Escaping Him

Meeting him

Author's note: This story is told from Damon's perspective

"Please..." I whispered, "No more."

I was against the wall, cowering from Mike, my boyfriend, as he delivered multiple punches to my feeble body. I could taste the metallic taste of blood and feel bruises forming. I groaned, I was going to have to cover those tomorrow. I did what I could to protect myself, pathetically putting up my arms and covering my face, but my attempts were useless and eventually I just lay there and took it, like I always did. Minutes passed, though they felt like hours, before Mike stopped the abuse and ordered me to make dinner; I scrambled up and ran to the kitchen eager to avoid another beating. I looked in the fridge and pantry, trying to find something he liked, there wasn't much since he hadn't been shopping in weeks, so I did what I could to cook up some pasta. Cautiously, I walked into our room and handed him his plate.

"Aren't you gonna eat?" He asked upon seeing me get into our bed.

I shook my head, "not hungry, just tired."

He smirked at me and poked my bruised ribs, making me wince. "Suit yourself, skinny freak."

I laid down turning away from him so he couldn't see the tears forming in my eyes. It seemed like I had barely drifted off to sleep when I felt Mike get up and call my name. When I didn't answer he gave my hair a firm tug,

"Ow," I yelped half asleep.

"Get up, we're gonna be late for school."

I nodded, and after I saw him leave the room I went into the bathroom and had a shower; I could see blue and purple bruises on my legs and torso as well as having a black eye and busted lip. I sighed looking at my naked reflection, I was hideous. Other than my scars, my straight brown hair was a dry mess from years of bleaching and my hazel eyes were equally bad. They looked tired and the bags under them made me look like a zombie. My nose was a weird shape and the weird mark on the bottom left of my face was even worse. I also had really bad acne. And Mike was right, I was too skinny. You could see my ribs and hipbones poking out, making me look much worse. Honestly, I was lucky to have Mike. He told me so everyday, he had the perfect muscular body and blue eyes and blonde hair, everyone loved him. It was probably my fault he cheated on me as well, after all, who wouldn't?

I got dressed in an old band t-shirt, an oversized hoodie, skinny jeans and my only pair of converse. I put on makeup to hide the wounds as best as I could and then we walked to school. On the way, we passed my parents' house and I looked at it with nostalgic sadness; I remembered my mom and dad and how they kicked me out when I came out. I remembered Mike being kind enough to take me into his apartment his dad had bought for him. I smiled thinking about my first week there; it was one of the best weeks of my life. Of course that was before the beatings came and before Mike found out how worthless I am. I shook my head, trying to get all those thoughts out.

"It was your own fault." He smirked, "You're lucky I took you in or you'd be prostituting yourself on these streets. Probably addicted to cocaine or something."

I just stayed silent. Once we started nearing the school, I slowed my pace and separated myself from Mike: we never walked into school together. Nobody knew about our 'arrangement'. Hell, nobody knew we were dating! If somebody found out, Mike would lose his popular standing. As for me, I already got teased and bullied enough, I didn't really need to give the kids at school another reason to do so- or Mike another reason to use me as a punching bag.

As I walked into my first class, Classics & English Literature, I heard people snicker and whisper as I headed to my seat in the back.

"Looks like the emo got beaten up again last weekend."

"I bet it was his parents, I mean what a disappointment"

I ignored them and started to zone out, like always, before my attention was brought back by a knock on the door. I looked up only to see a boy walk in. The teacher waved him over and called out to get our attention, with mild success.

"Class we have a new student. This is Seth," She said.

Seth smiled to the class, showing his pearly white teeth. "Hey." He said.

"Queer!" A jock shouted between coughs, making the class erupt in laughter. The teacher was about to intervene, before Seth spoke up.

"Hilarious." He said rolling his eyes. "As a matter of fact, yes, I do like dick. Why are you pointing that out? Are you interested? Or are you just a homophobic asshole?" 

The class erupted in laughter, and the jock turned red in his seat. I even saw the teacher trying to stifle a laugh and I have to admit; I was smiling too. For a second I made eye contact with his emerald green eyes and I covered my ugly teeth with my hands. He smiled at me and made my stomach feel all kinds of weird. God I did not need this. I don't like meeting new people...

"Seth you can sit with Damon at the back." I heard a voice said.

I froze. No... No. This wouldn't be good, Mike was going to kill me if I even talked to him. No no no no.... Still, I did my best to fake a small smile as he sat next to me.

"Aww the two little emos," someone called out, "maybe you'll do us all a favour and do a Romeo and Juliet".

"Wow that's impressive for your level of intelligence!" Seth snarked back. Ignoring whatever the response was, he turned to me and held his hand out.

"Nice to meet you Damon," he said. "I love your hoodie."

I replied with a weak hello and thank you, pulling on my clothes and focusing on the class to avoid any trouble. Still, I couldn't help but steal meek glances at him throughout the lesson. That was my first mistake.

 He had snakebites and an eyebrow piercing as well as stretched ears, coal black eyeliner adorned his big emerald eyes. His hair was pitch black and with his oversized shirt he wore a large selection of bright bracelets, including various pride and rainbow ones. I couldn't help but notice the way his pink lips chewed on his pen as he wrote, or the way his eyes twinkled every time he talked about Shakespearean sonnets when answering a question throughout the period. 

"Like what you see?" He winked at me, pulling me out of my trance.

"What? Oh. Oh. Uh, no, I mean, not no but- I just. I shouldn't. I mean, I didn't mean to stare, I'm sorry." I stuttered, kicking myself for being so obvious.

"Hey, it's fine," he smiled, "I was just kidding, no need to be so apologetic."

"Right," I breathed, "Sorry". Nice going, idiot.

He smiled again. "So you like that type of music," he motioned towards my shirt. I nodded. "That's cool, that's like one of my favourite bands, what's your favourite song?

I looked at him in awe and for the rest of the period we talked about bands and music as if we had known each other forever. I didn't realise what I was doing until I said goodbye to him and we headed in different directions. It was even worse when he sat next to me at lunch. Obviously, I couldn't tell him to go away but this could spell trouble for both of us. I wouldn't want to put Seth through that.

I picked at my fruit salad and glanced around nervously for a while, trying my best to be low key and blend in with the crowd. Slowly, I started to let down my guard... It was in the middle of a conversation when I saw Mike from the corner of my eye and I knew I would regret everything. He was practically fuming, glaring at us from the other end of the dining hall. I felt my heart drop; I was sure I was going to die.