save me

I'M A LIFELESS FACE THAT YOU'LL SOON FORGET

When she awoke, it was to the smell of bacon. The pillow was under her head and light radiated through the living room. She blinked as she yawned, moving to sit up. She glanced over at the kitchen, seeing Joel standing at the stove, cooking. She pushed the blanket off her before she went to sit at the island.

"Morning," Joel said, glancing at her. "How's your arm?"

She hummed, looking down at her bandaged arm. "It aches but I'll live," she told him. "Thanks for last night."

"It was nothing," he said, moving to set a plate in front of her. "I hope you like eggs, I don't really have anything else for breakfast. I need to go shopping."

She shrugged. "It's better than dry cereal." Mom never let her use the stove or the milk.

"Well I'm glad you think so," he said. After a few minutes, he came to sit by Ellie. "There's juice in the fridge if you want some."

Ellie perked up. "Really?"

He looked at her. "Yeah, I wouldn't bring it up if you couldn't."

She nodded, it made sense. She got off her chair, going to the fridge. She opened it, smiling when she saw it was orange juice. She remembered always wanting some when she was younger and how mom would buy it but she wasn't allowed any because it was for mom only. She got the container out only to realize that she didn't know where the cups were. "Um, Joel?" She asked. "Where are the cups?"

Joel looked up from his plate. "Oh, there in the cupboard right next to you."

She turned and opened the cupboard, grabbing a cup. She didn't waste time, pouring juice in before she took care of the container. She grabbed her cup and went back to her seat before she drank some of it. It was just as amazing as she remembered. She set the cup down before she dug into her food. Everything was so good. Joel was amazing at cooking.

"Jeez, you act like you've never had eggs before," Joel teased, glancing at the girl.

Ellie swallowed her bite before she cleared her throat, feeling her cheeks burn. "That's because I haven't."

Joel stared at her. "Fucking hell. Did your mom feed you at all?"

Ellie shrugged. "Not really. We had food in the house most days but I always had to make my food or it was microwavable. It was easier for her then having to cook three meals a day."

"What about school? Did you eat at school?" Joel asked.

She shook her head. "No, it costed money and she never gave me any because she told me that she couldn't afford it. And I couldn't bring food to school because i didn't have any thing for the food."

Joel looked away, his jaw clenched as he felt rage at the woman who abused and neglected Ellie. "Well, you don't have to worry about that here," he stated quietly as he stabbed at his plate.

"Thanks," she mumbled, knowing that Joel wasn't angry at her but she still felt like she had done something wrong. She looked down at her plate, falling silent as she ate her food.

Once she was done, she stood up, going over to the sink to take care of her plate. "Go grab the things from last night so I can clean your bite," Joel said. "We don't want it to get infected otherwise it'll hurt like a bitch."

Ellie glanced at him before she nodded. She went to the bathroom, grabbing the rubbing alcohol, a new rag, and gauze before she went back to the kitchen. She placed them down on the island before she sat in her seat, holding her arm out for Joel.

He turn to face her, his hands going to remove the gauze. She hissed as it pulled at her skin. "Well you didn't need stitches but it ain't gonna look pretty for a while," he informed her.

"That's alright," she said. "I've had worse."

Joel glanced up at her, his heart aching at those words but he didn't say anything; opting to clean her wound. He mumbled a soft sorry when she hissed as he cleaned it. Once he put the gauze on it, he glanced at her palm, his pointer finger gently touching the faint scar on it. "What happened here?" He asked.

Ellie looked down at her palm, frowning. "Uh, I think when I was eight..yeah, definitely when I was eight, my mother was in one of her fits. She was mad at me for something I can't quite remember but she threw something at me and I had held my hands up to protect my head from it and I realized that she had thrown a wine bottle when it hit my hand and sliced it open."

"Jesus, how did no one realize what was happening sooner?" Joel asked, frowning at her hand.

Ellie shrugged. "I just figured that no one cared. I thought that they knew and it was normal. But when I ended up in Tommy's apartment and then in hospital and then placed with you, I started to realize it wasn't."   

Joel glanced at her. This girl was breaking his heart. She went through fourteen years of suffering all because she thought it was normal so she never asked for help. Not once. Jesus, this world was fucked up. A part of him was glad that- no, he shouldn't think about that. "Well now no one will hurt you again. You're safe."

Ellie watched him. Safe wasn't a word she was used too. Nothing was safe. She was never safe before. Yet here this man was, sitting across from her saying that she was safe. But was she? This was all temporary and before she knew it, she would be gone and in a new place that was unsafe. She yanked her hand out of his grip as she got out of her seat. She gathered all of the items and left the room, going to the bathroom while leaving the other man to wonder if he had said something for to get cold of a sudden.