Phoenix ✔️

Chapter 15: Help

The next morning, the sun travels in through the window and hits my eyelids. The sudden intrusion of light causes my eyelids to shoot open in surprise. Once my eyelids pop open, the pain that stings my body almost makes me collapse again. 

It feels like I'm being beaten with a cactus, and all the spines are being hammered in so they go all the way in. I can feel the cuts on my feet stinging with each step I take. The pain in the back of my head throbs like someone hitting me with a mallet. The smell of liquor has died down, yet it's still very present. Shakily, I use my arms to prop myself up from off the ground. The intense pain causes my eyes to tear up. 

I stand up, trembling, and I waddle over to the bathroom. I switch on the light, and I look at myself in the mirror. I look like I had gotten into a nasty bar fight. My lip is cut, and blood encrusts it. My forehead has a nasty reddish-purple bruise on it, like someone had accidentally spilled both colors of paint on my forehead. 

My arms are cut in many places, and the blood is congealed all over my arms. The tears in my eyes start to flow out and onto my face. I'm done with Colin. I'm done with the abuse that I had suffered for the past 3 years. I've been tortured long enough, I think to myself.  

While I was sobbing about my injuries, a certain feeling built up inside of me. It was a certain form of willpower. I felt the nagging need to just call Mark and get out of this hellhole. He was probably the only person that I wanted to call right now. Ash was also a huge option, but I haven't seen him or talked to him in a while. 

I needed to call someone to tell about the abuse to Colin. I prop myself up with my arms, and then use the bed as a balance. Once the bottoms of my feet meet the floor, I nearly collapse again from the pain. The cold floor presses against the cuts in my feet, which feels like I'm walking on sharp needles. 

I waddle over to the bathroom, and I jerk open a drawer. I lift up each foot and examine to see if there's any shards of glass embedded in my feet. Thankfully, there aren't, which only gives me another feeling of relief. My fingers wrap around some bandages, and I loosely wrap them around the cuts on my feet. Shakily, I limp over to where the phone is, and I slowly press my fingers to the combination of numbers that is Mark's phone number. 

I lift the phone up to my ear, and I hear it ring. Eventually, I hear the line click, and a gentle voice portrays itself through the phone. "Hello?" Mark's gentle voice asks. My breath hitches a little bit, and I bawl into the phone. 

"M-Mark," I sob. I hear Mark's breath hitch, and him exhale in pure pity. 

"Is everything ok?" he asks. 

I shake my head. "C-Colin. He hurt m-me badly," I weep. 

Mark gasps at my revelation. "I'll be there in 20 minutes. Don't move," he says. 

I nod. "P-Please. Come quickly," I plead. I hear the sharp click of the line being cut, and I know that Mark's hurrying to get to me. I wobble over to the stairs and I grip the banister so that I don't tumble down them. 

Eventually, I limp to the bottom of the steps, and I see nothing has budged one centimeter since last night. The shot glasses are still on the counter, smelling like old booze. "Wow. He doesn't even know how to clean up after himself," I think to myself. 

I sit down on the couch and I lay in peace. I am not only scared for myself, but I am scared for Mark. I don't know if he is going to be able to make it out without Colin questioning him. If Colin sees through his act, then he's going to be dead within seconds. And then he's going to come and do things that I don't want to imagine. I just hope that he'll be okay.

 As I'm waiting, I notice that Mark is taking an awfully long time. Colin's work is about 15 minutes away from our house. Mark shouldn't be taking this long. Then, the horrible thought plagues my mind. Was Colin not fooled by Mark? Did Colin find out about him helping me? Gosh, I hope not. I don't need anything happening to the only person who has been so nice to me these past 3 years. He doesn't deserve to suffer the torture that Colin can exhibit.