Handprint

Chapter 15

Harry POV:

We sat there in silence for a moment. I could tell she was thinking about how to tell me but also trying to keep herself calm. I kept my hand on her cheek, just rubbing small circles around the small unnoticeable scar. She was right, no one would notice them if she didn’t point them out. Finally after a minute she grabbed my hand while standing up. I thought she wanted me to stand so I started to lift myself off the bed.

“No, just stay on the bed, Harry.” I did as she said. She let go and went to her bedside table and flipped on the small lamp. She walked back over and shocked me when she started to unbuckle her jeans. My breath hitched and I just stared at her. “Relax Harry” she chuckled. I watched her as she unzipped her pants and pulled them down slightly, letting them hang from her hips, she pushed her blue cotton underwear down a bit also. Taking my hand back in hers but I knew what she was doing, she was going to run my finger over the dark pink scar that was right below her hip line. I had noticed it that day I dressed her, but thought nothing of it…until now.

“This was from the last time he touched me…m-my…dad.” She whispered, but I could hear the venom in her voice. The pain and anger she held towards him was evident. I kept myself quiet, giving her all the time she needed to continue. I just sat there looking at her with sadness. Running my finger over the scar numerous times. Finally she spoke again, “when I was nine, he came home drunk and I sassed him. He called me a little shit and pushed me down telling me I needed to learn some respect.” She took an uneven breath and sat back down on the bed. “I didn’t think he was going to do anything else so I went to get up a-and that’s when I felt his foot in my stomach.” She looked down, unable to meet my eyes. I took her small hand in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Two days later he bought me a doll and said he was sorry. He didn’t know had happened but he promised it would never happen again. I was stupid to believe him, but I did. T-that was until a few weeks later when I came home from a Declan’s house. I was 10 minutes late and he was already drunk. I walked in and as soon as the door was closed….h-he” she stopped taking short breaths, steadying herself. “He pulled me into the living room by my hair a-and knocked me around a bit. That was where I got this.” She pointed to the scar on her cheek. “He slapped me so hard I fell and hit the end of the coffee table. It wasn’t hard but enough to cut me.”

“I had a right nasty bruise from that he told me if I told anyone, he’d send me away. So I lied and said I fell down in the back yard. Deco was the only one who didn’t believe me but I wouldn’t tell him what happened.” I felt my blood boil and my free hand curl into a fist as she told me, how could anyone hurt someone like that? How could anyone hurt HER like that? She felt me tensed, “look…it only gets worse, so maybe you don’t want to hear it.” She was turning away from me but I grabbed her and pulled her into my lap. “No, Rori! I want to know. I-I just need…I need to know you’re ok telling me this.” I looked down at her and placed small kisses on her forehead. I didn’t want her to relive this but I also couldn’t let it go. I had to know, as sick as it sounds, I had to know everything.

She didn’t answer me, she just took a deep breath and I knew she was going to continue. “After that, h-he knew he couldn’t hit me where anyone could see. When I was 10 he broke 3 of my ribs…I-I was screaming in pain and he bent down and picked me up. I thought he was going to take me to the hospital but instead he went outside with me. Telling me to keep my mouth shut or he make it worse. He walked up the small playset we had outback and sat me at the top. I-I w-was so confused, I-I didn’t k-know what he was doing….” She was trying so hard not to let the tears that swelled up, fall. Then she shifted, gritting her teeth she ball her fists and spoke with such hatred I was actually a bit afraid.

“Then, he pushed me off the side.” I gasped, that fucker beat the shit out of her and then pushed her off a fucking playset! I couldn’t stay quiet any longer. “WHAT?! He did what? W-why would he do that?!” I demanded. She just looked at me and chuckled, but it was menacing. “Why else? He needed a reason to cover up what he had done.” The way she now spoke, was distant and eerie, like it was her but she wasn’t there anymore. She had this blank look in her eyes and for a moment I knew the girl I was falling for was no longer there. This person was dead inside and felt nothing. It scared me to think that she had gone through so much that she created this person to deal with the pain she felt.