Hope opens the door and my jaw drops in horror at seeing the condition she's in. There's blood and bruises all over her face and the parts of her body that are visible. I've never seen Hope this torn up.
"What happened, Hope," I ask and she pulls me into a hug, starting to cry in my shoulder. I hold her tight, but not too tight because I feel her wince. Who did this to her?! I feel like I could kill them.
"Was it your dad," Chester asks in a cold voice. I look up at him to see his face cold and stern. When Hope cries ever harder into my chest we get our answer.
How could her father do this to her? I've never met her dad before, but I'm sure everyone else in our group has. They all seemed certain that it had to be her dad. Hope never confirmed that she was being hurt until now. Who is this guy?
"How long has this been happening," I ask her. I've never seen any wounds on her before today except the self inflicted wounds. She must've been covering them up.
"It was the same week you moved here. The same week they pulled the plug on my mom," she mutters.
"Is the fucker inside," Chester asks. His hands are balled up into fists. She shakes her head no and turns to walk into her house. We follow behind her. One step inside and I could already see the disaster. The inside of the house looks as beat up as Hope. There were things tossed around and other things upside down. Broken glass covered the floor.
"We should call the cops," I tell Hope. There was no way Hope could stay here with her abusive dad. I could see old and new bruises all over her body. There was no telling how bad he would hurt her next time. He could kill her.
"No, you can't call the cops," she yells fast.
"Why not? Are you crazy, Hope?! He could kill you," Chester yells at her. She hides her face behind her hands.
"I deserve this. I should have believed Daniel when he said dad was hitting him when mom was first admitted to the hospital. I thought he was just being an asshole because our mom was dying. I thought he was lying and I acted like a bitch. I ignored everything he said and now I understand why he left."
"Hope, you don't deserve to be abused. What we need to do is get you out of this house," I tell her softly.
"I'm calling Daniel and telling him to get over here," Chester says and pulls out his phone.
"No, don't call him. He'll just go looking for dad and try to kill him," Hope pleads.
"That's what he needs to do. He deserves everything that's coming his way," Chester yells at her. I can see the pain in Chester's eyes. He's probably had to be there when Daniel was being abused and now he's here seeing Hope being abused. I can tell he just wants to do what he can to help.
"Chester, can you wait outside? I need to talk to Hope alone," I ask him softly. He gives me a look that says he wants to be here, but I send him a pleading look. He breathes out a sigh and walks out the house.
"I'm sorry if this is too much for you, Spencer, but you told me not to cut anymore, so I thought you'd be able to help me," Hope says and I turn back to see her.
"When did you start cutting," I ask her. She averts her eyes down to her wrists and tries to hide them.
"That first day my dad hit me," she answers and looks up at me. "About two year ago, my mom had a stroke and she was rushed to the hospital. They were able to revive her, but not fully. I remember the first day I visited her in the hospital, she couldn't move or speak. I wasn't even sure she could hear me speaking, but she laid there with her eyes open. They said she was a vegetable and couldn't live without life support. It was very painful to watch."
"We mourned the last of my mother that day, but we never gave up hope. I always felt like I'd have her back one day. Our father always cared for us though, but then a couple months later, Daniel told me that dad started abusing him. I didn't believe him because I could never envision my dad doing that. He was there for us and even took us everyday to visit our mom in the hospital. I thought Daniel was just acting out because he missed our mom and he was just trying to get attention in any possible way."
"I thought he was trying to break up the rest of the family we had left. He confided in me and I totally disregarded him. He told all his friends that our dad was abusing him and I didn't like that he was driving our dad through the dirt. I was even more mad when he filed for emancipation and left us. Dad seemed so upset and it felt twice as empty in the house now that both my mother and brother were gone."
"Then more time passed and dad tried to keep his composure, but when the doctors told him there was no way to save my mother and it's just making her suffer more by not pulling the plug, he snapped. They pulled the plug on my mother and that night I saw who my father really was. I was so shocked when he was screaming at me that night for no reason and he threw the first slap to my face. It was like I couldn't breathe."
"After that first time he hit me, I felt like I had no one. I had already pushed Daniel away and I acted like a total bitch to anyone who tried to get close to me. There was no one that would possibly want to help me. So, something snapped in me that day too and I cut myself. It made me feel alive and not dead inside like I did when my dad hit me. It helped me get through the next couple of months being abused by my father and not telling anyone. I kept a smile on my face at school and no one knew what happened every time I went back home."
I walk closer to Hope when she's done speaking. It's a lot to take in, but no matter what she thinks, I know this girl is strong. Although she's strong, she can't keep letting herself be abused.
"Hope, I listened to everything you just said and nothing tells me you deserve this torture. No one deserves this kind of torture."
"Then what am I supposed to do," she asks a little frustrated.
"You pack your bags and we leave," I tell her. She doesn't object and just nods her head. She runs up to her room and packs all her stuff. I go out to the car and sit inside with Chester to wait for Hope.
"Did you call Daniel," I ask him and he nods his head.
"He's waiting for her," he says. I close my eyes and sigh, just thinking of everything that has happened since I got to Philly. There hasn't been one day where I'm not finding out something new about this broken group of friends. They hide so much from each other, it's like a sport. Things would be so much simpler if they'd just confined in each other and not hide things.
The back door of the car opens after Hope throws all her things in the truck. She slides in next to me and lays her head on my shoulder.
"Is it ok if I take a nap," she asks.
"No problem," I answer her and Chester drives us away from the house. The car ride is completely quiet the whole time except for the sounds of small snores coming from Hope. Once we stop in front of Daniels house I wake Hope up.
She's shocked to see that we're outside her brothers house, but she doesn't get time to register it because Daniel opens the car door and engulfs her in a hug. It's the most affection I've ever seen him show.
He just holds his sister in his arms, tells her it's going to be okay, and lets her cry into his chest.