Flashbacks

I ran away, as quickly as possible. I had to find somewhere quiet, somewhere where no one could see the tears flowing down my cheeks. I slid around a corner and down a narrow hallway near the locker rooms. I sat down against the wall, and let all my tears pour out.

I just broke up with him, my boyfriend. His name was Camden. I loved him, and he loved me, but my friends made me break up with him because he hit me sometimes when he was angry. He hit me again when I broke up with him a minute ago. I still feel the burn on my face where he slapped me. The blood flows out of my nose and trickles down my face; I can almost taste it. I'm trying to process everything that just happened but it's hard because I'm in pain and I'm light headed and I don't know what I'm doing. Suddenly, I hear soft footsteps heading down the hallway next to this one, and they get louder with every second. The person turns down my hallway, and stops abruptly. They sprint towards me and I cover my face with my hands so they don't know who I am.

Now I feel their hand on my shoulder and it sends bolts of electricity through my body. I slowly peel my fingers away from my face and look at the person.

It's Mark. Mark, the kid who sits in the back of my social studies class, the one who no one talks to.

He stares at my face in shock. It must look horrible, with the blood running down my face and my bruising cheek and my red puffy eyes. I get up and begin to walk away, but he grabs my arm.

"Come on, you can't go home looking like that. I'll help clean you up." Mark said. I nodded a "yes" because I didn't know what else to do. He asked me if I could come over to his house so he could get me some new clothes since mine had blood and tears all over them. I just nodded "yes" again.

Once we arrived at his house, he led me upstairs to the bathroom and told me to take a shower and get cleaned up. I stayed in the shower for a long time. Mark knocked on the door a few times, asking if I was ok, and I muttered "yeah" just loud enough for him to hear. He left some of his sister's clothes at the door. I got dressed quickly, and the clothes were a little big, but they were better than my blood-covered ones. I looked out his window and saw two children happily playing basketball outside.

I wish I was a child again.

Once I finally came out of the bathroom, Mark convinced his sister to help cover up my bruise with makeup. I stared at myself in the mirror. I didn't have any blood on my face, and I was clean, even though my cheek puffed out a little bit.

Mark insisted that I stay at his house for the night, since it was late. I was about to stay no, but his mother came in and told me I should, and that she would call my mother.

So now I sit here on Mark's couch at 11 o'clock pm. My eyelids close slowly as I fall into a deep, deep sleep.

Camden is looking at me. He is giving me the death stare. I don't know what I did, as usual, but he probably heard a rumor about me cheating on him, which isn't true. He walks up to me, an lifts my chin up with his right hand. At first, I think that he is going to kiss me, but I suddenly feel a bolt of pain shooting through my jaw and all around my body as his fist connects with my cheek. I lay on the ground, whimpering quietly, then get up and try to say something to him. He pushes me against the wall and I scream, but no one seems to hear. Camden begins to take off my clothes and I'm trying to yell but I'm crying too hard and no sound actually comes out.

"Wake up! Kate, are you ok?" I hear as my eyes start to open again. Mark is grabbing my shoulders, shaking me, trying to wake me up. I softly try to push him off of me, and he realizes that I'm awake.

"You were screaming in your sleep... is everything ok?" Mark asked me, concerned. I nodded. "It was just a bad dream." I said softly.

But it wasn't just a bad dream.

It was a flashback.