Forbidden

Chapter 5

Just like Abbie had called me and told me, the night previous, frantic and excited, we had our first ever 'college get together', Lord knows where. I decided it was in my best interest not to argue with her, or refuse her invite. So now I sat patiently awaiting for her to knock on my door, along side Ashley, read to drag me to some unknown college guy's dorm for small talk and snacks, in tattered jeans, a sweatshirt, and some old Converse. I glanced over at the clock; 6:21 pm. Ashley and Amber weren't expected to be here until 7, so I guessed I had come spare time to fancy myself up. My face was pale, free of makeup, and my hair was drab, thrown into a loosely hanging brown ponytail, that hung to to my lower back. Maybe a little bit of mascara and lipgloss wouldn't hurt. With a sigh, I pushed myself up from my bed, and over to my large mirror, where I kept my jewelery box and my makeup kit. They were hardy ever opened, for I preferred simplicity versus complexity. My bony, cold fingers fiddled sheepishly with the lock on the jewelry box. It had possibly been a full year since I'd opened this thing. Now it was really being difficult, and I was finally ready to just give up when it swung open and flew down to the ground with a loud 'thud', sending my jewelry and what looked like photos hurling down to the carpet. I sprung down to my hands and knees, crouched down in front of the mess on the floor, and quickly put all of my jewelry back into the box. Then, I picked up the photos, ones I hadn't seen in years. I flipped them over so the images were apparent to me. I sifted through the photos, one by one, my small body quivering at every one. My mouth hung open, and I suddenly felt nauseous as I saw the photos. There seemed to be hundreds of them, different ones. Ones that I thought I had gotten rid of for good. Ones that I thought I would never see again. In an anxious panic, I grabbed every single photo, walked across the room, and threw them all in the garbage can, with a loud scream. A scream that came out of nowhere. My heart raced, and so did my mind. There was only one name or one image that could make my body react in such a way. Only Abbie, Ashley, my mom, me, and a few of the students from last year knew about the trauma that came along with it. Bryan. Bryan Gooding. His name, it brought so much fear and rage whenever it was brought up. Just thinking of those photos of him, of us, in my garbage can made my hands throb, made a hand-print shape on my face sting.. Made my ribs ache. I felt like I was just about ready to throw up, I couldn't even stop shaking. I thought back to that night, back during Senior year of high-school, when, when he took advantage of everything I was worth. When his heavy, fisted hands beat down upon my naked, frale body. When he used his massive hands to shield my screams. I thought back to his disgusting face full of rage, staring back at me, as he was escorted by the police, to the back of a police car, his hands handcuffed. I'll never forget the words he mouthed to me. 'I'll be back, bitch.' The same lips mouthed such threatening words, the same mouth he used to kiss my lips, or tell me he loved me, and he'd never let anything bad happen to me. I used my own arms to hold myself, as I sat back down on my bed, trying my hardest not to let tears come from my eyes. He was gone now. Locked away for good. I had to move on. That's when my phone rang. I glanced down at the screen, where's Abbie's smiling face popped up. I answered it timidly. "Hello?"

"Hey, Skylar! Me and Ash are on our way up, you better be ready!" she shrieked with an exuberant excitement. I winced at the thought of having to interact with people at this point.

"Oh, I, Abbie.. I-I'm feeling sick. Really sick. I, I just don't think I'm up to this get together thing right now. I'm sorry." I told her.

There was a silence on the other line for a while before I hear her speak up again. "Oh. Well uh, that's cool, I guess. Hope you feel better, Sky. Me and Ashley will tell you how everything goes." she said, a bit defeated.

"Thanks, Ab. I love you guys. Stay safe." I said.

"Of course. Love ya, Sky." Abbie said, and the line clicked.