Bruises (BWWM)

9

9

Tamra

"I first met your mom three years ago and since, I've never seen her again," Ben begun, taking a seat next to me onto one of the three small green chairs pressed against the wall in the hallway outside my mother's room.

As I was patiently waiting for the rest of the story I felt like I suddenly had all the time in the world. A few members of the staff walked past us as I awaited Ben to resume his narrative.

"I was only fourteen years old at that time and very rebellious. Already at that age, I used to run away from the house to roam around the city, looking for trouble. Most of the time, I only had to venture into the north of the city at night to get into an altercation with old men way too drunk to realize they were hitting a kid.

So the night I met your mom, I was already covered in bruises, fresh out of an encounter with a junkie who thought I was an hallucination he needed to get rid off. I heard her cries first. I ran up to the horrible screeches and saw the scene that was laid out in front of me. Three men were circling her. One was pulling onto her purse and jewelry, while the two others were trying to pin her against the wall of an dirty and deserted alley.

The tallest man's hands was gripping onto her body and he stabbed her in the arm while the chubbiest proceeded to unzip his sagged pants.

I didn't know what to do, so I marched towards the men and screamed as loud as I could. I told your mother to run. I told her I was going to protect her. Even if I didn't know her. And I did.

I took the blow for her. I remember her face when I told her to leave. She thought she was about to lose her dignity before dying when I saved her. She looked relieved and scared, I never forgot that expression on her face. It resembled the one she sported today, when she saw me. I told her to run again, while the other dudes looked shunned by my incredible confidence. So she clasped her injured arm and ran as fast as she could and called the cops. But when the police came, the men and myself were already long gone.

I had already taken matters into my own hands."

I was captivated. I needed to know more.

"How? How did you get out of this alive?"

He shut his eyelids and pressed his head against the wall behind us. My body was angled towards him, my eyes watching his every move, waiting for him to make a movement that would betray his story. And without my understanding, a part of me, hidden between lucidity and instinct, forced me to doubt his words. It refused to believe him.

"Did I mention I had stolen my dad's gun?" he said, opening one eye to look at me briefly.

My mouth pulled itself into a perfect 'o' shape.

"No, I didn't kill anyone," he sighed rolling his now both opened eyes, "I simply pulled out the gun from my jacket and they all automatically fled when they saw it. I mean, the sight alone of a white kid holding a firearm is pretty scary. It wasn't even charged, but they didn't know that. See, I ain't that bad, right?"

I didn't know what to say. I couldn't even begin to comprehend the whole story despite having just heard his version of it. Ben saved my mom. And that incident was the moment that triggered her mutism three years ago. She was just as traumatized as I was right now. I couldn't believe all of us had been so blind during all these years.

I knew she was the one who brought home a newspaper with adresses of houses on sale circled in red, three years before, and placed it onto the kitchen table so my father would see, but I didn't know the reason behind it. It was her way of telling him that we needed to move far away from the place those three gross men almost raped her.

"This is... so sad," I only succeeded to choke out, clutching my head with my two hands, "Do you think she'd talk again if she knew that I knew about her story? Do you think she'd talk to you?"

Ben shrugged. He didn't know either.

I got up from my seat and headed towards my mom's room. As my body approached the doorway and my fingers gripped the rim of the open door, I slowly turned to look at Ben once again.

"Is that what you usually do?" I inquired. "You said my mom was the first one you saved. Is that how you get all of your bruises? Saving people from bad guys, gang members and getting into fights? Is that why you warned me about Faye's nudes? So you could save her from the embarassment? Tell me, why do you do it?"

Ben got up, walked up close to me, the delectable proximity between us almost hurting me. His beautiful blue eyes dawned upon mine and I melted a little.

"Hush Tamra, there's so much more about myself that I'm not willing to reveal to you or to anyone. Be glad I dared sharing your mother's story with you," he whispered in my ear, his breath tingling onto my skin.

He smirked and bumped into my shoulder while walking past me.

This guy really had no manners.

I watched Ben's back, the white shirt of his uniform clinging onto his waist as he skillfully disappeared away from my sight and left the establishment.

I went inside of my mother's room and she was standing up, in front of her bed, facing me with a strange expression. Apprehension. She was finally expressing what she was feeling deep inside. I felt great about that, because it meant that I was a few steps closer into getting my mom back.

I took a step forward and she blinked, her eyes widening. Was she afraid? She didn't really seem like it. It felt as if she was trying to ask me a question, but couldn't begin to utter words.

"Did you hear what Ben was telling me when we were outside in the hallway?" I questionned her, my tone wary and low.

And for the first time in years, she locked eyes with me and nodded.

"Was it true? What he said?" I continued, feeling tears tugging at the corners of my eyes as I recalled the gruesome details of the evening Ben had just described to me.

She avoided my gaze this time, but still nodded. She looked ashamed.

A tear slid down my cheek as I walked up to her to hug her. As I held her frail body tightly against mine, she didn't move or motion her arms to hug me back, but I swore I heard a faint whisper escape her lips.

I heard a muffled thank you.

But I didn't know if she was thanking me, or Ben.