Someone Willing to Stay

Admit It

     Every day, when I wake up in the morning and see the sunlight streaming in through my window landing on my floor in on giant square of light, there's one split second when I don't feel pain.
I don't feel the throbbing of the welts on my back, or the soreness of the bruises on my arms. I just see the sunlight, and it feels like everything is going to be okay.
But that's just one second. Then reality hits, as well as the wave of pain that washes over me. I love waking up for that simple reason. That one second of sunlight.
Waking up now is a different story.
My head is pounding, my entire body aches. I know before I wake up that I'm not in my own bed. The mattress is firm, there's only two pillows, and the blankets are so much thinner than mine.
I pry my eyes open, looking around the unfamiliar room. It's almost void of color. The walls are white, the dresser by the door is gray as well as the desk with a computer that is turned on to show a white screen.
There are five pictures on the wall, all aligned in a perfect horizontal row. Below every picture hangs a medal, their ribbons are the only splash of color in the room.
Mason is standing by the door, he's talking to David. Both of their heads are down as they speak.
"That was a bad fall, man." David says, it's the first time I've ever seen him serious.
Mason shakes his head, "She'll be okay, she's just clumsy. She's trips a lot." He assures David, his voice is weak and tired.
"She should go to the hospital."
"No," I croak, "no hospitals."
I stopped going to the hospital when I was eleven and the punishments started getting more severe. The bruises became to plentiful to hide from a doctor.
Your mom is a nurse.
Isn't it ironic?
Mason's gaze snaps over to me. David sighs in relief.
"I'm glad you're not dead." David tells me.
I shoot him a smile in return, "It takes a lot to knock me down."
"If by a lot you mean three beers." David smirks.
I roll my eyes.
I remember everything about this party, thankfully. Raiding the kitchen, drinking much more than I ever have before, and yelling at Mason for not wanting to kiss me. The last thing is something I'd rather forget.
Speaking of, Mason is still standing at the doorway, his eyes narrowed. There's a look on his face that he's never directed toward me before. Anger.
I hate that look, it makes my stomach clench in fear.
"David, can you leave us alone for a minute?"
David pauses and then shrugs, "I'll go check on Ashlynn, she probably passed out on my bed since Ni-Ni was crashing on her's."
He gives me a wave and then exits the room, the music from downstairs becomes muffled as he shuts the door.
Mason walks over to me and sits down at the foot of the bed. He doesn't say anything.
I clear my throat, "I'm sorry for yelling at you. It was uncalled for."
Just apologize. An apology goes a long way. Maybe he won't hit you if you apologize.
It's Mason. He won't hurt me.
He's mad at you, Melanie. We all know anger means punishment. Well deserved by the way.
"Are you okay? It was a bad fall down the stairs." Mason asks quietly.
I nod carefully.
He sighs and puts his head in his hands.
"Mason, what's wrong?"
The calm before the storm.
Adam has used this ploy before. He acted like he was hurt and heart broken, and when I reached out to console him he pinned me to the ground.
"You used to get hurt all the time when we were kids," he says suddenly, "we called you klutzy. You and I laughed every time you got a new bruise from falling because you did it so often. How could you sit there and let me laugh at you?"
Now I'm confused. I do remember that. We joked about how clumsy I was, and I would laugh until the bruises on my stomach erupted in pain. I would just sit there and think that he ever found out, Adam would kill him.
"Mason-"
"It was so obvious! I can't believe I missed it. He was always there, always waiting for you to mess up and tell me. How could you not tell me, Mel? I was your best friend."
He doesn't know what he's talking about. He can't know. I'm so careful.
"Mason, I don't know what you're talking about." I say slowly, but everything inside of me is running a mile a minute. I can feel my heart about to beat out of my chest.
"Cut the bullshit, Melanie," he yells and I jump back, "I saw them. I saw everything. I saw what he did to you."
I'm running through everything from the last few hours. Trying to figure how he could have seen.
"You don't know what you're talking about."
Mason scoffs, "Oh really? Then what are these?"
He moves fast. I don't have time to react before he pulls my jacket down my shoulders and rips it off of me, holding it in his hands as he breathes heavily.
I freeze. I'm exposed.
Mason can see everything. Every single mark that has been imprinted in my arms, every bruise and scar.
They're everywhere. They're hideously loud, screaming in my face.
He sees them.
I scramble to stand up, reaching for the jacket.
"Mason please."
"Admit that Adam's been doing this to you! He's been hurting you for years."
I shake my head, grabbing fist fulls of my hair and tugging hard.
Think, think, think. Come up with an excuse. If Mason tells anyone, they'll take Adam away. They won't understand. He's helping you, remember?
My chest is so heavy I can't breathe. They're going to take Adam away. Oh my god, I can't breathe.
My chest is heaving rapidly up and down as I struggle to take in air but my throat is constricting.
I'm dying.
"I- I can't-"
Never let anyone know. That's rule number one. It's the most important. He's gonna hate me.
There's so many different scenarios running through my mind. In every single one of them, I end up alone, the one thing I've been trying to avoid my whole lifetime.
"Mel, breathe, breathe."
"No you don't- you can't- Mason, please."
Help me. Help me, I can't breathe.
"Listen to my voice, listen to me. Find four things you can touch."
His words don't make any sense. I'm going to die, and he wants me to count to four?
"Mel, listen find four things you can touch."
I look around the room in a haze, everything is spinning, the walls seem to be closing in.
I grab onto the bed post, "The bed." I choke out.
"Good three more."
"The wall," I tell him, putting my hand flat on the cool surface, "the desk, the medal." I finish with a sniffle.
My chest is still tight, I'm still breathing fast, but the room has stopped spinning.
"Three things you can hear."
"I- I hear the music, and people talking, and my breathing."
"Two things you can smell."
"I smell the drinks- and I smell sweat."
"And one thing you're feeling right now."
I look at him, my breathing calm with tears swimming in my eyes.
"Terrified."

___________________
We switched back to Mel's pov, I missed it honestly.
How do you think Adam's gonna react when he finds out mason knows?