Scattered Leaves

Chapter 14: 6 days

Autumn awoke with images from her dreams flooding back to her. She had dreams of being old and grey, of being beside Devon until they were 90. Would her life be like this if she stayed alive? 

She turned in Devon's arms on the bathroom floor. She had no idea how they had slept so soundly on such a hard surface, yet Devon still slept as soundly as ever. She kissed his warm lifeless lips and moved his arm as she got up off of the floor. She looked over at the bath tub, it looked so inviting. Devon didn't have much to shower with, but she didn't care. Her hair felt dirty, her body felt bloody and violated, and her face felt sticky from all of the tears she cried over the last few days. A shower never even popped into her mind as all of this was going on. 

Autumn went over to the tub and turned the water on. She looked back at Devon when she heard him stir, but he never got up to see what was going on, he just snored on. She put her hand under the water and adjusted the taps so the water wasn't too hot or too cold, when it was the perfect temperature she turned the shower on. She stripped naked and took the bandages off of her wrists carefully. She had more to bandage it up with so she wasn't worried. She stared at her wrists for a moment, they were only starting to scab over. She was going to have big scars on her wrists from this later on. Autumn looked back at Devon sleeping and stepped into the shower. 

The water was the perfect temperature, but it felt so hot on her open wounds. She winced and gasped until she got used to the pain. Every warm drop stung her wounds. For a few moments, she just stood there and let the water fall over her body. Every so often she moved her hair to keep it wet. Despite the pain, she felt so relaxed under the warm water. After a few moments she grabbed Devon's shampoo and put a blob of the sweet smelling goop into her hand. She lathered it into her hair and gasped as it hit her back and wrists. It made her wince and just want to stop showering altogether, but she knew she needed to overcome the pain. After she was done rinsing her hair, she grabbed his Axe body wash and put a glob of that into her palm. It almost smelled like a berry field in the bathroom. She lathered it all over her body and tried her best not to get it on her wrists. She looked at the bruises on her body as she washed. They were starting to fade to a blue-purple, some had a yellow tinge to them. They were all in the shape of balls the size of her uncle's fists. 

She decided to ignore them, Her uncle wouldn't be able to hurt her anymore, and after today neither would her foster mother. She stood under the water, taking in the peaceful relaxation of the warm water. 

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Devon awoke to a steamed up bathroom, the shower going and the sweet scent of his soaps in the air. He looked up at the shower curtain and saw the beautiful shadow of Autumn standing behind it. She wasn't moving, just standing there under the warm water. He looked down at the floor and the clothes that she was wearing the night before were thrown all over the room. All he did was smile.

"Autumn?"

She jumped and turned the shower off. 

"Sorry," She said popping her head around the curtain, her hair soaking wet and dripping, "Umm, do you have a towel?"

Devon got up off of the floor, went to one of his drawers under his sink and grabbed her a blue towel. He heard her ring her hair out as he handed her the towel. Once she grabbed the towel, he watched as the shadow on the curtain moved around and dried off. 

Autumn wrapped the towel around herself and stepped out of the tub and onto a fluffy bath mat. She felt awkward because of the gashes on her wrists and back, the cuts on her thigh and the bruises all over her body. The towel didn't cover everything as she hoped it would.