Imperfect love

Chapter fifteen

She came back wearing a pair of grey Nike sweatpants with Nike socks and an oversized white hoodie. She had her hair up in a messy bun and had taken her make-up off, she looked really cute. She flopped next to me on the couch, causing me to chuckle.

“I’m sorry, I’m exhausted” she said as she put her feet on the coffee table.

“It’s okay, it’s your house, you should be able to relax.”

“So, when are your parents coming back?”

“Maybe next week.”

“What they do could be considered neglect.”

“Nope, I’m an adult.”

“Shit, you are right.” “Have your parents always been abusive towards you?”

My eyes widened, and a lump formed in my throat as these words left her mouth, I knew she knew, but it was hard hearing it.

“No, they’ve been like that for four years” I looked at her to see her reaction, but she didn’t look surprised.

“I know I’ve asked you before, but I have to ask again…” She paused for a while “Do they ever physically hurt you?”

 I should tell her the truth, but as hard as I’m trying, no words come out of my mouth, so I just look at her and nod. I closed my eyes, trying to prevent tears from falling, but I couldn’t. Talking about it made everything real. It brought back up all the bad memories.

She pulled me into a hug, and I hugged her back, and that’s when I completely broke down.

All the times he pushed me, punched me, kicked me, all the names he called me, how he made me beg him to stop. All the times he humiliated me and put me down, they all came rushing back.

She rubbed circles on back as I held onto her. My head was in the crook of her neck, and I sobbed uncontrollably, gasping for air while doing so.

“It’s okay” she kept repeating to me, trying to calm me down  “You need to breathe, come on.” She said, slightly pulling away, I looked down as I kept crying. “Look at me please” She whispered, and I did.

“It’s okay, it’s going to be okay. I understand that it’s incredibly difficult to talk about these things. It makes you relive everything, I know, I’ve been there, but it gets better. It really does. Thank you for trusting me with this.”

I looked at her and wanted to tell her not to report it, but I couldn’t form any words.  

“Don’t worry, I won’t report it, I promise not to tell anyone.”

“Thank you” was all I managed to say.

“I’ll bring you a glass of water.”

I felt drained, and my eyelids felt heavy. She came back and handed me the water and watched me as I drank some of it.

“Do you want to stay over tonight?”

“I don’t want to be a burden” I said.

“You are not a burden” She smiled, and I nodded.

“Okay then, come with me, I’ll show you around and give you something more comfortable to wear.” She gave me a quick tour of her house and led me to a bedroom, which I assumed was hers. She opened the closet, and a stupid comment came to my mind.

“Don’t open the closet so much” She looked at me, weirded out.

“Why?”

“You might find me in there” I joked, making her laugh.