Behind The Spotlight

Chapter 10 --Enough is enough--

I run out of the house and over to the dance studio. I'm so extremely late, this never happened to me before. I had a huge fight with my father last night and then he locked me into my room and wouldn't let me out until 5 minutes ago.

"Oh Blakely, you're finally here", I hear Emily say as I enter studio A. "Yeah", is all I say back to her, sighing, before my legs give out and I fall to the ground. "Omg Blakely!", I can hear someone scream as almost all A-Troupe members come running over to me. "Blakely, you're bleeding", Davis says as she lays me down on my back and places my head in her lap. "Okay guys, give her some space", I hear either Emily or Michelle, I'm not really sure, say firmly as they mention for everyone to get away from me. "It's her stomach", I can hear Davis scream, clearly with a hint of panic in her voice, before I feel my sweatshirt being lifted. "Oh, what happened?", Michelle, who's holding my sweatshirt up and is now looking at my stomach, almost screams. I don't give an answer, I just start to breathe more heavily. This is so bad, I can't even speak. "I know what happened", Davis says as she places one of her hands on my forehead to calm me down. Both Emily and Michelle look puzzled. "Well, can you tell us?" "Maybe we should do something about Blakely's stomach first", Davis says as Emily and Michelle nod their heads. "Okay, let's just take her into our office and get this cleaned up", I hear Michelle say. "It's going to be okay", I hear Davis whisper before she picks me up and carries me over to Emily and Michelle's office. "Lay her down here", Emily says as she empties her desk. Davis lays me down on the desk and I can feel my sweatshirt being lifted again. "It's bleeding very hard", Emily says, slightly panicking now. "I've got the first aid kit!", Michelle screams as she enters the office. "Okay great! Now you hold her sweatshirt as I clean it up", Emily says to Michelle as she takes over lifting my sweatshirt. Emily opens the first aid kit and takes out some cotton balls, ointment, disinfecting spray and some band-aids. She sprays the disinfecting spray onto my stomach and I'm not going to lie, it hurts like hell. But as soon as she takes a cotton ball and wants to clean up the cuts, I flinch and start to panic. "Don't touch me! Please don't touch me!", I scream as I sit up, but I'm immediately forced back down by the pain in my stomach. "What's wrong Blakely", Emily asks me. "Just don't touch me, please. Don't hurt me", I scream back at her as tears are falling from my eyes now. "Blakely, it's okay", Davis tells me as she takes my hands in hers, but my breathing just keeps getting faster and heavier. "No! Please, don't touch me! Don't hurt me! Please!" "Okay okay", Emily says, putting her hands up in the air to surrender. "Let me do it. I know how to calm her down", Davis tells Emily and Michelle as they both nod their heads and exit their office.

"Okay Blakely, they are gone. Please try to calm down", Davis says sweetly as she sits down on the chair beside the desk so she can put a hand on my chest to help me slow down my breathing. "In through your nose, and out through your mouth. In through your nose, and out through your mouth", she says calmly and I try to follow her breathing pattern. "Okay, that's good. Now, close your eyes and picture somewhere nice, somewhere far away, with someone you love", Davis tells me and I do as I'm told. I close my eyes, still feeling Davis' hand on my chest, and picture myself somewhere far away on a beautiful beach, with the person I've always loved most, my big sister. After a few seconds, I can feel my breathing gradually slowing down. "Now open your eyes and try to keep breathing calmly", Davis says and I keep breathing calmly in and out until my breathing is back to normal. "What did you're father do?", she asks me sweetly. "He got mad and then he started hitting me, and then... and then..." "Okay calm down Blakely. Take a deep breath and try to explain calmly", Davis tells me and I nod my head before I take a deep breath and continue. "I couldn't stand up anymore because my legs hurt so bad, so I fell and that's when he threw his beer bottle on the ground and started cutting me with a piece of glass", I tell Davis, fully crying now but trying my best to stop the tears from flowing. "That is disgusting. That is absolutely disgraceful, and it's wrong. Can't you see that?", Davis asks me back I just shrug my shoulders. I know she's right. This is wrong, but it's my father. He's the only person I have left. "I know you don't like to be touched if it's not for dancing, but those cuts really need to be cleaned up", Davis says, pulling me out of my thoughts. "I trust you", I say back to her as I nod my head, giving her the green light to clean up the cuts on my stomach. "Okay", she says as she lifts up my sweatshirt, "I'm just going to clean them up, then put some ointment on them, and to make sure they will not get infected, I'm going to put band-aids on them", she tells me and takes a cotton ball out of the first aid kit. She cleans up the blood that's all over my stomach and then she puts ointment and band-aids on the cuts. "So, all done", Davis tells me as she puts down my sweatshirt. "Thank you", I say back to her as I try to stand up straight. "Hey hey, careful", Davis says as she helps me to stand on my feet. She puts one arm around my waist to support me and we slowly walk out of the office. "Everything okay?", Michelle asks as soon as we walk out. "Yes", Davis says shortly before I sit down on the bench by the cubbies. "Where is everyone?" "We sent them to studio 1 to rehearse so Blakely could have some space", Emily answers Davis' question. "Michelle, Emily, can I maybe talk to you?", I hear Davis ask them and they both nod their heads. "Yes. I think it's best if we talk in our office", Emily says before they walk into the office. I'm left alone, sitting on the bench by the cubbies. I know what Davis is going to tell them, and I know that there's no stopping it. I get up and try to slowly walk up to the office. I sit myself down on the ground so that I can hear what's going on in there.