Omasis

Feminine Fellow

She packed the ice tightly against my shoulder, cloth between both.

"Are you okay with laying down?"

Imaginary sweat formed on my face from the awkward atmosphere, "Um sure, but where?"

She quirked a brow, "On the bed?"

I lay down without saying anything else.

"I figured it'd be easier to hold the ice packs on the bruises if you laid down," she explained.

She put the other pack on my arm with the cloth, "Are you hungry? We might still have some leftovers if Oyene didn't already get to it," she said with disdain.

I made a noise in the back of my throat and she was quick to leave. I thought on what was happening, and what had happened. Tallah defended my presence until her brother stopped yelling, asking why I was here and how she shouldn't have let me in. She was just a stranger who I'd only met a few hours ago, but now she was patching my injuries and feeding me as if it was the most normal thing, like I was somebody she already knew. I didn't want to decline her help, I needed it and was aware of it, but it was still strange how she would show such kindness to somebody like me. I don't think she would try to hurt me, she's doing quite the opposite, but I can't say the same for those around her. But I trust her. Though the idea of what her family, mainly Timone, are now capable of doing to me now that I'm vulnerable and in their house made me bunch the comforter in my fists and try to tug it up to my chin. My shoulder ached when I moved it, I smoothed the comforter out with my bandaged palms and tried to relax.

Tallah returned shortly after, I propped myself up and she handed my a small dinner plate. It was reheated meatloaf and potatoes.

"Hope you like meatloaf," She smiled, taking a seat at her desk with her hands folded in her lap.

She turned in her seat towards her desk, explained she had some homework to do, and quickly went to it while I ate. I took a small first bite of the meatloaf, it tasted okay, like how microwave reheated meatloaf would taste. Small chopped up pieces of bacon were on top of it, it was the best part. I complimented her on the food, she had made it herself, and I could hear the smile in her voice as she explained with her back turned. I could hear her scribbling away in a notebook as I finished up the meatloaf and started on the potatoes. They tasted fine, but I don't really like potatoes all that much. When I finished everything, I had basically scraped the plate clean, I put it on the nightstand like she had instructed. I shift back into the bed, arms folded over my chest. My hands brushed nylon again and I couldn't help but have a thought arise, and more questions along with it. Before I can think, words start to flow through my mouth.

"Why are you being so nice? You're taking care of me, but we're just strangers."

She freezes for a moment at her desk, like time had frozen just in that moment while she was working. But time hadn't frozen, she turned to look at me, face unreadable.

"It's, um, it's just my dad's...philosophy of sorts, you know? 'Help those who need it and...and they might help you'."

"Hm, a little weird, isn't it?"

She grinned, but something behind her eyes made it seem less genuine, "I think it's served me well enough."

She was quick to turn back around and continue working, something about how fast she went back to normal made me wonder. She was hiding something, maybe not a secret, but she was hiding the look on her face. A look certainly all too familiar to me.

"Until you get hurt," I finish.

She didn't say anything after, not until the ice had melted and I was all but ready to leave.

___

Tallah led me back to the door, she walked me through the field and even all the way to the doors we had come from in the first place. She didn't say a word, though, not even just random banter while we walked or while I had the ice packs on. Other people who were in at the bars had collected outside. Even in the crowd, I instantly saw Timone, sulking against the wall of his house in the shadows. I searched for any emotion on his face, it was barren and empty like an open field. We made eye contact, it was only for a moment but as soon as we did I could feel my body panic, I wanted to look away as fast as I could without setting him off. An "Oh shit" moment, to make it simple. In the time we made eye contact, he scowled, pulling a face with so much emotion it felt like a tidal wave hitting the shore. It sure did hit me like one.

"Oh, he still hates my guts," I thought, then looked away.

I pushed the door open with my foot, holding it open while I turned to look back at Tallah.

"If you need any help, or a place to sleep, or some company, just stop by."

I smiled, and she smiled back, "Thanks."

I pushed the door all the way open with my palms, heading down the alley and out of sight.

___

I made it home, by the time I did it was heading towards night. The last rays of sunlight were now only at the top of houses. The ground was now left behind, cold. I walk right up to the front door and head inside, dad always left it unlocked in case mom ever came home randomly. But something inside me always knew he left it for me. Like I would ever come back.

Tallah had told me to keep ice on it, I scavenged the freezer until I found two tiny ice packs. Once again, I was back in my room, laying on my bed and holding the tiny icepacks on the bruises. They barely covered the whole bruise, either of them. The grey walls and the lack of light made the bruises look sickly. I looked down at myself, laying in my bed, stripped down to my jeans and...

A thought appears, small at first and almost unnoticeable, but quickly grew until I couldn't ignore it anymore. That moment when she walked in, I felt like glass, like she could see right through me. The walls that were built had shattered, if only for a moment. I wanted to run, and I wanted to hide. It brought me back to bloodied walls and crying out in the dark, I almost wanted to go right back to it.

I rose from the bed, ice packs dropping and making loud thumps like body bags. The one mirror I have ever owned was on my dresser amongst the clutter, turned to the wall and hidden. With shaking and sore hands, I grasp the sides of the mirror lightly, turn it around and stare right into it. A moment passes and I lift my arms above my head, lift it off of my body and throw it to the ground. I stare into the mirror again, whole body shaking and wanting to turn away. It's hideous and terrible in every way possible, I can hear ringing. Through that ringing, voices. Voices of family. My legs feel weak and numb. Why didn't she ask? repeats in my head, a brand new question to haunt me every day for the rest of my life.

I throw up, it's mostly bile.

(A/N: Yey, fun :'] anyways, more stuff on the way.)

-L.J Aswell <3