Shoot me down

chapter 3

Beca opened up her laptop and began to load an episode of CSI. Chloe had come over, and instead of watching a movie they settled for a TV programme they both like. She moved over on her bed to make space for Chloe, who walked over with a bowl of popcorn in her hand. "Which episode are we watching?" she asked, throwing a few pieces of popcorn in her mouth. "My favourite one," Beca answered vaguely. They settled down into the mattress and the theme music began to play.

Shortly into the first quarter of the show, Beca stopped watching and started to become occupied with her own thoughts. All she wanted was to put her arm around Chloe, but nerves were taking over. What if Chloe hated that sort of thing? Or what if, knowing her own clumsy self, she moved her arm and whacked Chloe in the face? Her mind was making up more and more possibilities of what could go wrong, each more ridiculous than the last. Eventually, she decided to just go for it. So after planning exactly how fast to move her arm and where exactly to rest it, she lifted up her left arm and placed it tentatively around Chloe's shoulders.

She took in a deep breath waiting to see how Chloe responded, and didn't breathe out until she was happy when Chloe didn't pull away. A smile crept onto Beca's face and she hoped it wasn't obvious to the girl in her arms. As always, Chloe felt the exact same: her lips formed into a smile the moment she felt Beca's arm around her shoulders, but she didn't want to let on how happy it made her. She trained her eyes back on the screen and tried to figure out what was happening and pick up on what she missed.

On the screen were a man and woman; a husband and wife, and the man was the main suspect in a murder case - Chloe knew that much. However the next scene hit a nerve, taking her completely off guard as she never expected to react in the way she did. The man raised his fist and knocked his wife to the floor, and Chloe felt herself jump. Beca noticed something was wrong and felt herself tense, ready to move if anything happened. With the woman on the floor, her husband came up to her and swung his boot into her stomach. Chloe couldn't take any more: tears flooded down her face and she cried, "Turn it off! Beca please get rid of it."

Beca shut the laptop and threw it to the end of her bed before putting both arms around Chloe and holding her tightly. She could feel her girlfriend shaking and sobbing into her shoulder leaving tear marks on her shirt, and it broke her heart to see her so scared. Beca pulled her closer with one arm whilst lifting her other hand to the back of Chloe's head and stroking her flame coloured hair in desperate attempts to calm her. "Shhh... It's okay. You're alright, I've got you," she soothed.

It took several minutes before her breathing had returned to normal, but eventually Chloe stopped crying and became less hysterical. Beca didn't move, she kept holding her and gently stroking her hair until Chloe was ready to pull away. When she did, her face was red and her eyes were glistening with tears, and all she could say was, "Sorry." Beca shook her head and took Chloe's hands in her own and said, "Don't say that. It's not your fault; I shouldn't have put it on. I didn't think. I am so sorry." The guilt was almost unbearable. She was so angry at herself for being so stupid.

Seeing the distress in Chloe's face she continued, "It happened again, didn't it?" Chloe could only nod. "Why?" Beca pleaded, "You know now that every time you go there he's going to hurt you."

Chloe's response sparked tears from both of their eyes as she said, "It keeps him occupied. If he hits me, he doesn't hit my mom."

"Show me," Beca whispered. At first Chloe shook her head in refusal, but after seeing how badly this was affecting her girlfriend she gave in. She lifted up her shirt to reveal the biggest bruise Beca had ever seen spreading across the left side of her ribs. "How bad is it?" Beca asked, referring to the pain. "The worst," came a whispered response, and her voice cracked as she continued, "I think something's broken." Beca had noticed earlier the way that Chloe moved slowly and painfully, and she was kicking herself for not saying something before. "We've got to get you to a hospital," Beca said. As expected Chloe protested, but her heart jumped when the brown haired girl offered herself up yet again as an excuse.

"They will ask what happened, and I'll say it was my fault. I tripped and knocked you over into a table. Wait... how many times did he kick you?" Chloe was reluctant to answer, unsure if it would do more harm than good by telling Beca the truth. Urgently Beca squeezed Chloe's hands and said, "This is important. They'll be able to tell if we're lying, so if he kicked you more than once then the table excuse won't work." Chloe's voice was timid as she replied, "I erm... I don't remember exactly. After about the third kick I just zoned out and prayed for it to stop."

Beca felt a lump in her throat form as she struggled to fight back the tears. She let out a slow breath then said, "We were sharing a bed as you were sleeping over mine. I have night terrors, and I lashed out in my sleep. It was an accident, but it was my fault."

"You don't have to do this," Chloe said, falling more and more in love with Beca each minute. "Yes, I do," came the reply, "Because you need help. If you have broken any ribs, they need to be fixed and you're only going to go to hospital if I take the fall for you. Later, we need to stop your dad, because this can't go on. But for now, I'm going to look after you one step at a time."

Chloe leant in and kissed Beca, feeling so unbelievably lucky to have her. "Come on," Beca said as she helped Chloe to her feet gently, trying not to hurt her. "I'll be right with you the whole way."