A kiss on the bruise

Heather sat on the stairs, shivering as the rain drops fell onto her. It was raining hard, and she was sitting right outside of the public library, currently closed since it was well past midnight. I have nowhere to go, she thought to herself, rubbing her arms for warmth. Keith was mad, for sure. She looked sadly at the string of bruises running along her arms and legs. He was really furious with her today, she mused. He was more violent than he used to be, but of course, it gets worse day by day. Heather reached out her hands, feeling the rain falling harder and harder. Keith's temper must've calmed down a bit by now. She slowly stood up to take it easy on the fractured bone on her back, injured a week ago.

Maybe she put too much pressure on her fractured bone because suddenly, a sharp twist of pain ripped across her back. Suddenly, the world spun quickly, and she was falling, falling, falling... As Heather braced herself for the fall, she felt strong hands grab her arm, and pull her to her feet again. Startled, Heather turned to face her saviour, a man who was holding an umbrella. She took in his features. Glossy, short chestnut brown hair,a nose slightly crooked yet was sharp at the tip, a cleft in his chin... Her eyesmoved down to his clothes. He was dressed in a casual t-shirt and baggy trousers. What really caught her attention werehisbeautiful green eyes, which looked so dreamy, she fell into a trance, staring so deeply into his eyes until the same, strong hand shook her gently on the shoulders to wake her from her hypnosis. Immediately, she broke of the eye-contact and stared down at her feet, blushing furiously at her foolish action. The man chuckled softly at her reaction, and asked "Are you all right? You just suddenly seemed to fall when you stood up. I don't know whether to laugh at your poor sense of balance, or-" he stopped suddenly, and Heather saw his gaze drifting to her arm. The bruises.

Heather quickly hid her armsbehind her back and said"I-I'm really sorry! I have t-to go now- Achoo!" She sneezed for two more times, and when the sneezing fit stopped, a hankerchief was handed to her. She accepted it, and only then did she dare to raise her head, and timidly stared into the man's face. There was a frowned look on his face, which gave her the impression that he wasconcerned for her, a girl who he has never met. This made her heart beat quicken, was that a sign of love at first sight? No, it can't be, she'sin love with Keith. Besides, he'd be murderous if she had an affair with another guy. Afterall,they were under the same roof! Heather shook away those impossible thoughts, and ran off before the man could ask any more questions. He seemed to call out her name as she ran, but after she turned around a corner, his shouts seemed to fade along with the mist in the night. She ignored her back-splitting pain and continued running all the way to the cheap apartment block where she and Keith lived, and holding a pole for support, she panted heavily, beads of sweat mixing with the rain dripped onto her clothes, and she miserably head back to the apartment, hoping that Keith was in a better mood, dreading the thought of him being angry still.

"Babe!" Heather was greeted by Keith at the door when she walked in, he walked towards her, then suddenly stopped. "You're so damn wet! Head in the shower and change into your laced bra and underwear! I have plans for us tonight!" Keith said cheerfully, an unusual happy expression was on his face. Heather froze, and cautiously looked into his face. "What do you mean by special plans, Keith? And... laced bra and underwear?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly, his intentions have already been made clear. He must have noticed her voice shook, for his voice changed fromsickly sweet to enraged.

"We've lived together for a whole damn year! Don't you think I've been pretty f*king patient already?!" he bellowed, striding across the apartment in just three strides, and grabbing Heather by handfuls of hair, he tugged, and brought her down to the floor, head-first. By the enormous thud on the floorshe heard as her head went down, and sticky substance flowing at a dangerously fast pace, spreadingacross the floor, Heather could imagine she'd have a bad headache tomorrow. Dizzily, she tried to focus her eyes, and saw Keith reaching out towards her face. At first she closed her eyes slowly, thinking he was going to apologise, and then stroke her face, or even kiss her. But her hopeful thought was shortlived, when his fingers pinched her bottom lip, so hard that she felt her lip would tear off. Heather tasted blood, she could do nothing but only look into his cold eyes, hoping that he would see the pain in her eyes, the pleading, even. But he was blind toall that. He leaned over and hissed "Get into the shower, put on your laced bra and underwear, and meet me in the room. Gottit?" With that, he let go of her lip which was starting to swell already, and shoved her into the bathroom.

Heather stumbled, in the dark of the bathroom, reaching for the bathtub. Keith insisted on saving money, so Heather was hardly allowed showers, only once a week, so not even perfume could work sometimes. All the money went to the liquor and cigarettes and all Keith's pleasure, but she didn't compain. I love him, Heather reminded herself, yet the tears slipped down her face uncontrollably, and she soon broke into sobs, weeping quietly for everything. For Keith wanting to take away her virginity tonight, despite her unprepared self. For her parents abandoning her since she was a baby, being passed on from relative to relative, and finally landed onto her boyfriend of three years, Keith.

He was never aggressive until a few months after she moved in with him. He was a sweet guy, this is just a bad side of Keith. Sooner or later the old, sweet Keith will come back again, and he'll love her again as he always had, she reassured herself. Abruptly, an image of the man from a few hours ago resurfaced into her brain as she cried, and that's when she stopped. Why was she thinking about a stranger? She doesn't even know him! Heather shook her head furiously, and then stepped into the shower. She scrubbed her whole body furiously, determined to smell nice and look clean tonight, and washed her hair, careful not to touch the cut where Keith had banged her head against the floor. She winced when the water reached her cut, making it sting, but continued on until all the blood was out of her hair. She rinsed her mouth as well, to wash out all the blood, and tenderly touched her swollen bottom lip. It was twice the size of her upper lip.

After the quick shower, Heather hurriedly dressed into the laced bra and underwear. It felt extremely uncomfortable, the sides around the bra and underwear were very itchy, and Keith didn't look at the size when he bought it for her, so it was too small. After struggling for a few minutes, she finally opened the door and entered the room she shared with Keith. He was spread out on the bed, naked all over and humming a tune. Once he saw Heather standing at the hall way, he sat up immediately, beckoned her over with a smile, and eyed her eagerly like a tiger eyes it's prey before it pounces as she slowly sat on the bed, fear tingling in every morsel of flesh in her body. He edged towards her and embraced her, and whispered in her ear "I'm sorry babe... I've been awful haven't I? But you'll forgive me... You always do..." he trailed off, his fingers slithering towards the laced bra, and slowly untied the strings. His whole body was boiling with excitement, Heather could tell. The lights were switched off, so Heather could see nothing, but her vision began to blur with tears of fear. A teardrop fell onto Keith's hand, but he took no notice as he finished untying the ribbon. "Keith... C-Can't this wait till another time?" Heather stammered, covering her breasts with herhands. Her comment was met with a quick slap to the face, and she was pushed roughly onto the bed,with Keith on top of her. His hands... They weren't as gentle as that man's...But Keith shook her shouldersso hard he shook out her thoughts as well. "I don't like wasting time, Heather. So living under MY house, you obey MY orders." Keith didn't seem to expect an answer, and he roughly procceeded to her underwear, sliding it quickly down her legs. Heather could do nothing but just helplessly watch him undress her. After that was done, his tongue slobbered all over my body, and after much movement in the dark, Keith collasped onto the bed, exhausted. Soon he was snoring like a pig, and Heather felt free to let her tears wet the pillow. It was biting cold, but there was no blanket, and she didn't dare wake up Keith. All night, she didn't sleep.

"Keith, hon... It's time for school" Heather cooed, rubbing Keith's arm as she tried to wake him up as gently as she could, since a bad start always led to a bad day, and she hoped Keith would be in a good mood today. After a sleepless night, she was so tired, but she had to take on the daily tasks. Keith grunted, and rolled over. "We're going to be late, Keith..." Heather pleaded, with a desperate edge to her voice. Hismuscular arm slammed against her chest, catching her by surprise and causing her to lose her balance and falloff the bed, fortunately on her butt and not her back. She gasped loudly, but recovered soon enough, and found that Keith was already stirring. Relieved that he was finally awake, she set off to make breakfast, dragging her legs as she went to the kitchen.

As she prepared breakfast, she let her mind wander through the tangled events of last night, the encounter with that handsome man, the not-so-voluntary sex ordeal with Keith... She ran her hand through her hair, and a few minutes later, Keith came out of the bathroom, refreshed and ready, with his blonde hair perfectly gelled, and fixed on with his favourite surfer's tee and loose fitting shorts, very sexy. Yet somehow,she felt quite disturbed, and when he asked her how he looked, she replied "You look hot as always" and feigned a smile. He didn't seem to take notice, and soon Heather heard him shout again "I need your English essay on Shakespeare's play,Hamlet." He didn't even wait for her reply beforeunzipping Heather's bag andpulling outher folder, containing the essay papers, then shoved it into his bag."Thanks"he had the heart to say, and more pressure wasadded onto Heather, including explaining toMs Tirella why she didn't have her english homework with her, for thesixth timein the term.