Twinkle, Little Star

Chapter 5

Maggie looked around her room for Dark. He was gone again. Disappearing seemed to be a neat trick of his.

Man she felt like trash. One second she was in the store and the glass windows were exploding and then next she was in her room, vomiting up what little food she had eaten that night.

Man, she needed a drink of water. She struggled to her feet, resisting the urge to cry and be a big baby. Her hand was on her doorknob when it turned itself and opened. A head of platinum blonde hair peeked around at her and the face of a shocked woman looked back at her.

"Sorry! I'm just looking for the bathroom! Are you the little sister I heard about?"

Maggie blinked several times before asking, "Umm… what?"

"Josh's special little sister. He's told me all about you and your… issues. I'm Loni, his girlfriend. Didn't he tell you about me?"

"His…" her words fell away. Actually, she felt like she was falling. Or spinning. Definitely spinning. She was spinning, the room was spinning. Her whole damn life was spinning.

Of course Josh had been horrible for a long time now and she's been stuck out of fear and multiple other reasons people wouldn't understand. Because unless you've lived in and experienced an abusive relationship, you couldn't understand why people stayed.

Still, she didn't expect this.

"You don't look so good, sweetie."

Maggie sat on the edge of her bed and stared at the woman before gathering up what little courage she had and stating, "I'm not his sister."

Loni's face fell for a brief second. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm his girlfriend. Or… was, at one point. I'm not his sister. I've lived here for three years."

Loni released a shallow laugh. "Is this what he meant when he said you had mental problems? He also said you do this freaky thing where you act like a child. It makes sense now, I thought he was being a dick. But look at this room!"

Maggie shook her head, willing the girl to listen to her. "Listen to me, he's not what you think."

"Sweetie, what I think is that you need to be in a padded room somewhere where you can't hurt others or yourself. I don't say that to be mean. I say that because I love Josh and I know he loves his baby sister."

"I'm not his sister!"

"It's kinda fucked up that you think of your brother as your boyfriend. And then there's the mental child shit. I mean… are you… ya know, medically special or something? It's okay if you are!"

Maggie stared, open mouthed at the woman.

"Loni!" Josh shouted across the house. "Get your sexy ass back in here!"

Loni smiled at her and winked. "I've gotta go, sweetie. It was so nice to meet you."

The door closed and she was gone. Maggie sat frozen in her bed, staring at her beautiful rainbow shaped rug that she had made herself.

Words shouldn't hurt so bad, but they did. She would've rather taken physical abuse repeatedly than be battered with verbal and mental abuse. She shouldn't have been surprised that he was cheating. Or had their relationship been over? She knew a year ago that there was no hope left. It had been about surviving by that point. But still, it hurt.

"Little Star?"

Maggie looked up through tear filled eyes to find Dark standing before her again.

"You left me," she whispered. "You left me."