Bruises

Adrienne

The next day I woke up abruptly when someone poured freezing cold water down my head. It turned out that my mother was angry that I hadn’t answered back when she called me so she had gotten creative. 

She then proceeded to grab my hair and drag me by my hair towards my door where my father was watching the whole thing. My mother dumped me in front of my father and that’s when the hits started coming from all directions. It was mostly targeted at my stomach but some landed on my arms when I was protecting my stomach. They finally left when they were satisfied. I just lay there for a while when I felt bile starting to rise so I hurried to the bathroom and emptied my stomach. 

I didn’t let myself cry as there was no use to it, it didn’t reduce the pain. I knew that I should not have relaxed and enjoyed myself as this was always what happened when I let loose a little. I should have known that it was too good to be true. My parents would never let me have a day in peace. 

I was quickly losing hope that there would ever be a future for me with the way things were going on, what if my parents took it too far one day and I didn’t survive it. I knew that it was impossible to get out of my parents' grasp but I couldn’t help but preserve that tiny glimmer of hope that I would be free one day. 

I just feared that freedom would be in the form of death. I didn’t let myself dwell on that and decided that I needed to be strong so I picked myself up from the floor and started getting ready for the day. I knew that my parents would not bother me now that they had their fill so I took my time and tried to relax. 

I put some ointment on the bruises which were looking real bad and took some pain medication which I had specially bought for situations like this for good measure. I popped two pills in my mouth and gulped it down with some water. I once again got dressed in some super comfy hoodie and sweats which would not provide any strain on my sore body. 

I put my hair up in a ponytail and put on some warm socks and sneakers. I grabbed my bag and headed to the garage hoping that the lack of food would not affect my day as I was not in any condition to eat anything . I most likely would puke it all out. It was still too early to go to school but I didn’t want to be in the house any longer than necessary so I started my car and drove around the city to gather my jumbled thoughts.The drive around the city helped me calm down a little. 

After half an hour of speeding around the city, I decided to head to school. I was still a little early which I decided was a good thing. I headed to my first class and decided to listen to some music. 

I was feeling slightly dizzy so I decided to take a quick nap on the desk. I only awoke when the bell for the period had rang. I looked up drowsily only to find Aziel sitting beside me. I was bewildered because he always seemed to sneak up on me and I was usually a very alert person. 

Also, he should not have been in this class because he had not attended it yesterday. When he noticed that I had woken up, he turned to me and said “good morning sleepyhead”. “ What are you doing here? I don’t think you attended this class yesterday” I asked him. 

“Why can’t I be in this class? I came because I felt like it, '' he replied. I was once again stupefied by his answer. “Well , I guess, '' I said lamely. I looked around the class and found Selena and her crew glaring furiously at me. “Stay away from him you bitch” mouthed Selena. 

I quickly stood up and made my way towards the door since I didn’t want to deal with her today. Aziel got up to follow me but quickly got surrounded by Selena and her bitch crew. 

When I looked back his expression was frosty as if he had encountered something unpleasant. Selena started flirting with him so I quickly turned away and headed to the next class where thankfully I would not meet Selena but unfortunately I would encounter Aziel. 

Even though all my encounters with Aziel had been quite pleasant, I just couldn’t get rid of the thought that he might just be like everyone else. That he might break my heart if he got the chance so I wanted to distance myself from him. 

I could not give him the chance to break the walls around my heart. I really hoped he would stop doing whatever it was that he was doing and ignore me or hate me altogether like everyone else. 

I couldn’t for the love of god figure out what it was that pulled me to him like a moth to a flame , it was not just his good looks but the pain behind his smiling eyes which was almost similar to mine but not quiet. He thought he was hiding it well from everyone but I could tell just like I could tell that there was evil in my parents.