Bruised Heart

All You Ever Knew

Chapter 3

“Where were you?”

My skin went cold as I slowly shut my door and flipped on the light switch before I turned around to face Alex. “I was visiting with a friend.” He doesn’t need to know that I just met this ‘friend‘, hell, he doesn’t need to know that it’s a him.

“Why did you leave when I told you to stay?” Alex said calmly as he took a step towards me. By the look in his eyes, he was anything but calm.

I didn’t say anything as I turned my head away from him. He wouldn’t like my answer. “What are you doing?” Alex ground out through his teeth and gripped onto my chin, forcing me to look at him.

“You’re hurting me.” I said quietly.

“This isn’t pain. I can show you pain.” Alex said, getting into my face. “Who were you with?” Alex waited a few seconds for me to respond before he lost his patience completely and yelled, “GIVE ME A FUCKING NAME!”

I bit down on my lip, trying to hold back my tears and whispered, “Johnny B.”

“You fucking slut!” Alex yelled as he slapped me across the face. “So you’d fuck him, but not me! I see how it is!” Alex yelled as he hit me across the face again.

“I swear, I didn’t sleep with him! We just talked. That’s all.”

“LIAR!” Alex yelled as he pushed me away from him, causing me to fall. Instantly, out of reflex my hands went to cover my face. A whimper escaped my lips as he kicked me hard on the side of my ribs. Once. Twice. A third time, before he stopped. I felt him squat down next to me and grab onto my hair. “Stand up.”

“I-I cant.” I sobbed.

“Worthless bitch.” Alex grumbled as he stood up, making sure to kick me again before he left. Slamming my bedroom door and the front door shut on his way out.

I’m not sure how long I was laying on the floor. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours. I looked out the window and saw that it was starting to get dark outside. I better get up before mom gets home and figures out what’s going on. That would not be a good thing. By the time I got to my feet, I was out of breath. It felt as if my ribs were pushing into my lungs. I knew they weren’t broken though. That is a pain that I never want to experience again. I grabbed a pair of sweats and a long sleeved shirt before I painfully walked to my attached bathroom.

I shut and locked the door behind me and slowly took my shirt off, trying the best I could to not touch the bruises that I could feel forming already. New tears started to well up in my eyes as I saw the marks that were already showing along my ribs and the red mark on the side of my face from when he slapped me. I turned away from the mirror. “I don’t want to see any more.” I mumbled to myself as I turned on the water in the tub to run a bath and pulled off my jeans.

I put down the toilet lid and sat down. I didn’t even realize how hard I was crying until it felt like I was drowning in my own tears. Out of all the stuff that Alex has done to me, I know I can’t break up with him. Who knows what he would do to me if I even brought up the topic of separating. I shuttered from the thought. I’d much rather deal with the beatings, then get killed by my boyfriend. All I have to do is stay on his good side and everything should be fine.

“Who the hell am I kidding?” I mumbled to myself as I shut off the tap and slowly lowered myself into the warm water.

“Andie. Are you in there?” Hayley asked through the bathroom door.

How the hell did she get in my room? I thought I locked the door? Maybe not… “Yeah. I’m in the tub. I’ll be out in a little bit.”

“I‘ll just wait here until you’re done.” Hayley said back, her voice starting to fade as she walked away from the door.