The Best Days

Chapter 1 Part 2

You are not worthless.

"I am not worthless." I repeated aloud.

My voice sounded weak and cracked a little as the words stumbled out. My tongue was heavy and dry with the weight of the lie. I stared at my reflection. Long brown hair with a full bang pulled back into a ponytail. Smooth cocoa colored skin, straight nose with a light patch of freckles scattered across the bridge.

You are beautiful.

"I am beautiful." The words came out my lips but I wasn't convinced. I didn't feel very beautiful at the moment.

There was a black and purple bruise beneath my right eye. My lower lip was slightly swollen with a small cut already forming a scab. It always amazed me how quickly the body worked to repair itself. In a few days there wouldn't even be a mark. In a few days I would never have to worry about this happening again....

You are worthy.

"I am worthy." A bit stronger this time but still that lingering sense of dread was there. Those words were supposed to inspire me but instead sounded dull and merit-less. They were from a self-confidence mantra I'd found in one of those teen magazines. What bologna.

Suddenly, there were three quick bangs on the bathroom door and I jumped in start. "Jenny! Get out the bathroom, man, I'm gonna be late for work!" Came a deep voice muffled by the door in between us.

It was my older brother, Joshua. We shared a bathroom connecting our two rooms. Kind of like how it was in the Brady Bunch except we weren't anything like the Brady Bunch. For one it was just me and him, no other kids. Our parents had gotten what they wanted, a boy and a girl. A perfect family it seemed and it had been that way for a long time.

Bang, bang, bang! I jumped again. I was about ready to have a heart attack.

"Come on, Jen!" He yelled.

I'd forgotten that his room wasn't vacant any longer. After all these years I had gotten used to having the bathroom all to myself.

Joshua was in his third year of college but his spring semester had ended over a week ago and he was back home for the summer. He was a former swimmer who hadn't quite made it to the college level. Luckily, he was a certified genius and somewhat of a stud. He worked at an investment bank in a whole other city so he was always up before the crack of dawn to make sure he beat the morning traffic.

I stared at my reflection. I'd have to finish this later.

I flushed the toilet to make it seem like I wasn't being a crazy person and ran the water miming hand washing before unlocking the door to his room and quickly shuffling towards mine in an attempt to avoid him.

"Finally!" I heard him groan just as I turned the lock to unlock my door. I made the mistake of glancing back at him. Only for the briefest second but that second was long enough.

"What the hell happened to your face?" He stepped into the bathroom still dressed in his sleeping clothes.

I quickly cast my head down allowing my bangs to fall into my face. "Nothing."

I stood there with my hand bracing the door handle waiting for his wrath.

"Did he hit you, Jenny!? You still seeing that punk even after all that I said and now he-" He let out a frustrated trail of colorful words. I could hear the anger rising in his voice but I just stood there with my hand on the door, mute.

"What? No excuse? You didn't accidentally run into a bookshelf? Trip and hit your head on a unicorn?" His voice dripped with sarcasm.

I opened my mouth to shoot something back but not a sound came out. He was right. I was done making excuses.