Page 9 of Saving Tracey (Finding Hope #1)

Chapter Five

TRACEY

I clutched my head where it throbbed incessantly from the blow that I received about half a week ago. He wasn't happy that I had talked to Kaleb before I was given permission, even if he had wanted me to be Kaleb’s friend in the end anyway. He had been absolutely furious .

I stumbled, my blurry vision causing me to slam into some lockers next to me. I winced in pain as the sound only caused the throbbing in my head to worsen.

Fuck him for making me come to school the same day I came to consciousness.

"Tracey, are you okay? You look like shit."

I looked up at Kaleb. He easily towered over me. I jerked away from him, desperately needing to get some space between us. However, that was the wrong move since my head only began pounding harder, making my vision blur even more.

"Woah, calm down!” He quickly reached out to steady me, but it only made everything worse.

My breathing quickened, becoming labored, and I began panicking. Black spots danced in my vision when his hand landed on my shoulder to try to steady me. Tears spilled from my eyes, and my entire body began to quake in fear.

Please let me go.

KALEB

I wrapped my arms around Tracey, catching her before she collapsed to the floor.

Lifting her up into my arms, I jogged to the nurse's office, ignoring the whispers and stares of everyone as they watched me rush Tracey to the front office.

The office receptionist looked up when I stepped into the room.

A gasp left her lips, and she lurched from her chair before running to the nurse's door, swinging it open for me.

I thanked her as I stepped past her into the room. The nurse looked up at my entrance, and she stood to her feet. "Put her on the cot. What happened?" I gently laid Tracey down as she began to don gloves.

I shrugged after I stood back up to my full height. "I don't know what happened.” Mom’s words chose that moment to ring through my head. Worry slid through me. Did Tracey’s parents do this? Was this the reason she was out all week?

“She fell against some lockers, and she was holding her head. I asked her if she was okay, and she tried running away, but she stumbled. I touched her to steady her, and she began having a panic attack and passed out, I guess. It all happened really fast." I pushed my fingers through my hair.

"Where was she holding her head, Kaleb?" Her voice remained calm and soothing, helping me think and not freak out.

Had her parents hurt her?

I laid my hand where Tracey had been clutching at, and I quickly yanked it back when something wet stuck to my hand.

I looked down and clenched my jaw at the blood covering my hand.

The nurse's eyes widened, and she pointed to the door.

"You need to leave, now. This is serious.

I have to get her to the hospital and contact her parents. "

Mom's words rang in my head louder than ever about her possibly being abused. It was like a red alarm.

I couldn’t allow her to call her parents .

I frantically shook my head at the nurse, desperately hoping she would listen to me. "You can't call her parents, Mrs. Williams."

She eyed me cautiously but shook her head a second later, her gaze moving down to Tracey’s still and pale form. "Do you think her parents had something to do with this injury?" It was as if she was afraid of knowing the answer.

No one ever wanted to find out one of their students was being abused. Hell, I never wanted to know a peer was being mistreated, and the thought of Tracey being subjected to any kind of abuse made me sick to my stomach.

I’d seen what it had done to my best friend. I hated that it could scar her, too.

I sighed. "Yes. Don't call them until we know for sure if they did this to her or not."

She nodded and pointed at the door. "Out, now." She moved to pick up her phone to call for an ambulance.

I nodded and walked out of the nurse's office, pulling my phone out. "Kaleb, why are you calling me while you're in school?”

I yanked my hand through my hair once again within the span of a minute, not even caring that I just smeared blood through my strands.

"Tracey is about to go to the hospital.” Mom sucked in a harsh breath of air.

“She passed out, and she has a head injury that's bleeding pretty badly.” I lifted my hand up, grimacing at the blood that was still on my hand, hating the thought that somebody could have done this to her. "I want to be there."

She sighed on the other end of the line. "Are her parents going to be notified?" I could understand her worry. Hell, I was just about freaking out.

"I don't think so. I can't be sure, but I tried my hardest to talk Mrs. Williams out of it, so hopefully not."

"Okay.” She drew in a deep breath. “I’ll call the school and let them know it's okay for you to sign yourself out. I'll meet you at the hospital in about fifteen minutes, okay?"

"Okay, Mom."

I hung up the phone and waited until the receptionist told me I was okay to sign out and leave.

As I was walking out to the parking lot, an ambulance sped into the lot and parked in front of the school doors.

They yanked a stretcher out of the back and ran inside.

I blew out a breath and continued walking to my car, hoping that Tracey would be okay and that they could help her in time.

I tapped my foot against the tiled hospital floor, not able to concentrate on anything as I waited for some kind of news about Tracey. My mom was sitting beside me, typing away on her phone with urgency. I knew she was dealing with something at work, so it didn't bother me.

I leaned forward and ran my fingers through my hair, feeling extremely restless. I hated not knowing what was going on. Something had happened to her, and I was desperately wanting to know what.

I looked up as one of the doors snapped shut quietly. "Tracey Olive?"

My mom and I both stood to our feet and walked over to him.

"I need to know you can be trusted before I allow you to see Miss Olive.” Mom sucked in a harsh breath of air, her eyes meeting mine, both of our worst fears confirmed.

Someone had been hurting Tracey. “Therefore, you will need to speak to Officer Henry before I release any information. "

My eyes snapped back to my mom’s. Sadness coated her eyes. I hated that this just confirmed my mother's suspicions about someone abusing her. I desperately hoped it wasn't her parents. Your parents were supposed to protect you, not use you as a personal punching bag.

We went into an empty hospital room, where an officer was waiting on us. My mom and I both took a seat across from him. He smiled at my mom. "How are you, Angelina?"

She smiled at him softly. "I'm doing a lot better.

You know Kaleb and I aren't people to be suspicious of.” I vaguely recognized him as an officer who had helped Mom a lot during her case a few years ago when my biological dad was being arrested for domestic violence.

“We're both desperate to know how she's doing. "

He nodded, but he still didn't tell us anything we wanted to know, which just made me scowl.

"I know you can be trusted, but I want to ask you some questions.

Have either of you noticed any signs of abuse, such as Tracey flinching away from people or going out of her way for people to not touch her, perhaps? "

Nausea swirled in my gut. She always flinched when people came too close to her or unexpectedly moved, and she didn't like to be touched. Fuck, she always wore concealing clothes, even when it was hot as balls outside!

I rubbed my hands over my face tiredly. "She flinches back from me all of the time, and she doesn't like to be touched.

She also doesn't interact with anyone.” I swallowed hard.

“I tried being her friend. She kept pushing me away.

I thought she was just being stubborn, but I guess there was just really something going on with her.

" And I hated myself for not noticing all of the signs before today.

He looked at my mom. "What about you, Angelina?"

Mom sighed. "I've only met the girl once.” She sighed softly.

“She doesn't engage in conversation, and she seems to have an unhealthy fear of her father.

" My throat seemed to close up at the thought of that burly, tattooed man that I had met at that dinner beating on her enough to make her bleed.

"Our two families had a dinner together, and when Kaleb mentioned trying to be her friend or something along those lines, I had never seen someone look more terrified than she did the moment she looked at her father. "

Officer Henry nodded, writing some stuff down onto his notepad. "I'll tell Dr. Pine it's okay for you two to see her." I blew out a breath of relief.

He stood up, and after shaking Mom’s hand and mine, we followed him out of the room. Dr. Pine was waiting at the nurse's station for us. Officer Henry nodded at him. "It's okay for them to see her."

Without a word, Dr. Pine walked down a hallway and opened a door to one of the rooms. I walked into the room first.

I wasn’t prepared for the sight in front of me.

A choked sob left my mom's lips as soon as her eyes landed on Tracey. She rushed over to her bedside, her hand fluttering over her, tears streaming down her cheeks as she struggled to place her hands somewhere where Tracey wasn’t hurt.

Tracey was covered in bruises. Her hands, wrists, arms, neck—every part of her body that was exposed—were covered in them. They weren’t light-colored, healing bruises either. These were dark and ugly looking—fresh ones.

I walked over to rub my mom's back, trying to comfort her. "Kaleb, somebody brutally beat her. I never looked like this! She had it so much worse than I imagined. I feel so guilty for even letting her go home with them that night." Tears spilled down her red cheeks.