The walk home was pretty silent, giving me time to sober up and realize what had just happened.
As we reached my doorstep I was thankful to see that my mom wan't home yet.
"Well, thanks for walking me home," I looked down as I told Celia.
"Not a problem, Julia, I'm just glad nothing worse happened." she said.
"Why do you call me that?" I looked up.
"Because I know you don't like it" she grinned.
"So, you said Ben was known for this type of thing. What has he done?" I dared to ask.
"Well let's just say you aren't the first person this has happened to, and worse. He seen you coming a mile away. He knew you would trust him since you were new."
"So why hasn't anyone done anything?"
"They are afraid. If anyone even makes mention of going to the cops he scares the shit out of them until they back out."
"Someone needs to stand up to him"
"Good luck finding someone who will. The last girl that tried to, he waited on her to leave work one night and ran her off the road on the way home. She ended up in the hospital for a week and a half."
"Oh, wow."
I seen my moms headlights pulling into the driveway.
"Well, I guess I will see you on Monday, thanks again" I smiled.
"You're welcome. Oh, hey, here is my cell number. Call me tomorrow. We should hang out." she scribbled her number down on a receipt she pulled out of her pocket. "Goodnight Julia."
I don't remember my bed ever being this comfortable in my life. I grabbed a familiar stuffed animal and held it tightly as I closed my eyes. I shuddered as images of Ben's smile ran through my head. I jumped up quickly and stripped off my clothes, making my way for the shower. I turned the shower to as hot as I could stand it and used a whole bottle of body wash. I wanted to scrub every little bit of him off of me.
"Abby?" my mom called as I was making my way back to my room.
"Yes mom?" I continued to towel dry my hair.
She was walking up the stairs towards me.
"Listen, I'm sorry I had to work late. I really felt bad about having to leave you here alone this evening. I may have to do that from time to time since I am the new employee. I'm sure you understand." she smiled and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear.
"Of course mom, I'm fine," oh how I lied.
"Good." she smiled. "Have you eaten supper?"
"Yeah, I ordered pizza. I'm just really tired mom, I'm going to lie down now" I kissed her cheek.
"Goodnight sweetie"
"Goodnight mom"
The sun woke me up peeping brightly through my window. Ugh. Do I have to move? Unfortunately I have to pee.
I rolled out of bed to a monstrous headache. I made my way to the bathroom and grabbed some Tylenol out of the cabinet. "Extra Strength". I'm going to need all the strength I can get.
I sat down on the toilet when my wrist caught my eye. No way. It was bruised. In the perfect shape of a handprint. I quickly shook the memory of last night out of my mind as I tried to figure out how I was going to hide this from my mother. I guess I will be wearing long sleeves in the warm weather. Not suspicious at all.
