�Road To Nowhere� Chapter 8: In My Memory

�Okay Courtney, let�s talk,� Dan found Courtney after school.

�Come with me,� Courtney said opening the door of her BMW.

Dan got in and Courtney drove away from the school. She decided not to go home and just tow drive and talk. For the first few miles, neither person said anything.

�So,� Dan cleared his throat.

�Tell me what you wanted to tell me first,� Courtney said keeping her eyes on the road.

�I got expelled from my last school for setting fire to the bio lab. I pretty much lived in the principal�s office,� Dan hung his head. He felt so stupid now. He thought he was this big tough guy, but now saying it out loud it made him seem stupid.

�That�s it?� Courtney said surprised. �That�s what you wanted to tell me?�

�I got arrested a couple of times too,� Dan looked out the window. He wasn�t surprised by her reaction. He knew she wouldn�t understand.

�Whoa Dan,� Courtney pulled off onto a side road. �I wasn�t expecting that. What did you get arrested for?�

�Drinking under the age, possession of drugs and alcohol, vandalizing public property, you name it,� Dan remembered the long nights in jail. �So now that I�ve made a fool of myself, tell me about your little secret.�

�My mom left my dad in the middle of the night when I was a freshman. I thought my mom had abandoned me because I wasn�t good enough. I went through a long depression. I cried out for attention. I wanted someone that would be there for me through the hard times. I thought I had found that person in Mike,� Courtney parked the car in front of a park. She wasn�t sure where the words were coming from but she couldn�t stop them from revealing her past.

�What happened with Mike?� Dan asked thinking that Mike had broken up with her and she hadn�t fully recovered from the shock of someone turning her down.

�Mike wasn�t the guy I thought he was. He took advantage of me and shattered my life even more than it already was. I knew what he was doing was wrong, but I realized it too late,� Courtney turned and looked Dan in the eyes. She knew that he thought that her life wasn�t so bad. She had to finish the story, no matter how hard it hurt to say the words.

�And?� Dan asked with a touch of mockery in his voice.

�I tried to stop him. I tried to tell him to stop and to leave me alone. Mike couldn�t hear no. He became abusive and left me bruised and exposed to the world. I couldn�t hide behind my lies any more. The bruises and cuts said it all,� Courtney paused, the tears welling in her eyes.

Dan couldn�t say anything. He felt terrible for assuming that she hadn�t been through anything horrible before. How dare some guy try and hurt her. Dan was becoming angry with Mike, and he didn�t even know the guy.

�One day Mike got really drunk and came over to my house. No one else was home. He took me into the kitchen, claiming that he just wanted to �talk�. He grabbed a knife and swung it at me. I fought him off, but he was too strong for me. He would have stabbed me in the heart but�� Courtney choked on the words.

�You don�t have to tell me the rest,� Dan said finally realizing how much she had been through.

Courtney continued the story as if she hadn�t heard his words. �I called Matt after he left. Mike had stabbed my hip and I was bleeding heavily. Matt took me to the hospital and stayed by my side,� Courtney paused. �It took twenty-one stitches to undo what Mike had done. I still have the scar. I�ve never let anyone see it though.�

�Oh my God,� Dan said softly, putting his hand on her leg. �What happened after that?�

�My dad wasn�t there when I needed him. No one cared about me. Matt was the only one who saw my pain and welcomed me with open arms,� Courtney brushed the tears away with the back of her hand. �Mike went to rehab and then onto jail. He�s in some prison in LA.�

Dan moved closer to her and pulled her into a tight hug. Courtney sobbed into his shoulder; glad he finally understood what she had gone through. They stayed that way for a few minutes, not saying a word.

�Court, I�m so sorry. I didn�t know,� Dan couldn�t find the words to heal her pain. He felt so horrible for the things that had happened to her. He promised himself that he�d never let another guy hurt her like that.

�Dan, it�s not your fault. It�s something not a lot of people know about,� Courtney pulled away from him. She started up the car and drove toward his house.

Not wanting to hurt her anymore, Dan stayed silent the rest of the way. Courtney drove down his street and stopped in front of the house she had picked him up in front of on Friday. Dan didn�t get out of the car.

�I don�t live here,� he said softly.

�Well, where do you live?� Courtney asked.

�Three blocks down the road,� Dan said as Courtney drove down the street.

He pointed out his house and she stopped. �Wow,� she said under her breath.

The house wasn�t what she was used to. The paint was falling off and it was run down. The lawn was brown and there was no car in the driveway. Dan got out of the car embarrassed at his family�s lack of money.

�Why didn�t you tell me about this?� Courtney asked angry that she had shared her secret, but he hadn�t told her this.

�My dad lost his job after I got expelled because of my behavior. This was all that we could afford,� Dan said. �Court, I gotta go. I�ll see you at school tomorrow.�

Courtney watched speechlessly as Dan ran up the walk and into the house. She stared in disbelief at his house. She stepped on the gas and went home.

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