Demons

Meet Ariella

I awoke to blinding sunlight piercing my eyelids. I groaned and slowly, carefully turned on my back and lifted myself onto my elbows. Wincing in pain, I slid my legs over the side of the bed and stood up; shifting my weight from one foot to the other. Walking over to the full-length mirror on the wall, I sighed to myself and started undressing, being mindful of the tender spots. 'Let's see what the damage is THIS time,' I thought.

After monotonously peeling my T-shirt over my head, I inspected the varying degrees of bruises that were splotched along my body.

The newer ones were a deep purple around the edges, almost black in the middle. The older ones were a multitude of yellow shades, along with some green and blue. There were some scratches, but he tried not to do that too often, as they were hard to explain if someone caught sight of them. The bruises were easily explained; I was simply "clumsy; always tripping on something". I wondered how many people actually believed that.

You see, I wasn't the typical abuse case. I'd reported my dad multiple times, but each time I'd get turned away or labeled as a minor case. If someone did happen to show up to "investigate", they became victim to his hospitality and warm façade. They didn't suspect a thing. I could fight back, and I had multiple times. But when I did that, he always made a big deal of his "injury" to his coworkers, who apparently suspected that I was abusing HIM. Ha. They couldn't have been more wrong.

Sighing, I head over to my vanity and pull open The Drawer. Yes, "The Drawer". This particular drawer contained all of the 'equipment' I would need to hide the evidence. I didn't want to draw attention to myself. Besides, if I drew too much attention, people would think the reports I'd filed were simply a call for the limelight. That was the last thing I needed.

I looked into my stash of high-coverage concealer and picked out the one that covered the best. I'd go through gallons of the stuff like nobody's business. I grabbed my concealer brush and got to work. Again.

•. •. •.

Finishing my "masterpiece", I took not last look in the mirror and went to pick out my clothes. I settled on a three quarter sleeve dark green shirt with blue jeans and my dark green Converse that matched my shirt. Satisfied, I grabbed my backpack and ever-so-quietly left my room and went downstairs to the kitchen.

Making sure to be extra quiet, I made myself a slice of toast, a hot coffee to go, and grabbed an apple to eat on the bus ride to school.

Quietly shutting the front door, I locked it and started my walk to the bus stop. On the bus, there were no seats open-as per usual. Everyone gave me dirty looks as I walked past. I just ignored them, like always, smiling. They wouldn't get to me. I don't care what they think of me. I saw a girl sitting alone in the back. I'd seen her before in the hallways a few times and she seemed pretty nice.

"Hi. May I sit with you?" I asked her.

"Sure," she said, smiling.

I gently sat down next to her, leaving a little bit of room between us so I didn't crowd her.

"My name's Ariella," I said.

"I'' Mackenzie. You can call me Mac, if you want," she said with her pearly-white smile.

I grinned and shook her hand.

It was nice to have someone be kind to me for a change.