In This Life (Sequel to 'In Another Life')

27

TW/// THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VERY SENSITIVE SUBJECTS, INCLUDING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, MOLESTATION, AND SUICIDE. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. Also, please let me know if I've already said something about Denise's parents in past chapters, because I honestly can't remember, and I'll need to go edit it if I did. If I did, pls drop the chapter so that I can find it. Thank you! Love you always. 

"Yeah, but after what I did to her ... you really think she'll forgive me?" I nodded at this, but honestly, I didn't have a clue. Amber had hurt Denise worse than she had ever hurt me. She had betrayed my trust by sleeping with the guy that I thought I loved. Really, she had done me a favor, but it was still wrong. I knew now that it was because of the drugs, but Denise ... well, she wasn't as forgiving as I was. "Just give her some time Amber. When she sees that you've really changed, she'll come around," I replied. She chewed her bottom lip, with a worried expression on her face. "Okay, I guess I better go. It was really nice to see you guys. Tell Kenzie and Sarah I said hi?" I agreed, and gave her a hug goodbye. Colby walked her to the door, then came back into the living room. I had lay down on the couch by this time, one arm over my eyes. He picked my feet up gently, sat down, then rested them in his lap. "So that's the one that you used to party with huh?" I groaned as the memories came back to the front of my mind. They weren't very clear memories, having a smoky haze surrounding them, but memories nonetheless. "Yea. I used to hate her. She slept with my ex when I was with him...and the same night we broke up. This last time that I...Before I left Georgia, she had become a friend. It was before Justin and I got together.  I still didn't trust her, and can't completely trust her now, but I feel like she didn't mean it. She's had a really bad life, and she did a lot of things for attention, even if it was the bad kind of attention. We talked everything out, and she apologized. She's not a bad person. Just made some bad choices." I tried my best to explain, but half of it sounded like I was talking about myself, since it hit so close to home. "What did she do to Neece?" he whispered, his hands massaging my calves. I sighed, and let my body relax as his hands worked wonders on my legs. "I probably shouldn't tell you. It's her business...but Amber broke her trust too. Only, it wasn't about a boy. It was their friendship on the line. Denise knew Amber before me. Before my partying days. They were really good friends. Best friends even. You never saw one without the other and they were both popular in middle school. Cheerleaders, dating guys from the football team, you know, your typical 90's movie cliche." I moved my arm from over my eyes and met his gaze. "What  we didn't know was what happened behind the scenes. Denise's parents had split up, because her dad was an alcoholic. He hit her mom, and her and her little sister. A lot. Neece took to wearing makeup to school to cover the bruises, even though she was forbid to do so. Amber would bring her makeup bag, both of them going straight to a bathroom stall as soon as they got there, so that Amber could help her with the task, covering the bruises that her father left behind. Her little sister, Becca, was a tad bit luckier. He never put bruises on her face. Just her body in areas that were easy to cover. Her mom stopped going to school events, stopped participating with the PTA, just stopped everything. One time was so bad that she had to be taken to the hospital by an ambulance. She used the old line "I fell down the stairs." No one believed her but she would never admit to anything. She just kept taking it. Until one day, Denise's dad had a friend over to drink with him. They emptied the liquor bottles, while Denise and her sister were told to stay in their rooms, no matter what. Neece said that she heard the usual screams from her mother after a while, and she wanted so badly to go help, but what could she do? She knew her father would just use his hands on her next if she even tried to help. So she stayed on her bed, and waited for the sounds to die out. When they did, she lay in her bed, trying to sleep, knowing that she wouldn't, because the nightmares would come." I shook my head angrily, remembering when Denise had finally told me this, and how hard it was for her to admit. Colby was watching, an almost scared look on his face. "Her father's friend...he came into her room a couple of hours later, stumbling around with how drunk he was. He stared down at her for a couple of minutes. She said that she was so scared that she just froze and lay there, praying for him to leave. Instead he crawled into bed with her." I punched the couch pillow as hard as my weak body would let me, feeling the anger that was building up inside of me again for my friend. "You can stop T. I don't need to know the rest," Colby replied, his voice catching as he stared at me with wide eyes. I nodded, and swallowed down the lump in my throat. "But what does this have to do with Amber?" he asked. I had forgotten that was the whole reason I was telling him, having got caught up in the horrible memories of when Denise had told me about this traumatic time in her life. "Neece told her mom, hoping that she would leave her father, and take her and her sister away from that. Only her mom slapped her and told her to stop spreading lies about her father's friends. So Neece told Amber, her best friend. She just needed someone to be there for her, to help her process what had happened. She was only 12 years old." I heard Colby suck in his breath, but I pushed forwards with the story. "She begged Amber not to tell anyone, because she was afraid of what people would think of her, and what her father might do to her."