Mr. Mendes

chapter 9 - safe, but not sound

I woke up. My head felt groggy and my vision was slightly blurred, I scrunched my eyes tightly as I propped myself up in bed.

What happened last night?

I slowly opened my eyes and let the harsh light stream in. It felt like having someone open your bedroom curtains suddenly just after you had woken up. Once my eyes were fully open I reached for my phone, hoping to piece together what had happened last night, but sadly it was nowhere to be seen.

"I must have left it in my coat pocket." I thought to myself, pushing the unfamiliar, yet surprisingly comfortable, duvet off of my body.

When my feet hit the floor, I realised this was not my room. My room had a cream carpet, not oak wooden floor boards. The room was completely different too, it had white walls and mine were blue. It didn't have my vanity mirror or any Polaroid pictures strung up on the wall. It did have family pictures though, sitting framed on the windowsill. My legs felt hurt and strained when I padded over there, only adding more mystery to my situation.

Just before I could get a glimpse of the photo, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. They must've belonged to whoever brought me here. I became nervous. Forgetting to look at the pictures entirely, I raced back to the other side of the room and into the bed where I had been left. As the footsteps came closer, they got softer - making me a lot less nervous than before. When whoever it was came to a stopping point just outside the door, they knocked quietly and waited a few seconds before turning the knob slowly.

It was Mr. Mendes.

I propped myself up while he came closer to me and sat on the end of the bed. He was calming in a weird sort of way, I guess I felt more at ease when I was around him now that I'd been spending more time with him.

"Hey." He spoke softly.

"Hi," I said, my voice still slightly hoarse from crying the night before. "Where are we?"

"My house," Mr. Mendes explained, "I brought you here because it would have looked odd if I were to bring you home in the state you were in."

I nodded my head lightly, fumbling with my hands as I did so.

"Eleanor," he said with some hesitation, "what happened at Jack's?"

"I-I can't say." My eyes brimming with tears.

"Come on, you can tell me." He said.

All of his focus was on me now.

"Seriously, I want to tell you. But I can't." I said meekly.

"Why, what's stopping you?" Mr Mendes asked, concern begging to wash over his features.

"Jack." I said it so quietly that it was barely audible.

Mr Mendes' hand was now on my knee, which had been brought up to my chest when I propped myself up earlier. His touch sent a calming wave through my body and I felt more ready to tell him what had happened last night, something that caused me to faint in the middle of the street and knock myself unconscious.

"He made me pretend to be his girlfriend for the night." I began to explain. "He wanted to impress his parents so they would see that he had "got himself together again". When I said no he got physical with me, started pushing me against the wall and dragging me around by my wrists. It was the worst thing that I've ever experienced. I thought he was nice, I thought he liked me as a friend, we got on well." I ran my hands through my hair. "I feel so stupid. He made me sit with his family while they had dinner. They asked us questions about the relationship and I had to lie to their faces because if I didn't jack would have made my life a living hell. He said that he'd tell everyone I came onto him and that I was begging him to have sex with me," I was now fulling crying and beginning to choke on my words.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay, you don't need to cry." Mr. Mendes wrapped his warm, muscular arms around me and I felt comforted. His cologne seeped into my nostrils and made me remember the first hug we shared, before any of this mess had happened.

"I couldn't stay there Shawn. That's why I called you. You were the only one who could've gotten me out of that mess."

"I'm so happy you called me. I came as soon as I could."

"Yes I know, I'm so grateful. I got out as soon as I could too. After I was far enough away from their house I started running to you."

"And I remember what happened from there." Shawn added. "You need to let me take a look at your head and any other places you might have fallen. I'll take you to the hospital if they need to be checked out more."

"No it's fine, you don't need to take me to the hospital. It's nothing that won't heal itself."

"Well can I just take a look at your arms, see if you've grazed them?" He asked softly, "I might need me to disinfect them if you've fallen on gravel."

"Yeah sure." I began to lift my hoodie over my head but before I did I asked Shawn to look away. He giggled a little and did as I asked.

"What's the point in me turning around if I'm gonna see you again in literally two seconds?" He said through light laughter.

"Principle." I replied, now also smiling. "I'm done."

As I was only wearing a sports bra underneath, I pulled up the sheets to cover my chest area.

I only realised as Shawn turned around how bad the bruising was. His jaw dropped open when he saw the large black and blue marks Jack had left up and down my arms.

"He did this to you didn't he." Shawn said. His pupils solely focused on my bruises. Scanning each and every one as he looked over my injured body.

He took my wrist gently in his palms. A hand shaped bruise had already stared to become obvious.

I didn't want him to see me like this, so battered and weak. I reached to the left for my hoodie, bending slightly as I did so, but that only made things worse. He saw he largest one on my back, from when Jack pushed me against the wall.

He pulled me close and gave me another welcome hug. I felt so safe in his arms, like no one could ever touch me, especially not Jack. Just before he pulled away Shawn whispered something quietly in my ear, his tone now dark and serious.

"Jack is gonna pay for what he's done."