Chapter 22
~Grayson~
I felt so stupid. Poppy was nearly assaulted last night and if Belle didn't see it, who knows what could have happened? And I felt guilty. I broke up with Poppy to protect her, but now I realized that the best way to protect her was by being with her. If we were still together last night, I wouldn't have let Poppy be alone so in a way, it was my fault. I was trying to protect her from Dedrick but the real threat to her was Ben.
"Grayson," Mom said. Our family was having an early dinner together, something I didn't want. Mom and Ginny were still at our house, even though it had been a week. "You barely touched your food. Are you okay?"
"Why should you care?" I asked. "You left, remember?"
"Grayson," Dad snapped.
Mom sighed. "I get that you're mad..."
"Mad?" I repeated. "Being mad is understating it. Really understating it."
The phone in the kitchen rang, giving Dad an excuse to stand up from the table and mutter something about me being a brat.
"Hello?" Dad answered from the kitchen. "Oh, hi Gene. How are things…? Yeah, we need to have another soon… Grayson? You want to talk to him…? Alright." Dad walked back in the dining room and handed the phone to me. "Gene McCormick wants to talk to you."
Poppy's dad? What did he want? "Hello?"
"Grayson, I was hoping you could help us," Gene said. "It's about Poppy."
"What about her?" I asked.
"Ever since she came home last night, she's been acting different," Gene explained. "And we're worried about her." Poppy didn't tell her parents about what happened. It must be worse than I thought if she couldn't talk about it. "I know you two aren't dating anymore, but you're the last person that can help. Any chance you can come over?"
"Yeah," I said. "I'll be there shortly." We both hung up and I stood up from the table.
"Where are you going?" Dad asked.
"Out," I replied, leaving before anybody could stop me. I was not going to abandon Poppy when she needed me. Not again.
I got to her house and knocked on the door. Both of her parents looked relieved to see me. "She's been in her room all day," Gene said. "She hasn't eaten at all and she refuses to talk to us."
"I'll try talking to her," I said.
"Thank you," Gene said. "She's in her bedroom."
I nodded and walked up the stairs. I didn't know what room was Poppy's but luckily, I heard a movie playing in the one closest to the stairs.
I knocked on the bedroom door and heard the movie pause. Shortly after, the door slowly opened. "What are you doing here?" she asked quietly.
"To talk," I replied. "You're parents called. They're worried about you. So why haven't you told them what happened?"
"I can't talk about it," Poppy muttered. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Can you talk about it with me at least?" I asked.
"I just said that I don't want to talk about it," Poppy said. "I don't want talk about how scared I was or how he hurt me." She wiped a tear away and shook her head. "I'm fine."
"You're not fine," I objected. "You need to talk about it."
"With who?" Poppy asked. "My ex-boyfriend who broke my heart?"
"No," I said. "How about your ex-boyfriend who saved you from the assault? How about your ex-boyfriend who drove here to make sure you were okay? How about your ex-boyfriend who needs someone to talk to as well? Someone who actually understands him."
Poppy sighed. "Fine."
"I'll take you to the beach," I offered. "That's where we do our best talking."
"Okay," Poppy said. "Let me just get changed first."
When she closed the door, I went down the stairs to wait for Poppy. "So?" Gene asked. He was waiting by the stairs.
"Do you mind if I take Poppy out?" I asked. "We always go to the beach when we need to talk about something."
"Be my guest," Gene said. "Thank you for doing this."
"No problem," I said. "It's the least I could do after what I did."
"Breaking up with her?" Gene asked. "She seemed really heartbroken about it."
"Yeah, I know," I said with a sigh. "It was a stupid mistake I made. Trust me, I would take back that day if I could."
Poppy came down the stairs in a simple grey sundress and a high ponytail. Even it simple clothes, she still looked as beautiful as ever.
"Have fun, Poppy," Gene said.
Poppy nodded before we went outside and to my car. On way to the beach, neither of us said anything. I wanted to wait until we were at the beach before we started talking. And to get Poppy to talk about what happened last night, I was going to have to tell we about my past. Something I hated talking about.
I pulled into the parking lot of the beach. Poppy slowly got out of the car. "So," she said softly. "Where do you want to talk?"
"There's a bench nearby," I pointed out. "You're probably going to want to sit after hearing what I have to say."
We walked to the empty bench nearby and sat down. "Can you be honest with me?" I asked. "How did you feel when it first happened?"
Poppy shrugged and looked down. "Scared. Hopeless. Alone. I just wish there's someone who felt the same."
This was it. I was going to tell her. "Like me," I said. Poppy looked at me confused. "I was ten when I felt scared and hopeless. Ten years old."
"What happened?" Poppy asked.
"My dad and brother," I replied. "My dad was an alcoholic. And one day, he came home very drunk. I still remember that night as if it was yesterday. I was watching TV with Graeme and he started yelling for me. He then walked into the living room and before I knew it, he hit me."
"He hit you?" Poppy asked, looking very shocked.
"Yeah," I said. "It was all over something stupid. Anyway, he kept beating me while Graeme just sat there, watching. Then my dad told Graeme to hit me. So he did. He was thirteen. After that one night, my dad always abused me when he came home drunk and Graeme often joined in. Gale found out about it one night and told my mom but my mom did nothing. Gale was always there for me when it happened. She helped me fall asleep when I woke up in the middle of the night, she took me out for ice cream, she even played video games with me. And one day, my mom couldn't take the abusive behaviour from my dad anymore so she left. She left without me when I was the only victim of it all. After that, things went downhill. I started making bad choices, I failed a grade, hung out with the wrong people, Graeme still beat me until I learned to fight back, and now someone is out to get revenge on my all because of my dad."
Poppy didn't say anything. She looked extremely shocked and even hurt for some reason.
I decided to continue. "My mom came back. As it turns out, she had a daughter. That's why she left. She was pregnant and she didn't want to baby getting hurt, so she left instead. She rather protect her baby that wasn't even getting hurt than her thirteen year old son who was already getting hurt."
"I'm so sorry Grayson," Poppy said. "I got mad at you during the hospital worker dinner and I... I had no idea."
A tear rolled down her cheek so I wiped it away. "It's fine," I said. "I didn't tell anyone about it. Can we talk about last night now?"
"What's there to talk about?" Poppy asked. "I was alone, Ben tried assaulting me again. That's it."
"Then why didn't you tell your parents?" I asked. "Your dad said that you haven't left your room and you refuse to eat. Why?"
"Because," Poppy said. "Because... .I don't know!" She buried her face in her hands.
"Poppy, please talk to me," I said. "I know you're hurting, but it hurts me to see you like this."
"I lost my best friend because of Ben," Poppy muttered. "Belle was my best friend but because of what he did, she hates me."
"Have you talked to her recently?" I asked. "She was the one who saw what happened yesterday and she was the one who got me. She must be feeling horrible."
Poppy looked at me and wiped another tear away. "No, I haven't talked to her."
"You should," I said.
Poppy shrugged. "Maybe. She must be feeling confused."
"Yeah," I agreed. "When she was getting me after she saw Ben with you, she looked really desperate and hurt."
Poppy didn't say anything else. I guessed she was done talking, so I stood up. "I'll take you back home," I said.