Billy Hargrove // DNA

Chapter Twenty-three

The pain she felt was almost unbearable. With every tiny movement a sting of pain went through her entire body. Amelia had woken up a few minutes ago, and had taken her time to crawl out of bed. Her eyelids felt heavy and she didn't have to look in the mirror to know her face was swollen up. With great reluctance she had climbed out of bed for she knew she had no other choice. She just wished John would have spared her face.

Amelia carefully walked to the bathroom to observe her body. Normally this was an easy task, but as her legs felt like she had ran a marathon the day before, it took a while before she reached the bathroom door. With great difficulty, she pulled her shirt over her head and looked horrified at the bruises that had formed on her stomach and arms. She carelessly let the tears ran down her cheeks while she lightly followed the outlines of the bruises. 

It had been a while since John had exploded and went in a violent rage. Perhaps something had happened at work, maybe he had been scolded and he decided to take it out on her. He always used her as a cheap punching bag and didn't care about her feelings at all. The physical pain she felt was almost equal to the emotional pain she experienced. Amelia felt all alone in the world, even though she had great supportive friends, they had no idea what she went through. 

What had she done to earn this senseless violence?

Amelia felt lifeless and worthless. She didn't want to get dressed and smear makeup on her face because it was all useless. Even if she would manage to hide the bruises on her face and neck, her friends would immediately notice something was wrong as she could barely walk without groaning from pain she had to endure.

After ten minutes or so, Amelia had managed to refresh her face, wipe the dried blood off her nose and knees, and apply heavy makeup. Afterwards she slowly walked back to her bedroom and pulled on a long pair of jeans with a thick wool sweater. Luckily it was the winter period for nobody would look up surprised if she would arrive at school completely covered.

With pain in her stomach and heart, Amelia struggled to walk down the stairs. She knew for sure that John had already left for work. Benjamin would undoubtedly have taken care of dressing Cora, he knew well enough that Amelia wasn't capable of doing so. After she had finally reached the last step of the stairs, she breathed in and out exhaustively. 

Amelia leaned against the wall and waited for Benjamin to appear from the kitchen. She had lost her appetite the night before and couldn't find the strength to walk through the house. The door finally opened and Benjamin looked at his slightly younger step-sister with pure horror. Tears sprang into his eyes when he saw her tormented look, his eyes slid over her face and she knew he was searching for the bruises she had been able to camouflage. 

The way she leaned against the wall made it evident to him that she was in an horrendous pain. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm such a lousy brother, I should have-" He struggled finishing his sentence, and while tears rolled down his cheeks, Amelia could only think of John. She couldn't feel sorry for her stepbrother because when she looked at him she saw a younger and less terrifying version of John. She knew her thoughts were wrong, if she would project her anger and furstration onto someone who was not to blame for the situation, she would lower herself onto her stepfather's level. And she had always sworn to never turn out like him.

"Let's go to school." She whispered. Benjamin reached out and looked at her inquiringly. "Are you sure you want to go to school? I don't think it's wise, you can hardly stand on your feet." Amelia sniffed and rolled her eyes. "What other choice do I have? I can't stay here. Where else could I go?" She sneered while grabbing hold of Benjamin's hand. 

The moment Benjamin wanted to open the front door, a loud knock was heard. Confused, the two teenagers looked at each other, both of whom had no idea who it could be. Her stepbrother opened the door slowly. "Is Amelia here?" She recognized Billy's voice and with newfound bravery she appeared from behind Benjamin. The shock that Billy had initially wore on his face quickly changed into pure anger, he clenched his fists while observing her body.