Dyani

Part 18

Dyani: I’m so sorry Charley, the past few days have been so hectic that I wasn’t online. I’ve had the worst couple of days, but as of tomorrow I’ll have a cellphone again, maybe we could text each other.

To my great surprise I immediately got a reply.

Charley: It’s allright. You’ve had a lot on your plate the past few days. I’m not angry or anything, I was just very worried. How are you dealing with everything? Did you find anything you could use as an outlet? And why are you up this late?

Dyani: I couldn’t sleep, I don’t really have an outlet, I just keep going to school and work. Sometimes I just really want to cry.

Charley: That’s okay, just cry when you need to. It’ll help you a lot.

Dyani: I’ll be okay.. But maybe I should really sleep now. I have school and work tomorrow. Or well.. In an hour..

Charley: If you can’t sleep, just come back okay?

Dyani: Sure..

Just before I closed my screen, Charley sent me his number. I didn’t switch off my computer, because I wasn’t sure if I would even fall asleep yet. I laid down on my pillows and only then noticed how tired I was. I fell asleep a few minutes after I put my head down.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm, it sounded so loud. My head was throbbing with pain and I wasn’t sure if painkillers would work this time. I got up and turned down my alarm. I undressed and my own body scared me. The bruises were purple and blue, the old ones on my back felt most painful. I put on a robe and went downstairs to the shower, where I locked myself in. I opened my robe and turned to get a good look at the bruises on my back. Almost my entire back was blue or purple, but where my previous bruises had been, there were some tears in my skin. Yes, I actually mean tears, not wounds, cause it just looked like my skin was torn apart at some points. It hurt, it had hurt the entire night and it still did. I was pretty sure I had to go to a doctor with these wounds, but they would ask me if something happened at home or if someone I knew had done this. I didn’t know how to answer those questions without lying. I was beginning to look up and saw my face, as I had walked in, I had avoided looking at my face. It was black and blue, I had one massive black eye, I was actually able to open it normally. I had a bruise on my jaw as well. I opened my make-up pouch and looked for a lost foundation bottle. I hardly used the stuff, only for parties actually. I covered my entire face, up to the point where you could not see any bruise, at all. I covered the foundation with powder, so you wouldn’t see my entire face looked like a shiny mess. To make it look right, I put on some mascara and eye liner. Gabriella might notice my excessive make-up, but the rest of the class would never notice.

I went back to my room and dressed myself. While I was packing my books, I remembered the small book in my nightstand. I walked over and got it out of the drawer, putting it in my backpack. I didn’t know how I had forgotten about the little thing, especially because of the strange way I had felt drawn to it. I finished getting my stuff and hoped for dear life that my father had gone away to work already, but even before I arrived downstairs I heard him talking to Thijn. When I hit the last step, he came into the hallway and didn’t even look at me.

‘You okay?’ he asked, his voice drenched in guilt.

‘Hardly,’ I said, keeping a straight face.

‘We’ll talk tonight, gotta run,’ he said and he left.

Thijn came running from the living room and hugged me tight, I struggled not to cry but couldn’t surpress a gasp.

‘Are you okay?’ Thijn asked in such a sweet little voice.

‘Yes, I’m fine sweety. Come, watch some tv before we have to go. Did daddy make you a sandwich?’

Thijn nodded and motioned to the empty plate on the table. I got the phone from the stand and Thijn went to watch his cartoons. I looked up the number of our doctor and pressed dial.

‘Goodmorning, Doctor Piper’s office, how may I help you?’ a friendly sounding lady asked.

‘Goodmorning, I would like an appointment for this afternoon, I’ve got some hurtful places that have to get checked out.’

‘Okay, we still have a position at half past two, would that be okay?’ she asked me.

‘Yes, I can make that work.’

‘Okay, I wrote it down, we’ll see you this afternoon.’

The lady terminated the connection and I went over to the kitchen to prepare lunch for Thijn and myself.