Words Unsaid || on hold

Chapter 2

The door banged loudly twice.  I stopped dusting the end table on the side of the room and peered up at the clock.  It wasn’t time for Noah to get home yet.  A loud knocking sound came from the door again, followed by slurred, drunken words.  

“Open this door, Aria! Open it right now.”

Fear coursed through my veins.  He was home early.  The knocking on the door got louder, and the voice outside started yelling.  I slowly walked to the door, pulling it open.  He walked in, pushing me roughly against the door.  I quietly closed it, gently clicking the lock into place.  He walked closer to me, wobbling from side to side.  I plastered myself against the wall, and he put his body right in front of mine.  His breath reeked of alcohol.  

“Why didn’t you answer the door the first time?” he said.

“I was just finishing up dusting.” I said.

He raised his hand, and brought it to my cheek.  It started to sting, a tingling feeling going through my face.  

“You open the door the first time I knock, understand?”

I nodded, tears pricking my eyes.

“Where’s dinner?” he asked, looking around.  

“It isn’t made yet.  You came home early.” I said quietly.  

“You should have known I was coming home early!” he roared, knuckles tightening around the empty bottle in his hand.  

“I’m sorry.” I said to him, making myself smaller against the wall.

He staggered over to me, punching my stomach.  I doubled over as he slapped my cheek again.  

“Get it done!” he yelled, walking out of the room.

I crumpled against the wall, crying into my hands.  Standing up, I slowly walked to the kitchen, wiping away tears.  I pulled out the ingredients for the stir fry I was supposed to make, dumping them into a pan.  Using the back of my hand to wipe the new tears pooling in my eyes, I rubbed my fingers against the red spot on my cheek, wincing as they made contact.  Pulling plates out of the cupboard, I pushed the dinner onto them and quickly set them on the table, along with glasses full of water.

“It’s ready, Noah!” I yelled hoarsely.

Still wobbling on his feet, Noah came into the kitchen mumbling under his breath about how I took too long.  We sat down, and he ate quickly, shoving food into his mouth.  

“Maybe you should lay off the food a bit, Aria.  You’re starting to get a bit fat.” he laughed cruelly, in between mouthfuls of food.

Tears clouded my vision as I pushed away my plate.  I ran to the bathroom and locked myself inside of it, sobbing into my hands.  The stark white walls seemed to close in on me.  Sloppy footsteps sounded through the hallway.  Noah knocked on the door.

“Open this door up right now!” His voice was softer, but still had a drunken slur.

Wiping at my puffy eyes, I unlocked and opened the door.  Noah stood there, face red with anger.

“You’re impossible! You can’t even take that! It’s not my fault you’re a lazy ass.” He yelled at me, running a hand through his tangled hair.

Mustering all the courage I had left in me, I raised my hand and slapped him hard across his face.  He looked at me, eyes wide with shock and anger.  Gasping at what I had just done, I stuttered out an apology, but Noah’s emerald eyes were still clouded with fiery anger.  

“Don’t you dare touch me.” He said, very slowly, “Get the damn dishes done.” He stormed off, into the bedroom.  I heard the lock click, and I knew I would be sleeping on the sofa.  I shuffled backwards into the bathroom, digging through the drawers and cupboards.  I finally found what I was looking for, placing the object in the palm of my hand.  The hard light from the bulb on the ceiling glinted off the shiny metal.  I clutched the blade in my hand, palm sweating.  Tears started to stream down my face, and I sliced the blade across my skin on my forearm.  It stung, but it brought a new type of relief I had never felt before.  Red liquid started to trickle down my arm as I brought the blade across again and again.  My eyes stopped crying, and the pain that was once inside of me was now splayed across my arm in sloppy, bleeding cuts.  I fumbled around under the sink, and grabbed the gauze.  I carefully wrapped it around my arm, washing the blood off the therapeutic blade.        

a/n: thank you all for the reads, comments, and votes.  it means so much that people are actually reading and liking my writing-- it's an incredible feeling (: thank you, again, and if you'd like to be my favourite human beings, vote and comment (;