The City | GirlxGirl

nineteen ➳

The apartment fell into silence. Until Jude yelped in surprise, grabbed her t-shirt rapidly, and held it to her torso to hide what Skylar had already seen. Skylar frowned as she watched, Jude choosing to hide herself and her scars before even turning to regard who had seen them.

Skylar deflated. A balloon, slowly seeping helium. A balloon that had been punctured, just a thin wound, but enough to destroy it.

Who would do this to someone else? Who would do this to Jude?

"I'm sorry, I was looking for Blair," said Skylar, surprised at how nervous she sounded-surprised at how nervous she was.

Jude turned then, recognition taking place; Skylar watched it glaze over her expression, as the blue eyes grew wider, wider, wider.

"She went to work," said Jude. In a haste, she threw the t-shirt over her head and pulled it over her shoulders and down her chest quickly, giving Skylar another glance at the damage that had been done to her body.

Skylar swallowed roughly, suddenly feeling nauseous.

"Listen, Skylar," said Jude, and paused, as if waiting for Skylar to interrupt. And she would have, but it was like someone had reached inside her body, flicked a switch, and turned her voice off.

Speechless.

Jude huffed, her eyes darting around the room, refusing to look at Skylar, and said, "Whatever you think you saw, you didn't." After noticing that Skylar had silently raised an eyebrow, she continued, "I have it under control. That's what I'm saying. You shouldn't have seen it, but now that you have, I want you to know it's not a big deal. So you don't need to tell anyone, or anything."

Who would I tell, Skylar asked herself, and then names popped into her head. Blair. The police.

"Jude, who did that to you?"

"I thought you weren't one to ask questions."

Skylar ran her tongue over her bottom lip, staring intently at the girl who refused to meet her pressing gaze. "This is different," Skylar said. It wasn't like she was asking Jude what her favourite colour was. Someone had taken their fist-or something else, which Skylar grimaced when she thought of-and hammered it against Jude's body. Her innocent body. An innocent girl.

Or was she? Skylar reminded herself that she didn't know everything-or anything-about Jude. She didn't even know her favourite colour.

"It's fine. Like I said, I have it under control."

Skylar could tell that Jude wasn't just lying, but was upset about it. She wouldn't meet her eyes because she was afraid Skylar would see her crying.

Her stomach lurched. Everything inside of her felt sick. And everything outside of her felt sore. The world kept spinning, but Skylar wished it wouldn't. She wished she could freeze time, and deal with what was happening before moving on.

But she knew that wasn't realistic. It wasn't possible.

"Get out." Jude held her palms to her eyes, and turned towards the window. The sunlight now seemed incredibly inappropriate.

"Jude, I can help you. You have to tell someone-someone who can actually do something about it. Someone who can do something to the person who did this to you." Skylar stopped and sighed, letting her shoulders heave. Her hands twitched beside her rigid legs, and she was surprised at how anxious she was in that moment. She had never dealt with anything like this before. Never seen anything like what she had seen on Jude's body before. A mosaic of hatred, of abuse. Jude didn't deserve it. Even if she did something bad to the instigator, she didn't deserve this. No one did. "Or you can just talk to me," Skylar finished.

She read Jude's face as she digested her final words, and knew at once that she was dealing with someone just as stubborn as herself. Or maybe it was just the situation that was so traumatic that made Jude not want to confide to her. Both, probably, Skylar thought.

"Please get out."

In that moment, Skylar wished Jude was the type to scream, to physically push Skylar out of the apartment. Hearing her words spoken so sadly, quietly, like admitting defeat, rather than shouting and showing Skylar that she still had a fight left inside of her, made the situation eternally worse.

Without a word, but wishing she could say anything-and everything-to comfort Jude, Skylar tiptoed into the hallway, as if afraid that any sudden movements would set Jude off. Not in an explosive way. Skylar already knew that there wasn't going to be any angry outbursts from Jude. But in a saddening way. The way she had told Skylar to leave.

The way she admitted defeat.

Skylar slipped on her shoes and closed the door behind her, listening for the comforting "click." Standing against the door, she tipped her head back, let her eyes fall closed, and listened to her heartbeat ricochet inside the walls of her chest.