Sky had a bad feeling about this.

It was a cold lump in her stomach, making her tense as a string as she kept pressing the doorbell, hoping that someone would come and get the door, but—

Nothing.

Maybe he's not home. Maybe He's sleeping. Maybe he is—

—dead?

That thought made her stomach clench tight with anxiety as she hit the doorbell again. No, Cody couldn't be dead, even if he sure had looked like that in the photo Moon had seen on Insta, where some anonymous asshole had posted it. A photo of Cody bleeding on the bathroom floor, clearly unconscious—

After seeing that photo - Moon had shown it to her during lunch - Sky had left everything. Screw school, screw her next class - it would have been English and she had been planning to skip it anyways. After what had happened yesterday, there was no way in Hell she would do any more group work with Hawk. So she had left her lunch on the table, almost forgotten her backpack too as she had rushed out of school to drive here as fast as she dared, not even stopping at red lights, calling Cody's phone nonstop—

He hadn't picked up once. And now he wasn't opening the door.

Sky was panicking.

Giving up on the doorbell, Sky walked around the house to the back porch. The door was locked, of course, but a quick search revealed the key under a flower ot, and Sky didn't hesitate to use it to open the door.

"Cody?" She called his name but no answer came. "Is anyone here?"

The house was silent, eerily so. Lights were turned off and there was no sign of anyone.

"Cody? I'm coming in," she called again, to make her presence known as she walked in and through downstairs, then headed for the stairs and climbed to the second floor.

She found him in his room.

He lay on the bed on his side, in a fetal position, wearing only a pair of boxer shorts and a white T-shirt, a sheet partly covering his legs. The shirt and the sheets were covered in blood stains, and had Sky not known that this must be Cody, she would not have recognized him.

His face was horribly bruised, his eyes swollen shut, his lips cut, cheeks scraped and bloodied—

Sky stood frozen in the doorway, fighting nausea that washed over her in waves. Burning hot tears of anger and shock filled her eyes. The floor was crumbling under her feet, she was standing on unsteady legs that could give in at any moment.

Every part of Cody's body that was visible, was covered in bruises, just like his face. His arms, the parts of his legs she could see, the strand of skin between his T-shirt that had rolled up and the waistband of his boxers—

Blue, purple, red bruises - and wounds that were plastered but some of them were still bleeding through the bandages.

Sky brought a hand to her mouth to suppress the sobs that wanted to break free, but Cody heard and stirred on the bed. He lifted his head to see—

"Cody—" Sky breathed, realizing with a jolt that he was alive. He is alive, he is alive, Oh my God— She rushed closer to the bed, tears falling down her cheeks. "Oh my God, oh God, are you—?"

She stopped talking, the words failed her. Asking if he was okay felt idiotic.

"Sky— n— no—" he groaned and tried to cover his face with his hands.

The realization that he didn't want her to see him like this, as the exact opposite of the handsome, confident boy she had gotten to know, hit her like a wrecking ball. As if she cared about his looks, in a moment like this! She just cared if he breathed, if his heart was still beating.

She knelt next to the bed, took his hands gently in her trembling ones, and pulled them off his face. She would look at him and she would let him see that this didn't scare her, that this would not break her, that she was here to help, to do whatever she could to fix this.

"Oh Cody— Who did this to you?" She asked silently. "Was it Hawk?"

Cody pulled his hands from her grip, hid his face against the pillow. His silence spoke louder than any words.

"It was Hawk, wasn't it?" Sky persisted.

He nodded, and even that small movement seemed to cause him pain. He swallowed hard before answering: "And— his friends."

His voice was silent, barely audible, muffled by his swollen and cut lips and it was clear that speaking was painful for him, so Sky didn't ask more.

"He knew—" Cody went on nevertheless. "That I'm selling— to you."

"Oh God—" Sky gasped, realizing. "This is my fault."

Their talk yesterday. She had told Hawk that Cody was helping him, and then this had happened. She had brought this on Cody.

"No—" Cody breathed. "No, Sky—"

But there was someone else to blame too, not just herself. Maybe she had spoken too much to Hawk, but how the Hell had she been supposed to know he would do something like this? That he would gang assault Cody and beat him to a pulp?

"I'm gonna kill him!" She breathed, angry tears blinding her vision. "He's gonna regret this!"

"No—" Cody groaned again and forced open his swollen, bloodshot eyes. "Sky, no. Can you—" he winced in pain, there was a narrow stream of blood dripping down his lips onto the white pillowcase. "Can you— just stay? Please. Stay— with me."

Taking a deep breath, Sky looked at him, at his broken body, his bruised face, the bloodstains on the sheets, and her heart hurt so that it felt like her chest would collapse. He looked small, younger than he was, his voice was desperate, there were lumps of dried blood in his messy hair.

Whatever Sky wanted to do to Hawk, it would have to wait.

"Okay—" she breathed. "Okay, of course. I'll stay with you."

She sat on the bed, leaned her back against the headboard, keeping some distance from Cody so that she wouldn't accidentally hurt him. He let out a pained hiss nevertheless, as if just her weight on the bed and how it made the mattress bend, was hurting him.

Sky swallowed to get rid of the lump in her throat, but it didn't help. She was choking on an emotion she couldn't name, it made her hands tremble.

"Have you seen a doctor?"

"My parents," he replied. "They— are doctors."

"They're doctors? Well, did they examine you? Like, is everything okay?"

"Okay. Nothing broken. Concussion, maybe."

Every word he said was strained, tense, agonized. He had to stop many times to get these couple of sentences out.

"They should have taken you to a hospital—" Sky muttered. "Or at least stayed home with you. I can't believe they left you—"

"They— gave me these," Cody pointed a finger towards a pill bottle on his nightstand, and Sky's brows arched as she took a look.

"OxyContin," Sky picked up the bottle. "My God, aren't you the lucky one," she couldn't help a small smile. "I hear it's the bomb."

"So they tell me—" Cody tried to smile too, but that ended in a groan as his cut lip started to bleed more. Quickly Sky took a napkin from the nightstand - there was a pile next to the painkillers and a glass of water - and then pressed it gently on that bleeding lip, held it there until Cody took it with a trembling hand to hold it himself.

"When did you take the last one?" Sky asked with a frown. Everything about Cody's tense muscles, the hard line of his jaw, the cold sweat on his skin told Sky he was in an insane amount of pain - which shouldn't be the case if he was on opiates.

"Yesterday."

"You haven't taken any today? What, are you nuts? Jesus Christ—"

"Bad genes," Cody spoke silently, with great effort. "Don't wanna— be an addict— no offense."

"None taken. But you're not gonna end up like me if you take them as they are prescribed for a couple of days. Seriously, you seem to be in a lot of pain."

"Okay—" he groaned. "Just one."

"Just one. Let me help," Sky said and opened the bottle, took one of the small, white tablets, and carefully placed it on Cody's lips as he opened his mouth. Then she passed him the glass of water, and he raised himself a bit to be able to take a sip, even if that slightest move was enough to make him whine in pain.

"You're gonna feel better soon," Sky promised as he laid back down. "And sleepy, I'm guessing, if you're not used to that stuff."

He didn't reply, talking and taking the medicine had clearly exhausted him. He was trembling slightly under the sheet, and Sky had a sudden urge to lay down next to him and wrap her arms around his body, hold him, take care of him, keep him safe. But his body was covered in bruises, and Sky had no wish to cause him more pain, so in the end she just took his hand in hers. Their fingers entwined.

"Stay—" Cody asked again, his voice raw and broken, full of emotion. "Please— stay."

"I'm here," she replied. "And I'm not going anywhere."

"Please—"

"It's okay, try to sleep now. I'm going to take care of you."

Slowly his strained, ragged breathing calmed down, and little by little the calmness settled on him, maybe thanks to the meds, but maybe because she was there and he knew he didn't have to be alone anymore. He drifted into sleep, and Sky sat by his side, her hand in his until he was in such a deep sleep that she could slide her fingers free without him noticing.

The bottle of Oxycontin on the nightstand was calling her name, clear and loud and full of promise, but Sky clenched her jaw and tossed the bottle into the drawer. Out of sight at least, if not out of mind. She wasn't going to steal from Cody - she might be a pathetic junkie, but she wasn't that low - yet. Besides, she still had some pills left, and remembering that she took her backpack, found her pill container and took one. She used the water in Cody's glass to flush it down.

The calmness settled on her during the next fifteen minutes, melting the cold lump of ice in her stomach.

Cody was still sleeping when she pulled her phone from the pocket of her backpack, and quickly sent a message to the Best Girls group chat telling them what the situation was and that she was staying with Cody. Moon replied almost immediately with a row of shocked and heart emojis and Sam asked if they could help somehow, but Sky told them not to worry. She was pretty sure Cody didn't want all her friends rushing in here and making a fuss. It was clear he wanted to keep this as private as possible.

But he asked me to stay with him.

Sky glanced at the sleeping boy. His features were now softer, more relaxed as the pain had subsided, but still looking at him hurt like swallowing broken glass.

His face, which had been a work of art, like a painting of Raphael, was unrecognizable. She wondered if there would be scars, if his nose was broken. She didn't know. He had been so beautiful, and now—

Sky swallowed hard, turning her eyes away. The way Cody had cared for his looks, it hadn't been just vanity. He had wanted to be an actor, he needed his pretty face, he needed those flawless features to make it out of here.

How could Hawk do something like this?

The tears were back. Gripping her phone in her trembling fingers, Sky let them flow. They burned all the way down, the salty taste made her choke.

This was her fault.

She had brought this on Cody, with her stupid, stupid, reckless and selfish behavior. She had deliberately kissed Cody in front of Hawk to make him jealous, to hurt him, and this was the aftermath of that decision.

Had she learned nothing?

This was just like when she had cheated on Matt with his friend to hurt him, and that had backfired in the worst way possible and Kat had been killed.

Kat's blood was still on her hands, and now Cody's too?

The phone in her grip started ringing, and Sky stood up, walked to the hallway to take the call, not to disturb Cody's sleep.

"Sky, where are you?" Asked Dad as soon as she had picked up. "The school called that you're not there."

Shit.

Sky bit her lip and cursed in her thoughts. How the fuck was she going to lie her way out of this one?

"You remember my friend Cody—?"

"The pretty boy who went out with you for milkshakes? Sure. What about him."

"Dad—"

Her heart was heavy with secrets, and oh, how she wished she could tell Dad everything. That she could tell him how this had all started, with Hawk yelling at her on the front steps of his house Why would anyone be with you? To get some pussy! She wanted to tell Dad how much those words had hurt, how they lived in her mind 24/7, how they killed her every day, again and again, and again, and how that had led to buying drugs from Cody, trying to overdose in her car on the driveway. And she wanted to tell Dad about the Halloween party, Hawk's arm around Maya's shoulders, the way her heart had been broken a million times over, and then Cody, his lips on hers, the sweet, white pills of oblivion, Cody's hands on her body when he pushed her against the wall and made her forget.

But there was no way she could tell Dad about the drugs or the sex or even about the things Hawk had said to her that night. It was impossible. She was drowning in lies and untruths, but there was nothing she could do about it. She had brought Dad enough pain as it was.

"At the Halloween party—" She started, going for the lie that was close enough to the truth to make it believable. "Hawk kissed some other girl. And I wanted to make him think that I didn't care, so I kissed Cody—"

"Oh Sky, you didn't—"

"I know it was stupid!" Sky breathed, and maybe Dad heard the tears in her voice because he didn't interrupt again. "Hawk and his friends— they beat Cody up. Like, really bad. Dad— he's in a horrible state—"

"When did this happen? Where are you?"

"Yesterday? But I just found out. I'm at Cody's—" She let out a trembling breath. "Dad, I can't leave him alone. I can't."

"It's okay," Dad replied, his voice now nothing but calming and kind. "Of course. Do you need help? Has he seen a doctor?"

"He says his parents are doctors."

"Good. And they are there too?"

"No, Dad— I don't know. They just left him. He was alone when I came here. I have to stay and make sure he's okay."

"They left him alone?"

"They— are not the best parents I guess," Sky muttered. She was pretty sure Cody wouldn't want her telling Dad about this whole foster parent situation, so she quickly changed the subject. "Can you like, call the school and tell them I'm sick or something? Please."

"Okay, I'll take care of it," Dad replied without argument. "If you need any help, anything at all - you call me. You understand? I will come and help. And if those parents are not taking care of that boy, we have a guest room."

Sky's heart swelled. She had never loved Dad more. For a short moment, she hesitated. The love in Dad's voice was so strong, it was like a rock. Would he really turn his back on her if he knew the truth? About her despair, about Hawk and Cody and the drugs?

Sky swallowed the words before they could escape her lips. She could not tell, these secrets weren't hers alone. There were limits to Dad's love. He would never agree to help Cody if he knew he was the one selling her drugs.

"Thanks, Dad," she said instead, tears making her voice thick.

"Tell Cody that he can stay with us if he wants to, okay?" Dad said again. "I can pick you up and make the bed for him. It is no trouble."

"Thank you. I will," she promised, knowing that Cody would never take that offer. She didn't know him that well, but she had a pretty solid hunch that he was way too proud to let people see him like this, let alone to take help from strangers.

When Sky ended the call and walked back into Cody's room, he was still sleeping. His breathing was even and peaceful, but a bit raspy. His bloodstained hand lay on the pillow next to his head. Sky climbed onto the bed and laid down next to Cody, facing him, took that hand in hers, slow and gentle, not to wake him up, but even in his sleep, he felt that touch, and those beautiful, long fingers gripped hers as if he never wanted to let go.

Sky stayed with him all afternoon.

He slept for a couple of hours, and when he woke up, Sky forced him to drink some juice and eat some ice cream she had found in the freezer. He had no appetite, but Sky didn't care.

"It should be your Mom doing this—" she said, feeding him the ice cream with a small spoon, careful not to touch those cut lips. "But since she's not, I will. You won't get better if you don't eat and drink."

He obeyed her without complaining, even if it was clear that eating and drinking were painful to him.

She helped him into the bathroom, and when he was done, back to the bed. She told him what Dad had said, and as she had predicted, Cody declined.

"Gonna be fine—" he muttered, closing his swollen eyes and laying his head on the pillow. "Just— need rest."

"Still, I don't think you should be alone. With the concussion and all— You wouldn't have even made it to the bathroom without my help!"

He didn't reply, but he took her hand back in his, gripped her fingers hard, and from the trembling of his lips Sky could tell he was about to cry.

She felt her heart breaking.

"It's okay—" she sighed. "It's okay, I'm here. I'm gonna take care of you."

"You—" he swallowed hard, licked his lips that were covered in blood as the cuts had started bleeding again. "You— don't have to."

"Yes, I do. Now, time to rest. You want me to read to you?"

A couple of tears rolled down his bruised cheeks. His breathing was shallow, strained, his shoulders were shaking as he tried to keep the tears down.

"Please."

Sky picked up the book - The Cloud Atlas - from the nightstand, and opened it, started reading where the bookmark was.

"Sixmith, the plot has taken a sensual turn. Last week Jocasta and I became lovers. But don't alarm yourself, it's only a carnal act, performed in service—"

Cody's breathing turned softer, the tears stopped. He lay motionless on the bed, listening to the words that fell from her lips, and Sky kept reading, fighting her own emotion that threatened to break her voice.

"And I confess, the women's hearts, like their desire, remain a mystery to me. Afterward, she cried and thanked me for bringing life back into their home—"

It had been a long time since she had read a book to anyone. They had used to do that with Kat - reading parts of their favorite books to each other at sleepovers, but since Kat's death—

There hadn't been anyone to read to.

And reading to someone, it was like giving them love, like giving them a piece of your soul, wasn't it? It was a beautiful gift to give, a slice of your time, of your voice, of your heart, a stolen moment of peace and beauty, a moment outside of this reality.

She kept reading to Cody, all through Robert Frobisher's first set of letters, until her voice turned raw, and still she kept reading, until—

"Cody—!" The door opened and Sky - who had been so immersed in the story she hadn't realized anyone else was home - stopped reading in the middle of a sentence.

There was a small, blond girl standing in the doorway, her eyes widening as she realized Cody wasn't alone. Sky met the stare of her pale blue eyes and let the book fall to her lap.

"Who are you?" the girl asked with a frown.

"I'm Sky," She replied. "You must be Leigh, right?"

The girl neither denied nor confirmed this. The look on her face was defiant, reserved.

"Are you Cody's girlfriend?"

"Just a friend." Sky said and softened those words with a smile. "I came to check on him."

"Leigh—" Cody managed to speak, even though it clearly caused him pain. "Hi. How— how was school?"

Leigh didn't answer. She dropped her pink backpack onto the floor, climbed to sit on Cody's bed, and then, carefully laid down by his side, hugging him tight. Cody didn't push her away, but the way his jawline turned hard, told Sky how much that hug hurt.

"Hey, careful there—" Sky said softly. "You don't wanna hurt your big brother, do you?"

The girl eased her grip a bit but didn't move. "You can go now."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea. Your brother needs help—"

"You can go now," Leigh repeated sharply. "I can take care of Cody. He is my brother! And Mom is gonna be home soon."

"Cody?" Sky turned to look at him, he opened his eyes, as much as he could, and reached a hand to touch her fingers which still rested on top of the closed book.

"It's okay—" he breathed. "Go. Before Mom—" he swallowed, took a breath to be able to continue. "You— should go. Thank you."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay," Sky stood up, placed the Cloud Atlas back onto the nightstand, and gathered her things. The last thing she wanted was to cause Cody trouble with his foster parents - and the truth was that if she saw that mom who had left Cody home alone, bleeding and hurting, and with a concussion, she wouldn't be able to keep her mouth shut. Those parents had a special place in Hell waiting for them.

She wanted to take Cody's hand again, to press a soft kiss on the top of his head, to let him know that she cared, but Leigh was staring at her silently and Cody's eyes were closed again, so in the end Sky just said: "Call me if you need anything. I'll come by tomorrow."

She left, feeling so fragile that it was like the wind was blowing right through her. But as she sat in her car, she knew she wasn't going home. There was something she needed to do first.