On the Inside

Chapter 4 - Incident

I took the turn to our road and finally reached our house. My heart started beating while I opened the door to go inside. I could hear my own heartbeat. It was fast, like drums playing my ear. My blood rushed through my body as I peeked in. I didn't see anybody. I hoped he wasn't home yet. I stepped in and looked around sighing in relief when I realized no one was there. My blood cooled inside me and my heartbeat was steady again.

I went into my room and looked at myself in the mirror. This wasn't me. This red hair. These blue eyes. These pink cheeks. They weren't mine. I was tired. Tired of not seeing me. I missed my old self. The one I didn't have to hide from anyone. But everything had changed since that distant memory and things would never go back to the way they were. I pulled off the wig and took out the contacts. There. Now that was more like me. My messy brown hair in a bun and my normal brown eyes with nothing special about them. I took one more hopeless glance at myself in the dusty mirror before throwing myself on the bed thinking of what will happen tonight when Ed comes home.

After some time I went to the kitchen to make dinner and take my mind off Ed's reactions. It spooked me everytime I thought of it. Ed could do possibly anything when he got mad. He hadn't ever been really mad at me before. Even when he had, it hadn't been that serious, but I knew tonight it would.

I made some chicken and by the time it was ready the clock read 4:37 PM. Ed would be home in about 20 minutes and I wished he didn't come. I set the dinner table and waited. Our dinner table wasn't much of a table. It had four legs and a surface and that's all we needed. The same goes for everything else we have. The kitchen was all old wood but it had a stove, sink, and refrigerator and that's all we needed. I could go on forever saying how the things we have aren't such good quality. They are just there to fulfill our needs. But I think we have enough money to spend on upgrading some things.

As my thoughts went on nonstop, I heard a key turn in the door and I suddenly felt my bones tremble and my heart pump fast. This wasn't going to be good.

I stood up from my seat at the table holding my hands together and cracking each of my fingers. He stepped in and I took a deep breath trying to act normal. Then that second, I felt guilty. I felt regret. I wish I had thought twice. It wasn't that hard to make money and I wished I had just spared an hour or so to do what I was supposed to. I hate it when I do this. I do something that I later regret doing and I just wish I could turn back time to fix it.

Well it was too late now and I would be kicked out the house. Maybe if I distracted Ed he'd forget about it. I jumped out my thoughts when I heard Ed's footsteps echoing in the small wooden house. My head was facing down, too afraid to look up. No I can't be weak. Show him your not afraid of him. But I didn't dare. I finally looked up at him when I noticed he had seen me and was standing there just starring. A small gasp escaped my mouth and my hands went up to cover it. Ed's head was bleeding. He had a black eye and his arm was slashed. He just stood there and glared at the floor with hatred.

"W-What happened?!", I mumbled as I stepped closer to him. "What happened to you? Who did this?". I quickly ran into the kitchen, wet a paper towel, and ran back to him. I took his hand and guided him to sit down on the couch and handed him the wet towel. He lay his head back and tapped it on the wound. Silence filled the room. It made me have a weird feeling seeing the blood drip down his face as he wipped it off. It was disgusting and painful just to look at it. "Just got into a fight, I'm alright", he finally replied.