Chapter Ten
"Colleen, the movie is over."
I blinked, finding the credits rolling across the screen where previously the movie that I had not been paying much attention to, had been playing.
"Oh, so it is..." I nodded, lifting myself out of the chair and grabbing my purse, slinging it over my shoulder before turning back to face David. "Did you enjoy it?"
"Yeah, I did. I'm not going to bother asking you if you did, as I could see that most of the time you were paying little to no attention whatsoever." He grinned, causing me to look sheepishly at my feet, embarrassed.
"I- I'm sorry about that, you wasted money paying for a ticket to a movie that I didn't even pay attention to..." I apologized quietly, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. "I feel really bad, I'm really, very sorry."
"Don't be sorry, Colleen, how many times do I have to say it? Its not a waste if you're doing something you enjoy, and I enjoyed watching the movie with you as my company. So, therefor, it was not a waste."
"If you say so," I sighed, covering my lips with a hand to muffle a soft yawn. "So, what do you want to do next?"
"I'm not sure," He mused thoughtfully, tapping his chin while he did so. "How about we go back to your place and watch a movie that you actually enjoy?"
"Come back to my place? That sounds sketchy... you could be an ax murderer." I blurted out before I even realized what I was quoting, though, much to my surprise, David's response was exactly what I was subconsciously hoping for.
"There's always that possibility."
"You... you know that quote?" I grinned, to which David simply smiled, tousling my hair before beginning to walk back in what I assumed would be the direction of the motel.
I began to follow after him, when I heard a familiar voice call out.
"Colleen! Hey, Colleen!"
I blinked, turning around to find that it was Margaret that had called out to me, waving viciously at me from across the street where she was standing with her boyfriend, Anthony, along with Elenor and her boyfriend, Drake.
David, noticing I had stopped, looked where I was looking before walking back to where I was standing, turning to look at me.
"Do you know those people?" He questioned, and I glanced up at him, nodding my head.
"Yes, those are two of my best friends, Margaret and Elenor. Along with their boyfriends, Anthony and Drake." I explained, and David tilted his head to the side, before he began to smile.
"Anthony and Drake? I know those two, in fact, they're two of my best friends." He informed me, before looking back to where the four had now crossed the street and were approaching us.
"Colleen, where have you been? We've been so worried about you!" Margaret exclaimed, being quick to wrap me in a hug that was basically bone crushing, which was actually amazing for someone her size.
"Yeah, it was really rude of you to just disappear like that without telling us where you went!" Elenor snapped, before her face softened slightly. "Your father is pretty distraught, Colleen."
"I know, but... he wouldn't understand why I left if I had told him. You guys cannot tell him you saw me, please, I'm fine on my own and I really don't want to go back, okay? Please?" I begged, and Margaret and Elenor exchanged looks.
"Okay, we won't tell, but, on one condition," Margaret began, and, when I nodded in agreement, she continued. "You have to stay in touch with us. You're still our best friend and we were worried out of our minds about you."
"Yes, of course I will, I just didn't think I should drag you guys into my problems, that's why I didn't reply to any of your messages."
"Yeah, you not replying made us think you were dead, or something." Elenor told me, to which I sheepishly looked down at my feet, mumbling another apology.
"It's fine, at least you're okay now. Other than that, who's your friend?" Margaret questioned, turning to look at David, who was having his own conversation with Drake and Anthony a few feet away. "Wait, is that David Connelly? Didn't he graduate?"
"Yeah, that's him," I nodded in response. "Yeah, he did graduate, but, we ran into each other yesterday and decided to catch up, we just went to go see a movie, actually."
"Oh, did we disrupt your date?" She inquired, looking concerned, to which I blushed, shaking my head to answer her question. "Hun, your blush answers all."
"It's not a date, we were just catching up. We're just friend." I assured her, and David, whom I thought was not paying attention, poked his head into our conversation with a grin.
"Well, she is, I'm not."
"Stop quoting," I demanded, causing him to laugh before turning his attention back to his friends. "We are just friends, you insufferable boob."
"I don't like him." Elenor announced, to which I gave her an unimpressed look.
"Elenor, you don't like anyone." I countered, causing her to nod her head.
"Point taken."
Smirking, I turned to David, and, once I had obtained his attention, I began to speak.
"Maybe we could save our movie night for some other time, I think I'm just going to head home and go to sleep, I'm pretty tired, to be honest." I told him, to which he frowned and pulled up his sleeve to check his watch.
"But, it's barely past seven." He told me, to which I shrugged my shoulders, and, as if to prove my point, reached up to cover my lips as another yawn made itself noticeable.
"I know, I'm just tired. You can stay and chat with your friends, I'm just going to walk home," I informed him, and, before he could say anything else, I stopped him. "Thank you for the wonderful outing today, hopefully I'll talk to you soon."
"Alright," He nodded slowly, glancing back at Drake and Anthony before turning back to me. "Be safe then, don't go walking into any more walls, or doors."
"I won't. Goodbye." I blushed, before saying goodbye to both Margaret and Elenor in turn, promising to text them both, before I made my way down the street and back towards the dreary old Onyx Motel that I had made my home.
Seeing as it was not that far away, I made it home in no time and unlocked the door, stepping inside and locking it again once more.
I went upon my ritual that I did every time I came home, and that was checking the bathroom and kitchen, along with the closet, making sure that there were no murderers of rapist Dominants hiding, because I was just that paranoid.
Once I had made sure that there was no one and nothing out of the ordinary of threatening in my room, I changed into my pajamas and crawled under the covers, letting out a content sigh as I nuzzled into my pillow and closed my eyes.
It wasn't long before I was asleep.
~*~*~*~
Listening to the sound of my parents screaming at each other, I squeezed my tear filled eyes shut tightly, holding my tiny hands over my ears.
"Fuck you, Albert! Even for someone like you, that's still wrong on so many levels!" My mother screamed, and I heard something smash in the kitchen.
"Who the hell are you to tell me what's wrong and what's right, woman?!" My father's voice demanded in return, and the sound of a slam, and my mother's gasp of pain. "I really don't care much about your opinion anyways, to be perfectly honest!"
"She's not even six! She doesn't even know what is normal in our world yet and you're already trying to force her into it with... with something as sick as that?!"
"Shut up, you blasted woman, she can probably hear us!"
"Good! Maybe I want her to hear, maybe she'll be warned about how awful of a human being you really are, you asshole!"
Another slap, another cry of pain, and more tears that fell down my cheeks as I pressed my face into the blankets which I had pulled over my small form as a measly attempt at protecting myself from the violence downstairs.
"I don't care what you say, you dumb bitch," My father growled loudly. "Get out of my sight before I do something I should, but probably won't regret!"
Just like that, the shouting died down, and I head light footsteps that could only belong to my mother, cross the kitchen floor below and begin to make their way up the stairs.
I heard her walking down the hallway towards my room, before the door handle turned and a ray of light slowly peeked in, though, it was blocked by her silhouette as she entered, and then once more as she shut the door.
"Colleen? Sweetheart, are you awake?" She questioned softly, and I removed my hands from over my ears and peeked my head out from underneath the blanket.
"Yes, mama." I whimpered, and her light footsteps crossed the room, before the blankets were lifted slightly and my mother slipped under the covers with me, wrapping her arms around me and holding me close to her chest.
"I'm sorry you had to heard that, my love... I really am..." She whispered, and, nuzzling closer to her, I felt my tense body relax slightly at the feeling of comfort I received from her.
"I don't like it when you and daddy fight about me." I sobbed, and my mother began to hush me softly, reaching up a gentle hand to wipe away the tears that were running steadily down my cheeks.
"No, honey, we weren't fighting about you. It's not your fault, you have nothing to worry about," She assured me, gently kissing my forehead. "You just need to go to sleep now, alright? Mama's going to stay with you, tonight."
"Okay, mama..." I breathed, clutching tightly to the front of her shirt. "Can you sing something to help me fall asleep, please?"
My mother was silent for a moment, thinking, before her soft voice began to sing quietly in the darkness of my bedroom.
"Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly... all your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise..."
"Thank you, mama..." I murmured, though, she didn't respond and only continued to sing softly, doing her best to soothe me.
"Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these sunken eyes and learn to see... all your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free..."
Nuzzling closer to her warm embrace, I could feel my eyes already getting heavy, not from tears this time, but, from exhaustion.
"Blackbird fly, blackbird fly... into the light of the dark black night. Blackbird fly, blackbird fly... into the light of the dark black night..."
My mother's soft voice was the last thing I heard as sleep overtook me.
"Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly... all your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise. You were only waiting for this moment to arise, you were only waiting for this moment to arise..."
~*~*~*~
Bolting upright, I held a hand to my forehead as I fought back tears.
Now, back in my small, cramped motel room, I glanced at the bedside digital clock, seeing the red numbers that read 3:21 AM.
Taking deep breaths, I tried to calm myself down.
That memory... was it even a memory? I didn't remember if that had actually happened, or if it was a dream, and, in fact... I didn't remember a lot of memories from when I was very little...
"No... that's not true. My father is a good man... it was just a dream."
Assuring myself that, I pulled the covers back over my head, and quickly drifted off once more.