Ouch. Was my first thought as I slowly started to regain consciousness. My eyes slowly opened to see I was still laying on the floor. Baz was curled up asleep next to me but woke up as soon as I moved my arm to my head. The sunlight was streaming in through the window, I squinted waiting for my eyes to adjust. I pulled myself into a sitting position, I winced as the pain surged through me. Grabbing hold of the banister I yanked myself onto my feet, trying to ignore the sounds of my bones crunching. I stumbled up the stairs and into the bathroom to wash the dried blood off of my face. After I had gently washed my pale skin I looked into the mirror, I was thin, barely more than skin and bones. The bags under my sunken eyes were dark and large. One of my eyes was swollen with a small cut above it. I can't go to school like this. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked at the time, 2:34 am, not that bad. Then the day...holy shit! I'd been out for almost two days. A sudden wave of anger washed over me, I've been laying on the cold floor for two fucking days and my dickhead of a father never even thought to pick me up. I slammed my fist down on the sink, instantly regretting it as I heard the loud bang I had caused. I stayed completely still for a while, until I knew I hadn't woken anyone. I limped into my room and laid down on my bed, Sebastian soon ran to join me and before long he was curled up on my stomach quietly snoring.

I was woken by banging and shouting downstairs. Shit I must have fallen asleep. I looked down at my stomach and Baz wasn't there. I looked all around my room but there was still no brown and white papillon to be seen. This sent my head into a spiral of worry, he never leaves my side unless he has to, why would he leave now? I got up quickly ignoring the pain that was pulsing through my body and ran down the stairs. I jumped down the last four and landed awkwardly. I soon stood back up again despite fact my ankle was in agony. What I saw when I reached the kitchen shocked me. My dad was stood holding my dog up level with his head by his neck, he had a knife in his other hand that was tainted with blood. I could see a deep wound in Baz's side that was bleeding badly. "Stop, you asshole!" I screamed at him, he turned around and staggered towards me dropping Sebastian as he did so. He pinned me to the ground by my chest and pushed the knife against my throat, "Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you." He growled at me pushing his face close to mine. I could smell the alcohol in his breath like poison. I wanted him to kill me; it would save me the job, but I could hear Sebastian's quiet whines. I couldn't leave him to die. "Because you don't want two dead sons, do you?" I said angrily looking straight into his dark eyes. These words obviously got to him because he dropped the knife and let go of me. He rolled to the side of me and burst into tears, 'he's my dad I should help him' I thought but then I remembered how he had beaten me and then left me to rot on the ground. I got up and hobbled over to my beloved pet. After wrapping him tightly in a towel I carefully picked him up "Hold on little guy, I'll make sure he never goes near you again." I whispered into his blood soaked fur as I left the house. I was still limping but was too busy thinking about my best friend surviving than my own discomfort. Luckily there was a veterinary clinic a couple of streets away so within a few minutes I was reluctantly handing him over to a vet.

I sat numbly on the chair in the waiting room. People glanced at me as they walked past, quickly taking in my tear stained face and black eye. I sat in silence, blankly staring at a wall, I couldn't help the spark of hope every time I heard a door open. Finally a tall dark haired vet walked over to me, he moved a chair so it was opposite me and sat on it, that mustn't be a good sign. He took a deep breath before saying "You were lucky Mr. Gaskarth a few more minutes and your little guy wouldn't have survived."
"You mean, he's okay?" I said trying but failing to hide the excitement in my voice
"yes, we'll have to keep an eye on him over night and he will have to come back in a few weeks to get the stitches out. He lost a lot of blood and broke his leg but apart from that he's Okay." I couldn't help but smile but then I thought 'he's here til tomorrow, where am I going to stay? I'm not going home my dad will never forgive me for what I said.' Then I had an idea. The old treehouse in the woods. I could sleep there until I found somewhere else. "Mr. Gaskarth?" The vet said waving his hand in front of my face, "you zoned out a bit there" he explained "sorry... What time should I pick Baz up tomorrow?" I asked quietly " about noon would be best." I nodded and stood up but as soon as I put weight on my left foot I let out a gasp and fell to the floor. "Are you ok?" The vet asked helping me onto a chair,
"yeah I'm fine..." I mumbled trying to get up again but he held me down gently
"let me take a look at it. I'm Dr. Flyzik by the way." He said as he lifted up my leg. He felt around my bone noticing when I gasped or winced, "it seems you have broken your ankle, I'll call an ambulance and get you to a hospital to get that sorted out." I would have protested but it was too late he already had his phone pressed to his ear and was explaining the situation the the person on the other end. He put the phone down and turned to me "so, what happened?"
"I fell down the stairs." I said quickly, falling back on one of my default answers. "Is that what happened to your dog too?" He asked not sounding satisfied with my last answer, "no.... Urm... My dad dropped a knife just as he walked past." I said hoping the rather odd excuse would work. The man I now knew as Dr. Flyzik nodded unsurely still not believing my story but he didn't push the matter. He helped me walk out to the front of the clinic and sat me down on a bench. Within a few minutes the ambulance had arrived, I was carried onto a stretcher and was given painkillers that made me very drowsy. Before I could close my eyes the paramedic asked me a question that I really didn't want to say the answer to "what's the name of your parent or guardian? We need to notify them."
"I'm pretty sure he knows what happened." I said blankly as I finally let sleep overcome my mind.

Notes