Rush

Chapter 6

I awoke to the smell of bacon wafting in from the kitchen and my mouth started watering. I untangled myself from the blankets, ignoring my body screaming for me to not move and headed to the bathroom. I handled my business and grabbed the spare toothbrush that Marisa always kept in her cabinet for me and brushed my teeth. I caught me reflection in the mirror and took in my appearance. My wheat colored skin was littered with bruises and scratches. My dark curly hair was no longer matted but it was still as dull and lifeless as ever. And my eyes, one of the only things that I had inherited from my father, were the same lifeless hazel they had always been. Disgusting.

I sighed and made my way to the kitchen. As I entered I saw the food version of what heaven looked like. Marisa had gone all out with pancakes, French toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, omelets, biscuits, and orange juice. I only managed to mumble a good morning to Marisa and Cam, who I assume came over this morning, before I completely filled a plate with some of everything and attacked it like I hadn't eaten in days, which I hadn't.

"Woah, Ana slow down! Chew honey, you're gonna choke."

I completely ignored Marisa and continued on my rampage on the food. God I'm starving.

I didn't realize I was so hungry and I knew I should slow down but I just couldn't, the food was amazing. Once I was done I finally looked up from my plate and blushed at the shocked looks on Marisa and Cam's faces.

"What?"

Marisa spoke, "What the fuck do you mean what! You just ate more than Cam and all his greedy friends do!"

"True story."

We both ignored Cam's remark.

"I'm sorry I was just so hungry."

"When was the last time you ate, don't even try lying I know when you do."

I knew it was time to talk about what had been going on in my life for the last seven years so I told the truth.

"I'm not sure, a week or two."

"A week!" they yelled in unison. Then Marisa spoke.

"Anastasia Giselle Hills what the everloving fuck has been going on? Why haven't you eaten in so long!"

She was livid to say the least. But I knew I had backed myself into a corner and the only way out was to just tell the truth.

"He wouldn't allow me to.'

"What the fuck are you talking about, who wouldn't let you eat?!"

"Riss, babe, stop yelling you're making it harder for her to tell us what's going on."

I smiled at Cameron in thanks.

"Sorry, go on."

I took a deep breath and started talking.

"John wouldn't let me eat because I didn't deserve it."

"Girls maybe we should take this in the living room, I have a feeling this is a long story."

We agreed to Cam's suggestion and we all moved to the living room and Marisa draped a blanket over my shoulders.

"Tell me what he did to you, from the beginning and don't lie to me Ana."

I nodded to show that I understood and launched into my story.

"When I was eight, my dad died, you know this already but about a year after that things go really bad." I took a deep breath and continued. "we didn't have a lot of money to begin with but my parents made enough to make sure we always lived in nice neighborhood and we always had food on the table. But once my dad died the money left over from life insurance and the money he had saved in an emergency account went fast and my mom wasn't working. That was when we had to sell the house and move into that shitty apartment on the bad side of town. Things got bad really fast and my mom turned to drugs, mostly heroin and cocaine and I would often find her passed out on the couch whenever I came home from school. This became a routine for us for the next eight years but things got really bad on my sixteenth birthday." I took a deep breath because I knew this would come as a more of a shock than anything else I said. "a man knocked on the door, it wasn't abnormal that a strange man would come over to sell drugs to my mom but this guy was familiar, he came over often. And as usual I went to my room to keep out of the way. After a while my mom came into my room and dragged me into the living room." I paused to clear the lump in my throat. "she said 'here take her as payment' it didn't occur to me what was happening until the guy slapped down a tiny baggy of cocaine and said that I made a wonderful form of payment. My mom sold me for a fix."

I got the expected reaction from Marisa.

"What the fuck! Your mother sold you to some random guy for a fix! Where is that bitch I'm gonna kill her!"

"Rissa, please calm down, I need to get this out now and I don't want to go over all this again."

"Sorry Ana, continue."

"Well, once we got to his house I was basically his live in maid, I did the cooking, cleaning, and when he was angry, punching bag." I was grateful that Marisa kept her mouth in check this time but I could see that both of them had some explicit words to say about the last part of my statement. "That was how things went until I turned eighteen. A few weeks after I turned eighteen he asked me to marry him, I said no but he beat me until I said yes. We had to wait a few months until all my injuries healed, then he dragged me to the courthouse and forced me to marry him. After that I became and object to him. I wasn't allowed to leave the house and he started finding any reason to hit me, his favorite was accusing me of cheating on him. That's why I stopped talking to you, he threatened to kill me if I didn't. I hope you aren't mad."

I looked over at Marisa and she had tears streaming down her face.

"Of course not, I was at first but now that I understand it's okay. But I do have one question, what happened last night?"

"I told him something and he didn't like it, and I tried to leave."

Cameron spoke up this time.

"What did you tell him that got him so angry?"

I sighed, I knew I had to tell them.

"He thought was cheating on him after I told him I was pregnant."

They stared at me, open mouthed.

"Did you cheat Ana?"

"No, it's his."

Cameron spoke up.

"You mean you willingly had sex with that creep?"

I shook my head and their faces dropped.

"I wasn't willing, I was never willing to sleep with him, he always forced himself on me."

This time neither of them tried to keep their anger in check.

"He raped you!" they yelled in unison.

I couldn't hold it in anymore. I burst into loud, body shaking sobs. Both Cam and Marisa stopped their shouting and sat next to me on the couch. Marisa wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug and Cam wrapped his strong arms around the both of us.

I had never felt so loved than I did in that moment. When I was with them, I knew I was safe.

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