Strong

Chapter Ten

"What happened?" Alex asks, his voice barely above a whisper.

The sun had begun to set and a shadow crawls over the trees.

"I thought...I thought I was in a room...filled with water. I couldn't escape," Maria whispers, "what's happening to me?"

Alex goes silent.

"I should get you home," he finally says, helping Maria to stand up.

"Isn't there something else we can do?" Maria asks quickly.

Alex looks at her quizzically, "It's almost 8:30, I don't want your parents thinking you were kidnapped."

Maria looks down at her feet and says, "I'm sure he wouldn't care."

"He?" He asks.

"Nevermind," she whispers.

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Alex drives her home in his black 67 Chevy Impala. He said it belongs to his dad, but he uses it more than his dad does.

"Is this your house?" He asks, stopping in front of her driveway.

"Yes," she says quietly.

"All the lights are off, are your parents home?" Alex questions turning to face her.

She goes silent and then says, "My dad probably is."

"Alright, I'll walk you up to your door,"he says opening his door and getting out.

Before Maria can open her car door, Alex rushes over and does it for her.

She smiles and says, "You're such a gentleman."

He does his boyish smirk and says jokingly, "Well, I do try my hardest."

She laughs and they walk up to her front yard.

The sun sets behind them, and the only light there is whatever blue is left from the sky. Their figures are like black shadows in the dim light.

They face each other, as Alex looks down into her eyes and whispers, "Today was fun."

She meets his gaze and whispers back, "Besides the part where I almost drowned."

"Yea, that part sucked, but I did get to give you mouth to mouth so it wasn't all bad."

"Are you sure you weren't about to kiss me before I spewed water everywhere?"

"They have a name for that."

"Yea? What's that?"

"CPR."

"Ah, I see," Maria says, nudging him in the shoulder playfully.

They continue their walk to her front door and once they get there, they stop.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow," he says.

"Yea, I hope you have another adventure planned out for us," Maria smiles, her hair still dripping wet onto her newly wet green shirt. She carries her socks, shoes, and jacket in her arms.

"Oh you bet," Alex says, his hair messed up and wet. He had left his shirt off, but put his shoes and socks on, and slung his jacket over his shoulder.

"Pinky-promise?" Maria asks, yet again mimicking him from that morning.

He lets that small smile creep up on his face and he whispers, "Pinky-promise."

They wrap their pinkies together, and then part ways, Alex heading to his car, and Maria going in her house.

When she opens the door, before closing it, she looks back and waves at Alex and he waves back, before getting in his car and driving off.

Maria turns and shuts the door behind her and locks it. She spins and comes face to face with her father.

She gasps and puts her hand on her chest and says, "Oh my God, you just gave me a heart attack."

He doesn't smile, instead he steps into the dim light, which shows his bloodshot eyes.

"Oh no, he's drunk," Maria thinks filled with dread.

"Who's that boy?" He hisses.

"A-a new friend, that's all," Maria quickly says, trying to inch her way toward the stairs.

"It sure didn't LOOK like just a friend," he snaps, beginning to raise his voice.

"I promise that's a-all it is," she says, stumbling on her words.

He raises his hand and smacks her across her face.

Maria lets out a small gasp of pain as she crumbles to the floor, her hand to her face.

Tears fill her eyes as she looks up at her father.

Instead of walking away, he kicks her in the side, sending her sliding onto her back, screaming in pain.

"WORTHLESS!" He screams and walks away.

Maria stifles her sobs as she attempts to sit up. She crawls toward the stairs and climbs up the first two steps on her hands and knees.

That's when she hears her father coming back.

"No," she whispers, trying to climb faster, but her side throbbed too much.

Suddenly, a hand grabs her ankle.

"Please no!" Maria gasp trying to crawl up two more stairs.

Her father pulls with all his strength at Maria's ankle, dragging her down the stairs.

She screams with each stair that connects with her bruised side.

Her dad grabs her shirt and pulls her off the ground. Her feet hang limply at least and inch off the ground as he yells in her face, "DID YOU HAVE FUN TOGETHER!? I BET YOU'RE PREGNANT NOW TOO HUH?! WILL THIS CHILD REPLACE YOUR MOTHER!!?"

Maria let a tear slip out from her eye.

"That's not-" she begins quietly, but he interrupts her by whipping her to the side then throwing her to the ground, like a piece of trash.

Maria makes a choking noise as she tries to breathe after the hard impact.

He looks down at her weak form and makes a disgusted face, then walks back into the kitchen, to finish his drink.

Maria lies on the floor in pain.

"I need to get to my room!" She thinks urgently.

Adrenaline causes Maria to stand, stumble up the stairs, and into her room.

She shuts the door and locks it behind her, then collapses on the floor.

Maria is lucky her room was clean, otherwise she could've landed on something sharp.

Her side aches and her face burns where she was slapped. Not to mention the fact her whole back felt like knives were digging into it from where her dad threw her to the floor.

Tears threaten to spill over as she forces herself to sit up, then stand up, and walk over to her bathroom.

She turns the light on and shuts the door. Maria looks in the mirror and raises her shirt.

When she sees the large, brown and blue, bruise on her side, she can't help but let a
tear slip down her cheek.