Bruises

Run

My brows furrowed as I glared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. Yesterday I'd been beaten with a stick and today it was pretty damn clear...
I'd woken up with dry blood on my pillow and found that my eyebrow had been cut. I had a bruise on the left side of my forehead as well as a split lip and various other bruises that covered my body. I guess I wouldn't be leaving the house any time soon...

Olivia hadn't come in to see me that night and when she came home from work and saw me the next day, she gasped.
I didn't say anything while she hugged me and told me how sorry she was, I just stood rigid and waited for her to let me go.
When she finally stopped apologising and went back to the kitchen I sat on the lid of the toilet. I lifted my hair from my face and touched the bruise on my head before wincing and covering it again. Why was she doing this to me? She clearly wasn't sorry otherwise she wouldn't do it. It made no sense...
I found my phone in her handbag (without her knowing) and saw I'd had 14 messages from Tré. They included 'hey, Bill. Hope you ain't dead.', 'you okay? Text me when you can', and 'man, you need to come out. Your woman's gone mental.' They were all from last night except one from this morning that simply said 'hey'.

I replied straight away. 'Hey, everything's fine. I'm sorry about last night, I hope we are still okay.'

I got an imidiate reply (he was obviously waiting for my message) which said 'of course we are, don't be silly.'
He tried to call me but I hung up. I didn't want to speak to anyone, and even if I did, Olivia was just downstairs. 'Sorry, don't feel great. Speak later?'
He called again and I was forced to answer. "I can't talk long, I have a headache-"

"Don't give me that, I know it's because Olivia's around. What's going on, Billie?"

"What do you mean?"

"You can't pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about... I've seen... you know what, I'm coming to get you."

"No! I can't, I-"

"It's not an option, I need to speak to you."

"Tré. Please, I can't."

I heard him sigh, "Billie, I need to talk to you about something and I don't want to do it over the phone. Meet up with me, you can tell her that we won't be long."

"No, it's not that, I can't come out. I don't feel well."

"Then I'll come round. One way or another I'm seeing you, so you either come with me or we stay there with Olivia. Your choice."

"Fine. I'll meet you at the end of the road."

"Great, be there in five."
He hung up.

How was I going to do this...?
I climbed out of the window... logical thing to do... obviously...
Anyway, I climbed out of the window in the bedroom and dropped onto the soft grass underneath. I slipped past the kitchen window and ran-and I mean ran. I don't think I'd ran so fast in my life. I had to get away.

Once I was at the end of the road at my usual pick up spot, I sat on the pavement. I wanted to hide really, but that was childish. I just had to wait in broad daylight and let the world see my battered skin. This was going to be a long five minutes.