Page 88 - It Ends with Us

what hap pened yesterday an d the n I was feeling so guilty that I forgot to tak e

hi m blan kets an d it al l hi t me right the re on the ride to scho ol. He di dn ’t say
an ythi ng. He just pulled hi s han ds from mine so I’d stop rubbing the m an d
the n he lai d hi s han ds on top of mine. We just sat the re like that the who le ride
to scho ol with our he ads lean ed togethe r an d hi s han ds on top of mine.
I might hav e tho ught it was sweet if it was n’t so sad.
On the ride ho me from scho ol is whe n he final ly noticed my he ad.

Honestly, I had forgotten ab out it. No one at scho ol even as ked me ab out it
an d whe n he sat do wn next to me on the bus, I was n’t even tr ying to hi de it
with my hai r. He looked right at me an d sai d, “What hap pened to your he ad? ”
I di dn ’t know what to say to hi m. I just touche d it with my fingers an d the n
looked out the windo w. I’ve been tr ying to get hi m to trust me more in ho pes he
would tell me why he do esn’t hav e a plac e to live, so I di dn ’t wan t to lie to hi m.
I just di dn ’t wan t to tell hi m the truth, eithe r.

Whe n the bus star ted moving, he sai d, “Yesterday af ter I left your ho use, I
he ard somethi ng going on over there. I he ard yelling. I he ard you scream , an d
the n I saw your fat he r leav e. I was going to come che ck on you to mak e sure
ever ythi ng was okay, but as I was wal king over I saw you leav ing in the car
with your mothe r.”
He must hav e he ard the fight in the gar ag e an d saw he r leav ing to tak e me

to get the stitche s. I couldn ’t believe he cam e over to our ho use. Do you know
what my dad would do to hi m if he saw hi m wear ing hi s clothe s? I got so
wor ried for hi m becau se I do n’t think he knows what my fat he r is cap ab le of.
I looked at hi m an d sai d, “Atlas , you can ’t do that ! You can ’t come to my
ho use whe n my parents are ho me!”
Atlas got real quiet an d the n sai d, “I he ard you scream , Li ly.” He sai d it
like me being in dan ger trumped an ythi ng else.

I felt bad becau se I know he was just tr ying to he lp, but that would hav e
made thi ngs so much worse.
“I fell,” I sai d to hi m. As soon as I sai d it, I felt bad for lying. And to be
ho nest, he looked a little di sap pointed in me, becau se I thi nk we both knew in
that moment that it was n’t as simple as a fal l.
The n he pulled up the sleeve of hi s shi r t an d he ld out hi s ar m.

Ellen, my stomac h dropped. It was so bad. All over hi s ar m he had the se
smal l scar s. Some of the scar s looked just like someone had stuck a cigarette to
hi s ar m an d he ld it the re.