Sketches
~Stories~
This is fairly short at the time. I am working on it, more often than some of the others. I was fairly depressed when I wrote it.
WARNING: Contains mild language.
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~Never Beaten~
~Chapter 1~
She sat outside the Jr. High, resting her back against the brick wall of the school. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks, though she made no noise. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
Blair sat thinking, as she usually did during the lunch period. She had thick curly black hair and deep piercing blue eyes. She wore tight faded blue jeans, a pale purple tank top and a zip up black hooded jacket with skull and crossbones on the back.
She pushed up the right sleeve on her jacket and saw the hand shaped bruise that was rising. Another bruise was sure to appear on her right side. She had not gotten into a fight, like she told everyone; Blair hated to fight. The truth was that her boyfriend, Darrik, had beaten her. The tall red haired brown-eyed boy had grabbed her arm to prevent her from running, and then punched her repeatedly in the side. It wasn�t the first time. Nor would it be the last. She tried to protect herself, or to fight back; that just made him hit her more.
Blair thought back on the first beating. She shook her head, wondering how she could have believed him when he said it would never happen again. But she had, and Darrik had broken his promise; beating her repeatedly until she grew accustomed to the treatment and took it without complaint. Though she didn�t look it, her body had become one massive aching bruise.
The bell rang, shaking her from her thoughts. Blair stood and wiped the tears from her face, then headed into the school. She kept her head lowered and walked quickly towards her class. Someone wrapped an arm around her shoulders and spoke.
�Hey sweetie.� Darrik said. �Where�d you disappear too, during lunch? I looked for you.� she could tell by his tone that he was irritated.
�I was�in the bathroom. Its that time again.� Blair lied quickly.
�Oh. Alright then.� Darrik replied, pulling her with him into his group of friends. She listened to them talk about football and baseball for a few minutes until the warning bell rang and they all wandered towards class. Suddenly, a voice called out Blair�s name.
�Hey, Blair!� Someone shouted. Blair turned to see Justin, a friend from one of her classes. Justin, a short blonde haired green-eyed boy began making his way through the crowded hall towards Blair and Darrik.
�Here, you forgot this last period. I thought you�d want it.� Justin said, holding her notebook out towards her. Blair took it and shoved it into her bag. �I�ll see you later, Blair.� Justin then disappeared back into the crowd. Darrik hooked a hand under Blair's arm and pulled her out the nearest door, into the sunlight of the afternoon.
�Who the hell was that, Blair?� He demanded, pushing her up against the brick wall of the school.
�It was only Justin. He�s a kid I talk to in one of my classes.� Blair answered, then added, �Darrik your hurting my arm.� He responded by slapping her.
�Your cheating on me, aren�t you? Your such a slut!� He shouted. �I ought to toss you to the curb where you belong.�
�He�s only a friend, Dare. Please, be reasonable.� Blair said cautiously.
�Just get to class, Blair.� Darrik ordered. She quickly headed back into the school. �Don�t let me catch you talking to him again.� He added in a vicious tone. Blair walked to her class and sat in the back, trying to ignore the ache in her side and her stinging cheek while she took notes.
Darrik left her alone for the rest of the day until after Blair�s last class he appeared behind her while she stood at her locker packing up all the books she�d need to do her homework. He wrapped his arms around her waist and laid his head on her back. Blair tensed and continued shoving things in her bag.
�You know I love you, right?� Darrik asked innocently.
�Of course, Dare.� Blair answered.
�I�m sorry I hit you. I just overreacted.� Darrik said, pulling her closer. Blair flinched at the pain in her side and shut her locker. �I don�t want to lose you to some other guy, babe.� He added, making her turn and face him. Blair smiled and put a hand on Darrik�s arm.
�You won�t. I�m yours forever.� Blair said reassuringly. �I�ve got to get home. I have to get some things done before my mom gets home from work.�
�I�ll see you tomorrow then.� Darrik said, giving her one last hug before he wandered off into the dwindling crowd in the hallway. Blair slung her bag over her shoulder and walked out the main doors of the school, she looked up and down the lane in front of the school until she saw the little white car her older brother, Brendan drove. Blair made her way to the car and pulled the door open, threw her bag in the back and sat in the passenger seat pulling the door shut.
�Hey girl child how was school?� Brendan asked. Brendan was a tall muscular seventeen-year-old boy with short brown hair and hazel eyes.
�It was fine.� Blair answered absentmindedly. Brendan pulled onto the road and headed towards home. He turned the stereo up until the rear view mirror vibrated with the rap music he loved. When they arrived home Blair disappeared into her room and shut the door.
Blair threw her bag on the bed and turned on her CD player; Linkin Park played through the speakers while Blair examined the bruise on her side. It had begun to change to an ugly greenish brown spot the size of a basketball.
�Oh that�s lovely.� Blair commented to herself, pulling her jacket back over her torso. It had become increasingly difficult for Blair to hide the bruises from her family and the few friends Darrik allowed her to see. The bruises on her arm throbbed and her side ached dully. She sat cross-legged on the bed and did her homework, trying to take her mind off the more painful events of the day. She quickly finished the writing assignment and the chapter she had to read for science; then sat back, leaning against the headboard of the bed until her mother called her upstairs for dinner.
After dinner, Blair returned to her room
She had thought about leaving Darrik hundreds of times. But had always been too afraid that he would kill her rather than let her leave him. Fear. That kept her in this relationship from hell. Blair was tired of being afraid; tired of being told she was only on this planet to be the plaything of some guy. Most of all she was tired of feeling like Darrik was right when he told her she was nothing but a worthless woman.
Blair began to cry again, sitting there, thinking of what she had become, the worthless girl in a relationship with an abusive bastard. She had always heard stories of girls who had been in her position and had always wondered why they didn�t do something about it. But now she understood the feeling; the feeling that what she got, she deserved. She should have remembered her notebook, and not left it behind; so she deserved the beating she got.
What scared her more than that, she loved him. To some degree Blair did love Darrik. How can this be love, she asked herself. There has to be something better out there�but there�s not, a little voice in her head would say. So she covered the bruises and put up with the physical and verbal abuse.
Blair glanced at the clock; the neon letters read 10:43pm. Since she had school the next day Blair wandered into the bathroom, pulled a comb through her hair and brushed her teeth and then returned to her room, pulled on her pajamas slid between the soft cool sheets and fell asleep.
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