still throbbed from earlier, and it was swollen too. My heart was pounding. Everything seemed to go in slow motion.

He pressed the blade into the palm of my hand. I could have tried running, but I'm not running anymore. He dragged the blade downwards, purposely moving it slowly. The pain was unreal, but I couldn't show him that. I fought back the tears and somehow managed not to scream. After what felt like forever, he stopped. He left go of my shoulder. I stared him in the eyes for a moment, before walking back to my bedroom.

Once in was inside, I barricaded the door with the only possessions I had; a cabinet, my broken closet, my old wooden bed, and a large box of clothes. My hand was bleeding badly and it was making me feel dizzy. The cut must have been about 5 centimetres long. I grabbed an old t shirt, ripped it with my teeth, and wrapped it around my hand. The pain was more than anything I've ever experienced. I dragged my mattress off the bed frame so that I could put the bed on its side against the door. I put the mattress in the centre of my room and just lay on it. I could feel the blood pouring out of my hand. The white t shirt I used as a bandage was totally red. I was losing too much blood. I passed out.

John: I came home from Claire's late, around 11pm. Dad was laying on the sofa, pissed. Mom was sat in the kitchen, probably stoned. Jodi was no where to be seen, she must have been sleeping. I went into my room and looked for my cigarettes. Damn, I was all out. I snuck back into the lounge to steal one of dad's, and that's when I saw it. His pocket knife lay on the floor, next to Jodi's bandages. I ran to her room but her door wouldn't open. I climbed out my bedroom window and looked in hers. She was laying on her mattress in the middle of her room. I couldn't open her window. I turned and ran down the street, Andy only lived down the road. I managed to get his attention and he snuck out and ran back with me. Together, we managed to get her window open and we carried her outside. Her hand was wrapped in a t shirt, there was blood dripping from it. We knew something was wrong, this was bad. The hospital was 5 minutes away, I ran ahead and alerted them while Andy carried her in behind me.

Andy: As soon as I heard John outside my house I knew something was wrong. It's all my fault, I should never have left her. Jodi was rushed away from us as soon as we got here. It's been over an hour now. Finally, a nurse came into the waiting room. John and I stood up immediately. She explained that Jodi lost a lot of blood and had to have a blood transfusion. She also said that she's had 6 stitches in her hand. It was bandaged up for now but tomorrow it would be put into a plaster cast. We were allowed to go see her, finally.

She was sleeping when we entered, but soon woke up. She was groggy and confused but we reassured her. She explained to us what happened. John told her to tell the hospital that she didn't know what happened, I wasn't entirely sure why. I was just glad she's alright, I thought she was going to die in my arms.