Blaine pulled his phone out of his pocket and started to dial someone's number when we heard the door slam open.

                "And one more thi... Who do you think you're calling? Your fag of a boyfriend? I don't think so."  Dad grabbed Blaine's phone out of his hand and threw it against the wall.  He pulled his arm up and gave Blaine's face one last punch with so much force behind it that Blaine was knocked unconscious.  He turned and looked at me now, "If you are so willing to stand up for your brother then I would suggest getting him into his bed before things get really ugly."  Dad walked over to the fridge and grabbed a beer before walking into the front room and turning on some Friday night college football game.

                I grabbed Blaine by the hands and dragged him into his bedroom.  He looked so helpless with blood dripping from the cut under his eye and his face was so swollen he was almost unrecognizable.  I silently snuck into the bathroom and got a damp washcloth and went back to Blaine's room to clean up his face before I tried my very best to get him up into his bed.  At the first touch of the washcloth to his face I saw his eyes flutter before weakly opening. 

                "Riley, I'm so sorry.  You shouldn't have done that.  I could have handled it by myself."

                "Blaine. Stop. That's what sisters are for but you better get in bed before Dad hears us talking and decides that he hasn't had enough."  I quickly finish wiping off the blood before Blaine crawled in his bed.  I walk over to his door and turn off the light.

                "Ri, can you please stay with me tonight?  I don't want you in there alone.  I need to make sure you're safe."

                "Sure thing.  Let me just change into my pajamas."  We both knew that I didn't actually need to change into my pajamas; I just needed an excuse to grab my baby blanket off of my bed.  I got that blanket the day I was born and had never slept a night without it.  It had gotten me through some really rough times, but nothing even came close to what I went through tonight.  I walked back into Blaine's room just seconds later before I crawled into his bed and into his arms.

                I woke up the next morning in more pain than I even thought was possible.  My face was killing me and I could already tell how swollen it was because I could literally see my cheek out of the bottom of my eye and my back hurt from getting slammed to the ground.  I rolled over to see how bad Blaine was but he wasn't there.  All I saw was a note:

Riley,

When I woke up today Dad was already gone.  I know you really wanted to meet Kurt so I am going to bring him over this afternoon if Dad is still away.  I will call you before we come to make sure.  Everything is going to be okay.  I love you.

Blaine

I rolled out of bed and walked awkwardly into the kitchen, opened the freezer, and grabbed a bag of frozen peas for my face.  After about two minutes I decided that I couldn't hold off looking at myself in the mirror anymore.  I slowly walked into the bathroom with my eyes purposefully pointed down at the counter.  I could see that Blaine's makeup from the last play he was in was sitting out.  I suppose he tried to cover up the bruises on his face before going to meet Kurt.  I took a deep breath before finally forcing my eyes to meet themselves in the mirror.  I looked like I had gone to hell and back.  My eye was still swollen and the rest of my face was completely covered in bruises.  My right cheek, as I suspected, was swollen.  I looked down at my wrist where a perfect hand shaped bruise resided from when Dad took hold of it.  Looking closer at my face I noticed that I had mini cuts all under my eyes from when Dad's knuckles broke some of my skin.  I can only imagine what Blaine looks like this morning.  I had gotten the easy side of things.

I ran back to my room and grabbed my phone from the book I had it resting on last night when Blaine had come in to talk to me.  I sent Blaine a quick text telling him that I was alright and Dad still wasn't home.  He replied simply with an, "I love you.  See you later." and I knew that he was just happy to be with Kurt right now.

I grabbed the remote for the TV and began to watch all of my recorded TV shows I had missed during the week from being busy with homework or choir practice.  I was able to get through How I Met Your Mother, Greys Anatomy, and Criminal Minds before I heard the door open.

"Blaine, is that you? Where's Kurt?"  Judging by the quickening of the heavy footsteps and the loud scream that I heard from the mudroom I could tell I had made a mistake.

"You mean to tell me that your brother is out with that boyfriend of his right now? And he plans on bringing him back here?"  I quickly searched for the right response.

"No, Dad.  Umm... I... was...." Stupid Riley, stupid.

I could feel a fistful of my hair get yanked back until my neck couldn't stretch any further. 

"Don't lie to me Riley.  You know how I feel about lying."  He slammed my head against the back of the couch before walking around in front of me and grabbing my wrist in the exact same spot the bruise laid from last night.  "Did you learn nothing from last night?  I don't appreciate it when people lie to me Riley."  He began dragging me into the kitchen and I couldn't help the sudden quickening of my breath when I started to panic.  The sink is full of soapy water; obviously mom's attempt to keep a normal morning routine by washing last night's dinner dishes had not worked for her.  Dad slammed me up against the sink, one of my ribs hit the counter with a loud crack, and he grabbed the back of my head until my face was an inch away from the water.  "Now, where is your brother?"  Don't rat him out Riley.  You are stronger than that.  Blaine is all you have.

"I don't know."  Dad pushed my face under water for a good thirty seconds before grabbing me by the hair and pulling my head out.  God, maybe you were too busy helping someone else last night but I really need your help.  Make him stop. 

"Where is your brother!?"

"I don't know."  He pushed my head into the water again, holding it in just a little longer.  God, am I not enough for you to save?  This time when Dad pulled my head out from under the sink I began to cough.  Soap had crept its way into my throat and I was choking on it.  I could no longer tell if it was water from the sink or tears that were streaming off of my face and dripping down into the sink but at this point it didn't matter. Nothing did.

"I am going to ask you one more time.  Where is your brother?" He enunciated each word so clearly and with each word his voice dropped a little.  God, by now I know you don't exist.

"I'm not going to tell you."  And with that answer came the longest punishment of all.  I don't remember when Dad let me breathe again, or even what happened up until he left.  All I knew is that many minutes later I woke up alone, and dripping wet on the kitchen floor.

I used all my strength to roll onto my side because with each cough came a soapy water spilling out of my mouth.  Finally, I was able to gain enough strength to push myself up onto my knees.  I was lying in a huge puddle of water and soaked from head to toe.  What had Dad done to me?  I quickly checked my phone in my pocket.  It wouldn't turn on so I popped off the battery on the back and saw that the circle they always put to test water damage was bright pink.  My phone was ruined.

The front door slammed open and I winced at the thought that Dad had come back for me.  But the footsteps didn't match the sound of my Dad's boots.

"RILEY? Riley, where are you?"  Blaine came running around the corner until he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me.  His face actually looked close to normal; mental note: get stage makeup like Blaine's.  Not even two seconds after Blaine spotted me two other people came running behind him.  One was a soft faced teenage boy, my guess was Kurt, but also an older man wearing a baseball cap.

"Riley. What happened?  I tried calling you to tell you that I was on my way but your phone was off."

"Blaine. I made a mistake.  Dad came home earlier and I thought it was you.  So I shouted something about wanting to meet Kurt and he lost it again.  I'm so sorry Blaine.  It's going to be really bad when he sees you again.  I'm so sorry."

"Riley, don't worry about it.  Right now Burt, Kurt, and I are here to get you."  And before I could say anything else the strange man in the baseball cap was picking me up and carrying me out of the apartment.  "I'm going to grab some of our things.  I won't be gone more than five minutes Ri.  I will meet you in the car."  And with those words I was whisked away down the hall.  I could hear the man talking to his son about me.

"We have to get her to the hospital.  He really messed her up."

"Dad, you get her into the car, I'm going to go see if Blaine needs any help."

That is the last thing I remember before slipping back into the unconscious.