Changing The Inevitable

Chapter 14

I woke up in the same position I went to sleep in, my body ached all over. It was just getting light outside. I awkwardly untangled myself from the ball I was curled up into and stumbled over the bathroom to get a shower; I would feel better once I'd gotten all the dried blood and coffee off my skin.

Half an hour later, I finally got out of the shower which I had just been stood in doing nothing for most of the time. The water had relaxed my muscles as I let it pour down on my worn down body. All the dirt had been washed away but the memory of that man beating me hadn’t.

I put on some clean clothes and finally sank down on my bed. A second later there was a knock at my door. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath preparing myself for the conversation ahead. I felt the bed dip as she sat down next to me.

“What were you doing having a shower at this time?” She asked. I snapped my head up, surprised by her question. I turned my whole body towards her just to make sure she could see my face properly, but her facial expression stayed the same.

“Well care to explain what you were banging around at...” She glanced down at her watch. “4 in the morning and don’t even blame it on the nightmares."

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I stared at her, completely speechless. Is that all she had to say?

“Aren’t you going to ask how this happened?” I pointed to my face.

“How what happened?”

“I-I-wha?” I jumped up from the bed and ran to the mirror. Scraping my hair back, I peered at myself in the mirror.

“Oh god.” I whispered. There wasn’t a single scratch on my face. Had I dreamt it? Last night my face was a total mess, dark bruises and deep cuts covered it. Now, nothing. Then I looked in the bin at the full coffee jar and gulped. It definitely happened.

“What is it?” She came behind me but I ignored her question as I yanked my top up, just as I expected nothing. Just smooth clear skin. How had I not noticed this in the shower?

"What’s wrong? What happened?” She pulled on my shaking arm forcing me to turn and look at her. For a split second I considered telling her what happened last night then immediately scraped the idea, knowing I would sound crazy.

It didn’t make sense, any of it. I had proof that it happened, but it wasn’t on my skin that was the problem.

“Er, nothing. Everything’s fine.” I lied.

“You never were a good liar.” She sighed and ran her fingers through her tangled hair. I knew that it didn’t require an answer even though she had seen through my lie. That was a good thing about my mum, she left me alone at the right times knowing that I would come to her when I was ready.

She left shortly after, leaving me alone again. I knew I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep now so I got my homework out and made a start on that. I didn’t have much left now, I had almost finished my last year at high school and only had a couple of weeks left.

When it was an acceptable time for me to get up, I went down stairs to get some breakfast.

“Hi, again.” My mum said sarcastically from the kitchen table. “Are you going to freak out again and peer at your stomach with a puzzled expression on your face?”

I chuckled. “Not until the next time I forget I have a belly button.”

She laughed. “What are you going to do today? I’m going out for an hour or so will you be okay?”

The first thought I had was what If that guy was waiting for me to be alone, what if he was outside right now?

Don’t be ridiculous Maisie, you’re just being paranoid. “Yeah that’s fine.”