A Thorn In The Flesh

EMILYS P.O.V

The noise of my alarm disturbs my thinking, I turn over and look at the time, 5:00 am. I groan as I stand up from my bed and walk to my dads room to wake him up, The talk with Simon kept me up all night. I couldn get a minute of sleep without getting an image of Simon telling me I was going to pay. It kept replaying itself in my mind. I open the door to my dads room and start playing loud music on my phone, thats the only way to wake him.

”Im up okay? You can turn off the music now ” My dad says, as he stands up from his bed.

I switch off the music

”Okay dad but Ill be back in an hour and if you
e not ready Ill keep this music on ”

He bursts into a fit of laughter at my tone and walks closer to me inspecting my face, he lets out a little yawn

”Are you okay? You look like you didn get enough sleep ”

”I was binge-watching a movie and it kept me up all night ” I hate lying to my dad, but I can tell him about Simon threatening me, itll make him mad and I don want him doing anything thatll lead him into more trouble with Simons family.

He squints his eyes and gets a better look at me

”Thats weird you normally don let anything interfere with your sleep ”

”I know but the movie was so good I had no choice ” I lie

”Okay then, go get ready for school ”

I nod my head and go to my room, I take a shower and put on a black oversized hoodie over a pair of skinny jeans, I pack my hair into a ponytail. I don normally dress like this and thats precisely why I need to dress like this today, to avoid being caught by Simon and his group of minions. I stand in front of the mirror and stare at my image, I feel like Im missing something, I know what it is, I pick up a pair of glasses and a face cap. I put them on and feel complete.

”Honey, breakfast is ready ” I hear my dad shout from the kitchen.

I smile at the thought of breakfast and try to put my worry behind me, I fake a smile for my dad and have breakfast with him.

After that I bid him goodbye as he gets into his car and drives off to work, I busy myself with various things as I wait for my ride, also known as Zeke, as the only member of our friend group that has a car, its his sole responsibility to give Nathan and me a ride to school.

My phone beeps indicating a text, I glance over and see its from Zeke which means hes outside my house, I walk out and lock the door behind me.

As I open the door to the front seat I immediately notice Zeke staring weirdly at me

”What? ” I ask as I sit down and buckle my seat belt.

”Whats with the robber look? ”

I shrug his metaphor off

”Im trying something different ”

”Theres nothing wrong with your usual style ”

”Thats so sweet ” I make an awn shape with my mouth and strap on my seatbelt. I turn back to Zeke who hasn started the car and give him a confused expression, he replies to me with a serious look.

”If something is bothering you, you know you can tell me right? ”

The truth is, I can . If I tell Zeke or Nathan, theyll want to be heroes and theyll end up in trouble too. Ill have to keep this to myself. I put on a fake smile

”Why does everyone keep assuming something is wrong? ”

”Youve been acting weird since yesterday ”

”Thank you. But if 4somethings up Id tell you ”

”Speaking of which, did you hear what happened to Nathans mum? ” Zeke asks.

I remember our talk yesterday and nod.

”Yh I did, I saw him last night, he didn look too good. Im going to go see his mom after my shift, will you come? ”

”I would love to but my mum needs me for something after school ”

”Okay ”

Minutes after we arrive at Nathans house and pick him up, none of us bring up the topic about his mum, plus he looks okay so we just roll with it.

We get to school and go through some classes and then finally its time for lunch. I tell the guys I wouldn be having lunch and stay back in the class luckily Simon doesn come to the class, after lunch, we have all our classes and then the schools over. Zeke leaves early to help his mum, do Nathan and I decide to walk to the superstore together but then I start to feel the urge to urinate so I tell him to go without me and make my way to the girls restroom.

”Aah, ” I breathe a sigh of relief as I come out of the girls washroom. I stuff my hands into the pocket of my hoodie and start walking back to class. From the corner of my eye, I see Simon walking towards me, my heart skips a beat and I immediately turn around but one of his minions, Trev blocks my path, and two others of his minions come from each side and Im surrounded.

”So. Emily you didn get your dad to pay, ” Simon says closing the square they had formed.

”Look doing this to me, isn going to help my dad pay back, he doesn have the money right now but once he does, hell give it to your dad, and look I just got a job Ill give you all my wages just please don hurt me ”

”Hurt you? You think Im going to hurt you ”

”You
e not? Well, thats a reli.. ”

”Haa of course I am ” he makes his hand into a fist and delivers a punch straight to my stomach.

”Ouch, ” I scream and bend a little, I clutch my stomach with my hand. Tears start to well up in my eyes, I remember something I learned in a self-defense class I once attended, I try to steady myself, and then I safely deliver a kick to Simon in the area where the sun doesn shine, he winces in pain and moves back creating space for me to escape, I try to run but my hair is immediately yanked back by one of the guys, they hold unto the tip of my ponytail tightly and drags it backward.

”Ow ow ow pls stop ” I beg but it does nothing to help me. The boys laugh and hold my arms tightly

”You know its just like you to try to fight back when you know you have no chance, ” Simon says, he has fully recovered from the kick. He raises his hand, brings it down with so much energy, and makes it have an impact on my face. The force of the slap is so much that I fall to the ground.

”When you go home, I want you to show your father, the mark on your face, let him know that if he owes us for another day, something worse will be done to you ”

”Simon please I know your dad is making you do this, you don have to be like him, you don have to take over his loaning business, if you don get to run it one day youll still have a great future, you can make a better living than from doing things like this to people. You
e better than that this ”

”I think that wasn enough, you need something more before you know when to stop talking, I didn want it to result to this but youve left me no choice ”

He dips his hand into his pocket and brings out a little knife.

”My dad always says that this does the trick ” he uses the tip of his finger to rub the sharp edge of the knife

The other guys raise me to my feet, they hold my wrists tightly. Simon brings the knife close to my legs, places the metal on my jeans, and he easily tears a rectangle-shaped hole in my jeans, revealing the skin of my lap.

He stares at the knife and then at me but then he looks back at the hole he created. At this point, Im trembling in fear and pain.

”Please don do it. I beg of you Simon please let me go, youve done enough. Ive gotten the message, Ill make sure he pays you, or Ill pay you ”

”I think you need a little more motivation ” he places the cold metal on my exposed skin, and he makes his way to cut but a sound distracts him, and the knife falls from his hand and slides to the other side of the wall. Nathan picks up the knife.

”Whats going on here? ” Nathan asks, a puzzled look appears on his face.

I look at him and then at Simon. Nathan looks at everything, he walks closer to us and realizes whats going on.

”How dare you? ” He yells and grabs Simon by the collar. Simon releases himself from Nathans grasp and signals to his guys to let go of me, they release me and walk away. I heave a large sigh of relief as they all walk away. I attempt to stand up properly but I almost lose my balance, Nathan holds my arm and helps me balance. I rest my back on the wall and hold my stomach. My whole body aches from my head to my feet, I can still feel the sting of the slap on my face. I need to pay the debt. Thats right I had a job to get to. I turn to Nathan who is still standing there stunned.

”We still have to go to Frostys superstore we start today ”

He remarks to me with a are you serious look?

”You just went through that and you
e thinking about work. Besides, the manager already called, we
e late on our first day so we
e fired ”

”What? This is all my fault, Nathan Im sorry ” I apologize

He shrugs it off

”It doesn matter what Im concerned about is you. What happened here? ”

I bow my head and explain everything.

”The thing is things haven been good at my dads workplace so he borrowed some money from Simons family to take care of our needs and he hasn paid it back. You know how Simons dad is, he is more vicious than a typical loan shark and now has Simon walking in his footsteps ”

He put a hand to his head and sighed, then he put a hand on the wall and faced me with a serious look.

”I can believe something as serious as this was happening to you and you said nothing. I asked if you were okay, and you told me yes. Yesterday when I heard the news about my mum, you were the first person and the only person I talked to about it. I love that you
e always here for me but let me be there for you too, give me that chance. Just because I broke one tradition doesn mean that you can trust me anymore ”

”Its not about the tradition Nathan ”

”Then what is it about? ”

”Trust me. I wanted to tell you but you were too busy with Emma and then we had that interview after that, the thing with your mum happened and I didn want to add to your stress or get you into anything thatll put you in harms way ”

”You
e my best friend, your problem will never be a stress to me. It stresses me the more when I don know whats going on with you ”

”This is the last time I keep something like this to myself. I promise ”

”You
e forgiven. So what can we do about this whole Simon issue? Should we go to the police? ”

I shake my head in reply.

”No we can go to the police, Simons family has connections there, we can report to the school because his uncle owns the school and we can fight them back because they have connections everywhere and it can be detrimental to our futures and our lives ”

”Wow, youve analyzed the whole thing. So what can we do? ”

”The only thing we can do is to pay them back the money, thats the only way theyll leave my dad and me alone ”

”I wish we could just punch them but you
e right ”

”The big question now is, how do I get the money? ” I ask out loud

”I have an idea but you
e not going to like it ”

”Im desperate what do you have in mind? ”

”We can ask Zeke to lend us the money, well pay him back when we get another job, Zekes grandparents are loaded, he has a lot of cash lying around, Im sure he wouldn have a problem helping out ”

”You know how I feel about asking for this kind of help but I don I have any other option right now ”

”Okay then its settled well go over to his house and ask him ”

”First we have to go to the hospital to see your mum ”

He nods his head and walks closer to me, he bends down and inspects the part of my leg that was now exposed, and his finger slowly trails on it, I feel a light shock at the feel of his finger on my skin but I ignore it

”He didn use the knife on you right? ”

”Yeah, you came right on time ”

He stands up and inspects the mark on my face

”Are you sure you
e okay, you don have to follow me to the hospital? Ill tell my mum you send your regards ”

”Im okay, lets go, at the hospital, Ill ask for something for the pain ”