Behind Closed Doors

Behind Closed Doors Part 3

The weekend goes by uneventful. I stay out of her way and do nothing but clean and finish all my homework. But I am glad when it is over; it means I don't have to be with her anymore.

The next morning she is missing some money out of her wallet, she says that I stole it. I try to tell her that it wasn't me but she won't listen, she never does. She slaps me in the face, right on the bruise, "Stop! That's a lie, you fucking thief. I know it was you who took my money, what are you going to do with it? Buy some lollies?" She pulls my hair so hard some comes out.

"It wasn't me." I whimper.

"Well who was it then? Jamie? You always try to put all the blame on that poor little boy, what did he ever do to you?" She slaps me again. She grabs my neck, I can't breathe, she is gripping so hard. I try to pry her hands off but she just grips harder. My sight goes and I am falling. The darkness takes me and I welcome it, anything to stop the pain.

A foot to my ribs wakes me up, "Stop pretending, you need to get Jamie ready for school." She continues to kick me in the ribs, forcing me to get up. "If you ever take money out of my wallet ever again you will wish that I'm taking it easy on you like I do every other day, if I really gave you what you deserved you wouldn't ever get up again. Now, I am expecting a clean house when I get home, and dinner cooked."

I struggle for breath on the kitchen floor. I hear the door slam close and she is gone.

I lie on the floor for a few more minutes before I drag my self up and go to the bathroom. I have large red marks on my neck where her fingers were gripping me, my ribs are black and I can't breathe without it hurting. The bruise on my face has gotten larger and darker. I pull my turtleneck on and put my makeup on and go wake Jamie up.

He can see that I am hurt so he makes his own breakfast and cleans it up. We leave early and walk slowly. We don't talk on the way.

When I get to school I see Owen waiting for me at the gate. Sarah is a couple of meters away from him staring, "Hello Penni." Owen greets me and we walk up to the school, "I am sorry about last night, I didn't mean to upset you."

"Can you just drop it?" I stop and turn to look at him.

"If that is what you want." He looks hurt.

"Thank you." I walk away and half expect him to follow me, but he doesn't.

I am getting my books ready for the first period when Sarah taps on my shoulder, "Hi, Penni."

I am shocked, usually when she says she won't talk to someone ever again she never does, "Hi?"

"Look, I am sorry about my little hissy fit yesterday, it was mean of me. If you don't want to tell me how you got the bruises, then you don't have to." This is totally not like her, we weren't even very close, we were just people who hung out with each other for convenience, all that stuff about being best friends was complete poppy-cock.

"What do you want?"

She gasps as if she is really shocked at my blatant question, "What do you mean? Do I have to want something to talk to you now?"

I just look at her.

"Fine." She gives up on her façade, "I want you to organise a meeting between me and Owen, you know I have had a crush on him for, like, ever." I see what she wants. She wants Owen.

She is only talking to me because she thinks that I have something she wants, "No. We're not friends anymore Sarah. You made that decision, not me. Live with it."

I slam my locker and walk away from her.

The first three periods go by slowly. All I can think about was how I had treated Owen, how when he had been making an effort to be nice to me, I had been the biggest cow on earth.I wished lunch bell would hurry up and go so I can go and find him and tell him that I am sorry.

I run to my locker and put my books away and go off to find Owen.

He is on the oval with a group of his friends. I sit on the fence and wait for him to notice me. It doesn't take him long and when he does comes over to speak to me.

"Hi." I jump off the fence, wincing when I jolt my ribs.

"She hit you again, this morning I'd say by the state of the bruise on your face, and the way you winced when you just jumped then." He is straight to the point.

"I'm sorry. I have been such a bitch to you. You were only trying to help me." I look down ashamed of my actions, "You just shocked me. I have never had anyone actually care about me before, someone who wants to help me. But it was mean of me to act that way."

"Yeah, it was. But I was mean as well. I was forcing my help upon you when I should have let you come to me when you needed me." He sits down on the fence and taps the spot next to him. I jump up and sit as well, ignoring the shooting pain "So are you ready to talk to me yet?"

I look down at my shoes. "I think so. I just don't know where to begin." I stop and think for a minute, gathering my thoughts, "You were right."

"About?" He is sounding smug.

"Everything, I can't do this alone, I need to talk to someone and..." this is something I have never spoken about with anyone ever before, "She did hit me this morning."

"What did she say you did?" He is really concerned now.

"She thinks I stole money from her wallet, and she wouldn't listen to me when I told her I didn't do it."

He pulls down the neck of my jumper and sees the red welts. His fingers gently brush against them. "You need to get out of there."

"How? I can't just leave. I don't know whether she will hit Jamie or not, I can't just leave him there, he will be all alone." I shudder at the thought.

He sighs, "Have you ever tried talking to her, have you ever shown her your bruises?"

"Yes, and she said that it was my own fault, that if I helped out more around the house she wouldn't have to hit me so much."

"So, that didn't work." He is looking out over the oval watching all the other people running around. We don't talk for a while.

"Thank you Owen."

"For what?" He won't look at me.

"Just being here."

"It's my pleasure, really."

He gets up and turns to face me, "I am glad you chose me to help you Penni Manly." He turns and runs toward his friends, "See you after school."

I sit there and watch him for the rest of lunch. I think I am falling for him. He is the first person who has ever really cared about me. And it doesn't hurt that he is handsome as well.

At the end of the day I meet Owen. He is waiting at the gate again. We don't talk, but the silence isn't uncomfortable, it is just right. When we get to Jamie's school he isn't out the front waiting for me, we walk into the office and the admin lady tells us that he is in sickbay. Owen and I look at each other and rush into the sickbay room. He has a black eye and a swollen lip. "Are you Penni?" The headmaster asks me.

"Yeah, I am. What happened?" Jamie is a mess.

"Some of the big boys ganged up on him. I am so sorry, this school doesn't tolerate violence and this issue will be dealt with severely."

"That's alright. We should get home though. Thank you for looking after him." Jamie stands up and walks to the door.

"Penni, can I talk to you alone for a minute." The headmaster stops me leaving.

"Yeah sure. Jamie can you go outside with Owen." I turn back to the headmaster, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well I am worried. When I called your mother she said that Jamie should just tough it out and not be such a baby, I am afraid that is not appropriate behaviour for a parent and I want to get an interview with your mother. So I want you to take this form for her to fill out so we can arrange a meeting time. Could you do that for me?"

"Yes, of course." I walk out the door and go sit with Owen and Jamie.

The picture is of Owen, no one will recognise him a he is not famous, but I know for a fact that he is truly Owen.