That Summer

Stay Away

I woke up the next morning to see Michael sleeping soundly next to me, it wasn't but six thirty yet it gave me peace and comfort. Without any harsh movement, I slipped out of bed and made my way quietly to the bathroom to freshen myself up for the day. I grabbed a nearby towel and wrapped it around my bare body that had been loved so tenderly last night.

"The things you do to me." I whispered to myself, thinking of the actions we produced last night. I rubbed my neck as the thoughts of Michael kissing and sucking on every inch of my body until I felt a pang of pain shoot through my body as my fingers grazed my collarbone. I moved my hair over to the side and lowered my towel to reveal nasty bruises lining my collarbone and breasts, instead of feeling horrified with the sight I just simply smiled for they meant nothing of bad.

"Sneaking out of bed before I get the chance to say I love you, such a bad girl." My eyes met Michael's who reflected the same feelings I was feeling.

"Are you going to punish me or something?" My voice came out more seductive than I had intended.

"I should, but after last night I think I should spare you." He bit his bottom lip temptingly before resting his eyes on the purplish-blackish bruises lining my body.

"Anna! What happened? Did-" he stopped himself as he realized where they came from. I watched as his face contorted into a horrific expression.

"Michael it's okay! I'm okay! They don't even hurt, they're simply just a reminder of the love we share as a couple." Michael pushed me away, refusing to come near me.

"This isn't the kind of love that a couple should share, for God's sake Anna I hurt you! God knows what else I did to you and that scares me, I can't control myself around you and because of that something bad ends up happening to you." I still refused the fact that he thinks this is his fault, which it entirely isn't. He didn't even do anything exceptionally wrong, stuff like this happens all of the time and he shouldn't feel guilty for it.

"Michael, you need to relax first off. I'm perfectly fine okay, you'd know if I wasn't okay with this and I wouldn't hide it. I appreciate your care and concern and that's all I see from this, but you have to understand that this isn't abnormal." Michael shook his head in defiance, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

"Take off your towel." I was confused as to what he was meaning but I removed the towel from my body and stood in front of Michael with a calm expression on me.

"Anna, look at yourself in the mirror and tell me what you see?"

"What do you-" I began to ask him.

"Just do it!" I froze in place at Michael's sudden flash of anger. I turned around to see myself with the bruises on my upper chest area but nothing that stood before me jumped out in danger.

"I don't get what I'm looking at." Michael came closer but no closer than a couple of feet.

"Look at your wrists, your chest, you entire fucking body looks like a punching bag because of me!" It wasn't until then that I noticed everything appear before me like dark magic, but that still didn't cause the smile to fade from my face. It simply made me overjoyed to know that these weren't from something abusive but from something affectionate and passionate.

"Michael you're only pointing out the bad parts, all I see are souvenirs I received from last night. You need to relax and stop worrying about these minor, not even minor things, I'm not worried about it so nor should you. I love you Michael and these were an accident, I'm not upset with any of this." He sighed heavily, still keeping his distance.

"Anna I'm always hurting you and I don't want that anymore. I have to keep my distance from you in order to refrain from anything that could possibly harm you." I tried reaching out to him, but he shrugged himself away and walked out. I was in utter heartbreak for none of this was his fault and yet he's putting so much pressure on himself for it which makes the situation worse. I stepped into the shower and turned the water on, letting the warm liquid gracefully run down my body soothingly. I played with the locket around my neck that held the picture of Michael and Cole. I couldn't hold back the cries I didn't realize I needed to let out. Michael is all that I want and all that I need and he's already pushing me away and our life together hasn't even started. Maybe I'm just going crazy but I feel like my world is starting to crumble before my very own eyes.

...

"That doesn't seem abnormal Anna, don't stress yourself out over this. I'm sure Michael will come back around." Tatiana tried to console me as we made our way down the streets of Basel. She wrapped her arm around me and pulled me in for a side hug to try and soothe me.

"I know it's not, but he shouldn't be blaming himself for any of this. He's pushing me away and isolating himself for an accident that had no meaning to it." I growled in frustration as I fixed my dark sunglasses.

"All I can say is is that you just need to give it some time, maybe distance yourself as well to give each other a break. Trying to fix things will only make it worse, you just have to let it work itself out." I understood good and well what she was meaning and she was right.

"I know, I'm just worried that's all."

"Well stop worrying about this and let's focus on our day together as girls!" I couldn't help but crack a grin at her enthusiasm. Tatiana was my excuse to get away from reality and be myself, not that I couldn't be myself around Michael but I had the chance to be with someone that I can do certain things with. Things would work themselves out just like she said, but at the same time I felt as if she was wrong.