Saviour (This Pain SEQUEL) Ch 2

-----SERENA’S POV-----

I put on my long-sleeve Black Veil Brides shirt, light blue skinny jeans, and my black converse…I was trying to cover up as much skin as possible. I put on my white beanie and black leather jacket, after putting on my makeup, then picked up my sketch pad and pen. I stuffed my things in my book bag and grabbed my two most important things...earbuds and my phone which has my music. My legs felt weak, so I slid down the railing to the bottom of the stairs then met up with my mom in the kitchen. She looked happy but I could tell she was forcing the smile, since I knew she still felt bad for me.

“Are you sure you want to do this, honey?” she asked, sweetly.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “I need at least a full high school education if I want to be an author, right?”
“Well that doesn’t mean you can’t take your classes online.”
“No, I want to go to school…you can’t make pottery online. Well, you can but you don’t get your hands dirty and I like making things in the mud.”
“Okay. Your father and I are only a phone call away, just remember that.”
“I will. Thank you, mom,” I smiled, hugging her tight and inhaling her vanilla perfume.

I stole a poptart from the pantry and a bottle of orange juice from the fridge then ran to dad’s car. He drove to starbucks, like usual, and grabbed us both a coffee when I heard his song, Lost It All, beginning to play on the radio. I turned up the volume and watched the rain fall from the dark grey-ish blue clouds, thinking of something to draw. I then got an amazing idea and when I sketched the first couple of lines, dad came back into the car. He heard the song and looked at me with sad, worried eyes. I half-smiled, letting him know I wasn’t feeling too bad, and he flashed the same smile back at me. We then drove off as the song and rain continued, slightly intensifying.

We drove through the parent pick-up/drop-off and he came to a stop right in front of the large, iron, bulletproof glass doors. I didn’t get out. Instead, I just sat there in my seat and stared out of my window at the double doors. My dad’s hand clapped down on my shoulder, startling me a little, and I quickly turned around to see him smiling at me.

“I downloaded an old album of mine onto your phone,” he explained. “It helped your mother through her trials and downfalls...maybe it’ll help you too.”
“What’s it called?”
“We Stitch These Wounds. I wrote a lot of the songs when I was in high school and I know how hard it is to be labeled an outcast but you have to understand something.”
“What?”
“You are the only thing that will ever make me put down my pen. Serena if you need me, I will stop everything I’m doing to come get you.”
“Thank you, dad,” I smiled, almost crying, while hugging him.

I grabbed my breakfast, coffee, orange juice, and the fifty dollars mom gave me for lunch then march into the school with a new hope. I was the first person in the building, so I didn’t really worry much about what was going on around me. I marched right on down to the cafeteria and continued working on my drawing from earlier. When I heard the school bus pull up in front of the school, I quickly tossed my bag onto my back again then quickly ran out of the other set of doors, but I think they still saw me. I heard somebody cough the word “whore” and immediately I knew that today was not going to be good.

As I walked down the hall, I realized that some of the other kids showed up a bit earlier than usual and were standing in the hallway. It was actually really creepy, almost like they were waiting on me. “Just paranoid,” I thought to myself, “you just need to keep calm.” However, I wasn’t just being paranoid…I was right. As I walked past everyone, I felt their eyes burning holes into my body and I could hear them whispering things, nasty things, about me. One kid even threw a plastic cup at the back of my head. I just sucked it up and tried my hardest to ignore it. That worked for a while...until somebody tripped me then poured a box of unopened condoms on me. I grabbed my things quickly and tossed them into the art room then ran straight for the bathroom with tears filling the water lines of my eyes.

-----TRIGGER WARNING-----
I clutched my dad’s BVB necklace so tight that my palm started to bleed from the points on the wings. I then took my pencil out of my pocket, rolled up my sleeve, then carved a single line into my forearm. How could I have been so stupid?! I let him take advantage of me without ever thinking twice! I’m the school whore now! Nobody is ever going to wanna be my friend! This is all my own stupid fault...I did this.
-----END OF WARNING-----

My phone vibrated, indicating I had a text. When I checked it, I saw that my dad had sent me a picture of him and my mom when they were in high school. He then wrote “We know first hand what it’s like to be an outcast, and we made you...our little angel. Prove them wrong, honey. Never Give In, Never Back Down.” I then remembered the album that my dad told me to listen to earlier in the car. I put my earbuds in and scrolled through my play list until I found We Stitch These Wounds. I tapped on the icon and closed my eyes, blocking my vision to heighten my hearing.

The very first song to play was We Stitch These Wounds and I remember dad telling me about his girlfriend Scout breaking his heart so I figured that inspired him to write it. The songs to follow, Perfect Weapon and Beautiful Remains, really spoke to me and made me regret cutting my arm. I cried again but this time it wasn’t from cruelty...it was from sorrow. I silently apologized to myself then texted my dad saying, “Dad…...I’m so very sorry. I just cut myself. Some kid just tripped me and poured a box of unopened condoms on me saying that I’d need them. I didn’t know what else to do! I was just so hurt! I hope you’re not mad at me…”

He replied saying, “Never apologize for something you did out of pain. I understand your heartache, angel, and it hurts me to hear what you’re having to go through. Do you want me to come and get you?” I said no and he replied with “Okay. Your mother and I both love you deeply and remember those words you wrote ‘Living a life of misery / Always there, just underneath / Haunting me, quietly alone / It’s killing me, killing me / Dead and gone, what's done is done / You were all I had become / I'm letting go of what I once believed / So goodbye agony.’

“You are stronger than anyone in that god forsaken building and yes, it would be better off burning to the ground, but you have the strength to hold your head up high when everyone else is trying to tear you down. You put on that armor, unpiercable by their swords, and you wear it with pride. Show them what you are made of! Show them whose blood runs through your veins! You will be the one still standing when the battle cloud clears because you….you are a fighter just as your mother and I, your uncles and aunts, and even your grand parents. We all love you. Love, Ash, Kim, CC, Lauren, L, Royce, Jacob, Jake, Jinxx, Sammi, Ella, your grandparents, your mother, and myself.”