"Black-Dove January"
Chapter 5
          When Raegan came out of the bathroom only Kevin was in the room.
He patted the space of bed beside him and Raegan sat down. "How ya feelin'?"
"Better. A little out of it, though." "It looks like you hit that tree
pretty hard. I'm glad I found you in time." He moved slowly closer, testing her
reaction to him getting close. When she didn't seem to mind, Kevin gently
touched the bruise on her forehead. She winced. "Sorry", he apologized,
quickly withdrawing his hand. He reached beside him to the nightstand and
grabbed the hot cup of tea Howie had made. "Here, drink this. It's tea."
Taking the cup from his hand she gingerly sipped it, careful not to burn her
tongue. "Thanks."
            "So, Raegan....you're 17, right?" She nodded. "18 in 2 weeks."
"Care to tell me why you don't live at home?" "Not really", Raegan replied.
"Let me rephrase myself - TELL ME why you don't live at home", Kevin
repeated. She sighed. "I...... ran away." "Why?"  "Different reasons."  "Like what?"
When she didn't answer Kevin decided to follow his hunch and ask about the
bruises.
            "Where'd you get all those bruises from?", he asked. "Huh?"
"Those bruises all over your body. Was someone beating you at home?" "How did you
see my bruises?" "When I was changing your clothes." She suddenly remembered she
was in his clothes and tried her hardest not to blush. "I'm sorry about that
but if I didn't get you out of those clothes you woulda caught something.
And don't worry, I didn't get some perverse pleasure out of doing it either."
She gave a weak smile.
          "So, someone was beating you at home?", Kevin repeated his
earlier question. All she could do was nod, ashamed of her father. "Who?", he asked,
feeling more and more sorry for this girl. "My father", she replied in a
voice barely above a whisper. "Why didn't you tell anyone?" She sighed, not
wanting to explain to him. "Because." "Because why? You would just let someone DO
that to you?" Kevin was angry at her father for doing this to her and didn't
understand at all why she wouldn't tell anyone. Raegan got angry at his last
comment. "Oh, yeah, I would just let someone DO that to me. He's my father,
and it had been going on since I was 10. What am I supposed to do when I
have no friends, no family other than my dad, no one to confide in. If I told
someone they would take me away and put me in some fucking foster home!" "So
running away was the answer?", Kevin asked angrily. He was still trying to
understand her. "I couldn't take it anymore! You don't know how it is! You
don't know how it is to lose the one thing in this world who treats you
right and cares about you! I was tired of being told I was a mistake, of how much
of a slut my mother was and how I was no good! I was tired of being hit and
yelled at for nothing other than because my father was drunk and angry! And
if you can't understand that than fuck you!"
          Raegan was furious. It seemed all her pent up anger and rage for
her father and the death of her grandfather came rushing out as she yelled at
Kevin. By the time she finished tears were streaming down her face and she
was breathing hard. She looked at Kevin. Were those tears in his eyes? No, they
couldn't be. Kevin got up off the bed and came towards her. Raegan backed
away, afraid of what he was going to do. But he just wrapped his arms around
her and held her tight. She struggled against him at first but then relaxed,
crying into his shoulder. "I'm so sorry", he kept repeating over and over
again.
          Raegan didn't see it but Kevin was crying also. He was thinking of
his father who he had lost to cancer a few years ago. He did know how it was
to lose someone you truly cared about. But right now was not the time to
tell Raegan that. He had to figure out what to do.