Fighting Darkness

Chapter Nine

Oh wow thank you all for the support and everything! I can't even describe how much that means to me!:) I'm sorry for any mistakes! Again not perfect:) enjoy!!!:)

***Derek***

Paige came home late, right around midnight, falling asleep on the couch. The brown sofa seems to brighten her completion, a look of peace across her sleeping figure. My hand runs across her rose cheeks, making them light up even more. The girl I once loved, has been turned into a bruise splattered canvas I made. Such a beautiful girl, but now she hides behinds clothes that don't fit her body, stays in the room I locked her in. I don't even know what she does when I'm gone drinking. Vodka helps me think, whiskey makes me realize I'm wrong and wine won't do anything to clear a guilty mind. The sour liquids always make me a bit...mean. No. Mean isn't even a word to describe what I am. I'm a full blown out monster that had to hurt the girl I once loved for satisfaction. It's not who I am, but slowly it had taken me over, pulling at ever good guy there was in me and turning me bad. Blaming it on my dad's death was only part of it, but really it was my mom. The way she treated him like he was nothing, bossing him around, and I just figured, Paige would be like that. Evil, deceiving, ungrateful. It actually flipped the other way, I'm all that stuff and she has to take each blow I give her. Each hit, and kick could destroy her insides, hurt her emotionally, maybe she's all ready destorryed. I don't want her to be, but two years of everything, and I finally gave her a compliment. I finally told her she looked nice. I'm going to change for her, because I still love her. I've always been. This month will be a makeover for me.

Walking to the mirror in the hallway, I stop to see my reflection. My hand touches the glass, the person does the same. "You're going to change." I tell the him.

***Paige***

I don't dream anymore and if I do, it's always about Derek. His fist hitting my body, but not my face because its to valuable. The way my eyes shine, my smile shows teeth, my tan skin, but all of its over. I have to constantly remind myself that I'm not the same girl I was in high-school, where I met Derek. He moved to Maine for six months studying for college, until he dropped out and asked me to move in with him. I graduated early so I saw no problem with it, but Grandma B saw through Derek's facade, me being oblivious as ever, I thought I loved him.

I stay in the brown leather sofa hearing Derek walk in the hallway. He complimented me this morning, that's unusual. He would drop dead before a kind word left his mouth.

The living room seems to shine out with the moonlight, finding every hole that was failed to e covered up all the way. A desk that the chair broke by Derek pushing it to hard. Everything in this room is broken, and it all had to be fixed.

The only good memory I had with Derek was when we say on the blue sofa we used to own, looking at the old scrapbook I had from high-school. "You were a cheerleader?" Derek laughs. I nod my head, letting it fall on his shoulder. Warm lips pressed to my forehead as he turns the page. "Yeah, and in volleyball, and basketball. Basically, I played every sport." And God I hated it. I never got to do what I wanted in high-school. I would take the papers home and set them on the table. Next thing I know I'm getting called on the Varsity team the next day. The next page is full of prom. "You went to prom?" He asks.

"Yeah, with a guy named Matthew." I sighed. "He ended up making out with my best friend."

"That's...horrible." Derek paused, and by the way he paused, I could tell he didn't think so.

Silent tears fall onto the leather, sliding down the edge. I won't even pretend I'm not asleep. I want the Derek I use to know, but obviously, that's to much to ask for.

Huge thumps come down the hallway, stopping at the entrance. Derek stand there in a Ramones t-shirt and dark jeans. Hair toppled in a mess, eyes looking tired. "Hey, babe..." He says simply, walking into the kitchen, popping the tab off a beer.

"I'm going out tonight if that's okay." He plops himself by me, sipping the poison like we do this everyday.

"I don't care." I shrug my shoulders, I honestly don't. He can get hit by a truck for all I care.

"I'll see you later, then." His lips connect with my cheek, walking out the door, grabbing his shoes along the way. Stunned is not even a word to describe how I feel.