mermaid 》 alemanda ✔

chapter fourteen.

alesha

I was in the farthest branch from the stairs, in the branch next to the emergency stair case. I was curled up, my arms holding my legs tightly to my chest and my head was buried in my legs. I didn't look up when Amanda saw me.

My phone was laying abandoned next to me, a text making the screen light up. Amanda didn't look at the phone as she seemed to be too concerned about me crying. Amanda sat down next to me and she touched my left knee lightly, me jumping and looking at her with fear in my brown eyes that were glittering with unshed tears.

"Why are you crying, Alesha?" Amanda asked gently, her hand moving to the top of my back to try to comfort me.

"I-I don't w-want to t-talk a-about it," I murmured in response, being muffled by more sobbing as I buried my head back onto my legs.

"Do you want me to comfort you?" Amanda asked, her hand now rubbing my back to try to comfort me. I mumbled a yes and I cried harder than what I had been before.

Her hand moved the back of my shirt down and I knew she could see a dark bruise on my back. Amanda frowned and worry creased her forehead.

"Alesha, how did you get this bruise on your back?" She questioned gently, lifting her hand from my back and setting it into her lap.

"M-my ex b-boyf-friend," I revealed. "He-he's been hitting me."

I dissolved into heavier crying upon telling her that my boyfriend had been abusing me and very recently from how fresh the bruise on my back looked. I hunched over, putting my head in between my legs and I mumbled the same sentence for a second time. Amanda probably didn't like seeing me like this at all so she pulled me into her lap and I slowly unfurled.

"You broke up with him?" Amanda asked quietly.

"I d-did," I replied, still crying heavily. "B-because of t-the a-abuse."

"You're safe now, Alesha. I'll protect you if you want," Amanda spoke sweetly. She rubbed my back gently, trying not to put pressure onto the bruise on my back. "Do you want to sleep with me on my air mattress tonight, Alesha?"

I nodded in response and I wiped the tears with the back of my hand. Amanda continued to rub my back until the sobbing stopped and she handed me a crumpled tissue from her pocket.

"Can I see the bruise?" She asked gently. I nodded silently and I pulled my shirt up, giving Amanda a glimpse of my bra. "It's so big."

She traced it with a finger and she kissed the center of the bruise. "I'll help you make sure that this doesn't ever happen to you again, Alesha," she promised.

"How?" I asked in response. "If it happened once, it can happen a second time."

"Do you have romantic feelings for me?" Amanda asked, avoiding the question of how she was going to protect me from domestic abuse happening a second time to me.

"I don't know. I'm confused about it. It's like I want you as more than a friend but I'm also attracted to men," I replied. "Maybe?"

"That means that you're probably bisexual," Amanda replied, grinning. "Does it help to know what's causing those feelings?"