Her head was throbbing and when she opened her eyes everything was blurry. The light was very bright and when she tried to move her head the pain took over her body. She didn't know what had happened and taking a deep breath made it even worse, because her chest was hurting badly. After blinking a few times she could make out a white room and a person curled up in a chair next to her bed, Abby. Images from last night started flashing through her head and she slammed her eyes shut again while gritting her teeth. She let out a huge sigh, but winced when her cheek started to sting. Her face was bandaged and she imagined she had to be worse off than the last time.
'Hey, you're awake?' Abby's voice broke the silence in the room. She sat up in her chair and moved closer to the bed. She stroke Keira's hair when she saw a tear rolling down the bruised face. 'Shhh, don't worry, you're safe here,' she said in a tiny voice.
She could feel Abby's warm hand on her skin and tried to wipe away a tear. Abby being here meant a lot, she wasn't strong enough this time to do it alone. 'You're here,' she whispered.
'Of course I'm here! Where else would I be?' Abby sounded serious, but her voice trembled. She sat down on the bed so she could be closer to Keira. 'I'm so glad you called me,' a tear was now also escaping from her eyes.
'I did?' Keira was confused, there were still gaps in her memory from last night. She looked at Abby and tried to give her a small smile, but her face was hurting too much.
'Yes, you did. I immediately knew that something was wrong, so I called Tom and we hurried to your house. We found you passed out on the floor in a puddle of blood, it was the worst thing I have ever seen...' her voice trailed off and she scooped up one of Keira's hands. 'I was so scared Keir, I thought you were gone,' her voice was small and more tears escaped her eyes.
Keira squeezed her hand. 'I'm so sorry, I should've listened to you. It's all my fault, again,' she said timidly. Her throat was hurting and she could feel more tears burning in her eyes. The white room made the situation even more real and it contributed to the guilt she felt towards her friends, she had let them down.
'Don't worry, focus on recovery for now,' Abby planted a kiss on Keira's hair and handed her a glass of water to drink.
'I've ruined your night,' Keira sighed while accepting the water. 'I think I unintentionally cockblocked your guy, didn't I?' she tried to grin but her face wouldn't let her, so she just went with an apologetic smile.
The corners of Abby's mouth quirked up. 'Well, in the morning they aren't nearly as attractive as I thought they were, so it's not so bad,' she smirked while running her fingers through her uncombed hair. 'I'm glad you're like you again.'
'My body hurts all over though, do you know what happened?' she tried to reposition her pillow and even her arms were covered in bruises.
The smile faded from Abby's face when she heard that. 'I don't know exactly, David was nowhere to be seen when we arrived. However, the doctor said you have a broken cheekbone and bruised ribs,' she tried not to look too upset, she wanted to be strong for her friend.
Keira groaned, right, this was perfect. She would never forgive David for this, he had gone too far this time. Something other than her cheekbone also had broken last night, namely her heart. She had always kept hope that life would get better and that loving someone was going to be enough to fix problems. Now she saw that wasn't true and although she felt her heart ache at the prospect of leaving David, it had to be done.
'It could have been more serious,' Abby's voice sounded, 'you've been very lucky they said.'
Keira let out a hollow laugh. 'They call this lucky?' she said while pointing at her face.
Abby stayed silent for a while and focused on a fly on the window. 'You know what they mean Keir,' she said with her voice full of emotion.
'I'm sorry, you're right.'
'What are you going to do now, where are you going to live?' Abby suddenly snapped back her head and pierced her eyes into Keira's.
'I have to find a new place to live, but I don't think that'll be easy. So until then I have to stay at home...' he voice trailed off when she realised what she had just said. She had to go back home and live there again. She shivered, she didn't want to go back home ever again. The place now only held bad memories and it had stopped feeling like home a long time ago.
Abby drew herself up and planted her arms on her hips. 'No way, you're not going back there! I'll take you home with me if I must,' she said with a raised voice. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes flashed with rage.
Keira was taken aback by her friend's reaction. 'OK chill, do you have another option?' she said while feeling her head starting to throb again. The pillow was soft, but it still felt like resting her head on a brick.
After a few moments of silence it was Abby who spoke again. 'Why don't you go back to Belfast for a while?'
Keira sniggered while cursing herself for doing that because it hurt. 'Yeah, I think my parents will be happy to see me like this. I think they'll instantly die from a heart attack or something,' she said. She would never let her parents see her like this, they would never recover and would blame themselves. No, she had to go somewhere else. The bandage on her face was itching and she felt uncomfortable laying in this hard bed.
'I guess you're right,' Abby admitted. She was playing with her hair and tapping her feet against the chair. Her clothes were wrinkled and the scent of alcohol was still there, she also looked very tired after a night of very little sleep.
'I'll just sleep in a box beneath the largest bridge I can find then.'
'Still safer,' Abby looked serious, but a weak smile was just visible on her lips.
'Probably true,' muttered Keira.
Suddenly Abby made a squeaking noise. 'I know the perfect solution,' she yelled, 'just go back to Switzerland!'
Keira's eyes widened, she didn't understand. 'Why?' she said confused while looking at her excited friend.
'Why not? You have a home there, you know it here, you like it there. Best of all, it's far away from David!'
Actually, it wasn't that bad of a suggestion she thought. She could look for a place to live in London without having to stay at David's and she could heal up without people she knew noticing. It seemed like the perfect temporary solution that was on offer right now.
'So what do you think?' Abby shot Keira an expecting gaze.
'Maybe you're right,' she began, 'if my parents will let me stay there though.'
'Don't worry about them. Just tell them that you love the place and you want to find a job there. I don't think they'll stop you.'
'OK, I'll give them a call tomorrow. But Abbs,' she said doubtfully, 'if I really am going to live there for a while, how do I get all my stuff there?'
'I'll help you pack and I'm sure Tom will too and then we'll just sent it over, no problem at all,' she explained, 'but I'm not letting you alone in that house anymore!' she added.
'How am I going to explain this to David?' Keira said while staring at her hands. She had been going over this in her head, but not one scenario seemed to end well.
'You don't have to because you're going to report him to the police,' Abby said with a stern look in her eyes. She had folded her arms and kicked the chair over in frustration. Not bothering to pick it up she settled back on the bed.
Keira's throat clenched up and she couldn't breathe. Her stomach jolted and she felt dizziness setting in, her body not registering the pain this caused. She couldn't report him to the police, she loved him and he was a good guy by nature. The shock must have been visible on her face because she felt an reassuring hand on her arm.
'You don't have to do it just yet, but you have to some day. He needs help Keira, what if he does it to someone else?' Abby's voice sounded soft and comforting. She stroke Keira's purple arm and tried to calm her down again. 'Just think about it.'
A tear slit down Keira's face and she looked at her best friend. She knew she just wanted to help, but she couldn't do it yet, it was all still too fresh. Each second her head was throbbing more painfully and she could feel it numbing her thoughts. She closed her eyes again and tried to let go, let go of everything.
----------
'You have to be joking!' David yelled who was standing in the living room. He had came home a couple of minutes ago to find Abby, Tom and Keira packing up boxes.
Abby narrowed her eyes and her face twisted in disgust. 'You're leaving her alone, do you hear me?'
They were all positioned in the living room and the boxes they had filled upstairs were put down next to the sofa. Keira was sitting on the sofa, not yet ready to do as much physical work as she would like. The look of terror on her face fuelled the anger of her best friends who were towering over David at the moment. She had felt safe enough with them both in the room to tell David she was leaving him and not coming back. He had been angry and had called her selfish for leaving him alone. Abby had exploded and she had just threatened him with going to the police.
'You can't report me and Keira will never do that,' he spat in Abby's face and his lips drew back in a snarl. Leaning against the doorpost he tried to look unfazed by the whole situation.
Keira looked from one to the other and wasn't sure what was coming next, they had never fallen out like this. She envied Abby for being able to stand up to David and she had seen a flicker of fear in his eyes when Abby had threatened him. He wasn't invincible after all, she thought.
An evil smile was playing on Abby's lips when she noticed David's clenched fists. 'How are you so sure?'
'Because she's weak,' he answered with a devilish grin on his face. He looked at his nails and put his hand back in his pocket. 'She always has been,' he added nonchalantly.
She felt tears burn in her eyes again when his words hit her, he was such an asshole. She couldn't believe she ever loved him, all the good times they had spent together were washed from her memory immediately. She would never let herself getting attached to someone ever again, she thought. Never again will she give someone the opportunity to hurt her and to treat her like trash. It didn't matter that she would end up alone, alone would always be better than this.
'And you're not?' Abby wasn't going to let David win this round.
His smug face went blank. 'What do you mean?' he said.
'You mean beating up women because you can't handle life is not a sign of weakness?' Abby had stopped yelling and instead focused on his body language. It was clear that he was feeling uncomfortable. He fiddled with the zipper of his hoodie and his eyes were scanning the room.
Sitting on the sofa she was still unable to move, she wanted to tell David what she really thought and show him that she wasn't weak. Although she was weak, there was no denying it and she couldn't pretend in front of David. She felt Tom putting an arm around her shoulder and pulling her back against his chest. It felt safe and familiar, she was sure these were the people who would still be in her life fifty years later.
'Keep your hands off my girlfriend!' David yelled suddenly.
Tom sniggered and planted a kiss on Keira's hair. 'She's not your girlfriend anymore, mate.'
'She is,' he hissed, 'aren't you babe?'
She could feel his eyes bore into her and the colour drained out of her face. The stares of everybody in the room felt like daggers being thrown at her and her head started throbbing again. Her broken cheekbone ached even more now that she wasn't able to numb out her feelings.
She took a deep breath and looked David straight in the eye. 'I'm not.'
He seemed taken aback by that, not used to the fact that Keira would go against him. His mouth snapped shut and he was clearly lost for words.
'I think it's time for us to go,' Abby's voice broke the silence that had fallen.
'Good idea,' Tom answered while still stroking Keira's back. He pushed her away very gently and gave her an encouraging smile. 'Don't worry, I will do all the heavy lifting,' he grinned.
Without much effort all the boxes were put in Abby's car. Not much in the house was actually hers, because she had moved into David's house when they had decided on living together. It made the whole ordeal much easier she thought, now she didn't had to worry about getting David out of the house. It was an opportunity to start fresh again and she was really looking forward to that. She stroke the skin on her face and hoped Abby's job in covering the marks was good enough to go outside. She was constantly in pain and it would take at least six weeks for her cheekbone to heal properly, but that was nothing in comparison to the pain her bruised ribs caused her. Breathing felt like being stabbed in the chest and the problem was that she couldn't stop breathing, it was awful.
'Are you coming?' Abby yelled at Keira from the other side of the car.
She looked back at the house once more and accepted the fact that she was never going back there. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She yelped in pain and disgust when she saw it was David standing behind her.
'Don't go Keir...,' he said with a pleading sound in his voice.
She looked at him with a blank face, he had some nerve to ask her that.
'Remember all the good times we had?' he said while trying to grab her hand.
'You did a very good job in removing those from my mind,' she answered bitterly. She bit her lip and watched Tom and Abby standing next to the car. Their faces were showing their thoughts and it was the confirmation Keira needed.
'Please, I beg you,' he tried again.
'Goodbye David,' she said with an icy tone. With that she turned around and walked towards the car. She adjusted the bag thatwas hanging from her shoulder and straightened her back, from now on she was free. Free at last.