Playing Patience(21)
Once my pants and panties were down, I pushed myself away into the place I went we he came into my room. The tears stopped and my eyes felt sticky and dry as I stared out the kitchen window into the backyard. The pool looked extra bright and the stars seemed to reach forever. I closed my eyes and wished I was one of those stars—far away, burning in the night sky where no one could reach me.
In the distance, I could hear the table shaking and skidding across the expensive tile floor. A candle holder fell over and cracked in front of my eyes. The arm that he held behind my back got pulled harder and I thought for sure he’d pull it off of my shoulder, but I didn’t cry. I didn’t feel any pain anymore. Instead, my hand slowly fell from my mouth and I lay there still and silent while I prayed I was dead. If it weren’t for Sydney and my mom, I’d welcome death with a smile, but as long as they were here, I’d be here.
My short-term memory had been altered. As I stood under the blazing, hot shower water I couldn’t remember how I got there. I couldn’t remember the moment he left me or the trip up the stairs to the bathroom, and that scared me. I’d always known I was broken, but it was obvious he was smashing the small pieces of me into even smaller fragments. Soon, I’d be dust in the wind. Maybe then I could float away and stay in my happy place.
After my shower, I stared in the mirror at my cheek. The bruising was getting worse by the minute and I knew I’d have to come up with a damn good excuse for Mom and Syd. My cell phone was going nuts since Megan had no idea where I was. Finally, I texted her back and told her I was fine and that I was going to bed.
When I slipped under the covers, my entire body hurt. I couldn’t sleep, so I lay there and stared up at the ceiling. I thanked God Sydney was at a friend’s house and my mother would never know what was happening under her roof. If I could just make it a few more years, then I’d never have to see his face again if I didn’t want to… just a few more years. I’d already lived through this for almost ten. What’s a few more?
I watched as the dark ceiling became gray, then finally bright orange as the morning sun peeked into my room. My eyes felt as if I hadn’t blinked the entire night and I was almost positive I hadn’t. My body felt stiff and my ribs ached. The injured side of my face felt bigger than the other and I was dreading looking in the mirror and seeing what I had to deal with Monday at school. I hoped it wasn’t very bad and if it was, I hoped the two days I had before going back to school was enough for it to heal.
As soon as I got up and got dressed, I called Megan to come and get me. No matter how badly I wanted to be out of this house, I couldn’t bring myself to drive that gray Toyota in the garage.
“I’ll be there in thirty minutes,” Megan said through the phone. We decided to catch a movie, grab some lunch, and catch up on some much-needed shopping.
I spent ten minutes trying to powder away the ugly, swollen bruise on my cheek, and then I peeked in and checked on my mom. The room was dark and she was asleep. I watched her stomach move up and down as she breathed deep. As long as her stomach was moving then she was still with us. Afraid that I’d wake her, I softly closed the door then went downstairs to wait on the front porch for Megan.
“What the hell happened to your face?” she asked with big eyes when I got into her car. “Oh my God, did that happen last night? I was freaking out when I saw you handcuffed. Did your dad freak out on you?” We jerked down the road and worked our way to the movie theater.
I jumped all over her first question. I didn’t even think to say it had happened at The Pit the night before.
“Yeah, some bitch stepped on me and I hit my face on the concrete floor. It looks awful, I know. It hurts like a bitch, too. I still can’t believe I got arrested.” I looked out the window. “I told you going back there was a bad idea. My dad was so pissed.” I quickly changed the subject. “What happened with you?”
“Chet pulled me out.” She tried not to smile. “I ended up going back to Finn’s garage with them. They said Zeke got arrested, too. Did you see him?”
We pulled into the theater parking lot and she slammed her parking brake into place.
“Yeah, I saw him.” And I left it at that.
There was no need to go any deeper into that situation.
I was still pissed off about him baiting my dad. Part of me wanted to blame him for my painful table ride, but I knew I couldn’t do that. He had no idea how sick my father was. He had no way of knowing that by pushing my dad’s buttons he was typing in the combination to release a night of terror on me. I was almost positive, had he known what he was setting me up for, he wouldn’t have said those things. Zeke wasn’t a nice guy, but he was a good guy. Only a good guy would rush a strange girl to the hospital and only a good guy would save me from being trampled to death by a herd of Pit People.