“Get away from my little sister,” he said dangerously. Eli slowly got off me and held up his hands in fear. “We weren’t doing anything bad,” he said.

                “You were making out with my fucking sister!” he exploded and charged at Eli. He grabbed him and slammed him against my wall. “Mickey stop!” I shrieked. He pulled back his fists and began to violently beat Eli.

                “MOM!” I screamed. “MOM!” I ran over and tried to get Mickey off Eli. Mickey just ignored me, focusing on hurting Eli.

                My parents burst into the room looking terrified. Their eyes widened and then my dad was tackling Mickey to the ground. I hurried over to Eli and gently knelt next to him.

                “Eli? Eli, are you okay?” I whispered. He groaned and tried to sit up. He crumpled back to the ground and gently clutched his quickly swelling wrist.

                “What is wrong with you?!” my dad screamed. “He was going to fuck Sam!” Mickey spat, glaring in hate at Eli. Dad froze and slowly turned to face me and Eli. “No he was not!” I snapped. “He kissed me Mickey. Grow the fuck up!”

                “Why’s his shirt off?” dad asked suspiciously. I blushed a little. “We weren’t going to have sex,” I assured him angrily. “I’m not a slut.”

                I turned back to Eli. “Is it broken?” I asked in worry. “I don’t know,” he said, trying to keep the pain out of his voice. Mom came over and inspected Eli’s wrist. She gasped and turned to dad and Mickey.

                “Get over here! Come look at his wrist!” Dad hurried over and carefully grabbed Eli’s arm. He inspected his swelling wrist and shook his head. “That’s bad.” He began to turn Eli’s arm to check the other side of his wrist. “No!” Eli cried desperately.

                But it was too late. Dad had turned his wrist over, revealing the deep scars. My eyes widened in absolute horror. Dad froze and mom gasped again and turned away. “What happened to your wrists?” dad asked shakily, knowing the answer.

                “I…cut them,” Eli squeaked, avoiding eye contact. Dad helped Eli up. “Does anything else hurt?” he asked quietly. “No sir. I’m fine,” he whispered. Dad nodded. “What’s your mother’s number?” I shot a look at Eli and saw the pain in his eyes.

                “She’s dead sir.” Dad got a guilty look in his eyes. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to…what about your father?” Eli shakily read off his dad’s number and my dad left the room. Mom was trying to calm Mickey down before he lunged at Eli again.

                A few minutes later, our doorbell rang and dad called us all out to the living room. We hesitated before going out there, seeing Mr. O’Dell.

                “Eli!” he cried in concern and hurried over to him. “Let me see your wrist.” Eli held it out. “Flip it over Eli,” his dad said quietly. Eli looked away and squeezed his eyes shut. He flipped his wrist over and his dad angrily grabbed it.

                Eli cried out in pain. “What the hell Eli?! What is this?!” his dad screamed, fake horror in his eyes. “Let go!” Eli begged desperately. “Let go of my wrist!” Mr. O’Dell released Eli’s wrist.

                “Why wouldn’t you come talk to me?” he whispered. His act was making me sick. Even if Eli had talked to him, he wouldn’t have done anything for him. “I was embarrassed,” Eli lied quietly.

                “Enough about your emo habits you fucking fag. You were going to screw my little sister!” Mickey snapped, coming over and placing a protective arm around me. I glared at him and he ignored it.

                His dad rounded on him. “What?” he hissed. Eli’s shirt was still off, I realized, my heart dropping. Mr. O’Dell eyed Eli’s chest and shook his head. “That can’t be right. Eli wouldn’t do that. I raised him better than that. He’s a virgin and will stay that way until he’s married.”

                I nearly burst into laughter.

                “Virgin my ass. Kid’s a fucking man whore,” Mickey snapped. “Probably slept with the majority of the school by now.” Eli rolled his eyes. “Oh yes. Because you know me oh so well,” he said bitterly. He shook his head in disgust.

                “Your best friend told me that,” Mickey growled. “And he also happens to enjoy drinking and sleeping around. Not a very reliable source. We were in a fight when he told you that.”

                “Well I know it’s true. I heard that chick talking to Michael about screwing you the day Davey told me,” he snapped. Eli’s face dropped. “She…it wasn’t…She’s lying!” he said. Oh. That girl he slept with to make me jealous.

                Mickey got a smug look. “Really? If she were lying, why was she crying and saying you used her for sex to make someone else jealous?” Eli clenched his fists and gasped in pain. He gently cradled his injured wrist.

                “I’m not like that,” he said quietly. “I don’t do that.” I knew he was lying. He did do things like that. It was who he was. It was what made him Eli O’Dell, the infamous bad boy.

                Mickey smirked wide. “Well you also-” “Shut up!” Eli screamed. “You don’t know me! Just shut the fuck up!” His dad got a furious look on his face. “ELI MASON O’DELL!” he boomed. “You will not talk like that!”

                Eli spun to face him, his expression making me shudder. “You can just fuck off sir,” he hissed bitterly. He turned and stormed away. I heard my front door slam. The house went deadly quiet. I shoved Mickey off me and ran for the front door.

                “Eli!” I cried, throwing the door open.

                “Sam, get back here!” Mickey cried, grabbing me and dragging me back into the house. He pulled me towards my room. Mr. O’Dell was talking to my parents.

                “I’m so, so, so sorry about my son. He never acts like that. He’s been going through such a hard time lately. I can’t apologize enough,” he was saying desperately, a sincere look in his eyes.

                “You’re a sick man,” I hissed. “Sam!” my mom cried in horror. I ignored her and glared at Mr. O’Dell. He had a shocked expression on his face. “W-What?” he stuttered. Tears entered my eyes. “How do you live with yourself? After everything you’ve done to Eli? Everything you’ve put him through?” I cried.

                His expression softened. “Sam, I can understand that you’re angry with me. But all I’ve ever done is tried to raise my son right. His mother died unexpectedly when he was still young. It hurt him a lot. More than words could ever describe. I can’t fix that.”

                I shook my head furiously. “His ankle. His chest. That time he fainted in gym class. All the bruises. It was you,” I whispered. My parents were staring in confusion. “You hurt him!”

                His eyes widened in terror. “I would never hurt Eli!” he cried. “He’s my only son! He means everything to me!” “Stop lying!” I screamed, squeezing my eyes shut. “You beat him! I saw you do it!”

                My dad’s eyes widened in horror. Mom just stared at Mr. O’Dell. “I’ve never beaten my son,” Mr. O’Dell whispered. “I would never even consider doing something so terrible to Eli. I love him.”

                “You’re a liar and a sick person!” I paused. “He has scars on his knuckles,” I said slowly. “I’ve seen them. What are those from?” Pain entered his eyes. I could see it was just an act though. “He punched a mirror about 2 days or so after his mom was killed. He looked too much like her for his own good. He couldn’t stand it. I wasn’t home at the time. Davey’s uncle took him to the hospital.”

                I shook my head. “What about when he came to school with his head bleeding?” He looked confused. “His head bleeding? What?” I glared in pure hatred. This man was cruel. He put his own son through a living hell.

                “Fuck you,” I hissed before running out of the house to find Eli. I had to find him before he did something rash.