Escaping the Void

Chapter Four

I wake up the next morning a little after the crack of dawn in bed, my clothes stripped off of me. Trevor is nowhere in the room, and I presume he's at work. My hair gently licks at my neck and shoulders. My left eye is completely swollen shut. I sit up and feel my jaw, but the touch stings like hell. I'm not even going to attempt to touch my nose. I'm pretty sure it's broken. I rub the skin between my nose and top lip, and flakes of blood come off onto my hand. I push the covers off of me and walk to the bathroom, fearing the horror of a face I have to face in the mirror. And when I turn the light on, I truly see how broken I am. 

My right eye is beginning to bruise whereas my left eye is puffy and a dark shade of purple. My lip is cut open and the fresh air makes it sting. My whole face is just a no-touch zone. My neck has two hand shaped bruises going around it. Out of all the beating that I have endured by him, this one has to be the worse.The more I look at myself, the more I remember last night. I remember how he choked me and hit me nonstop. I remember how he blamed me of cheating on me with Carter and our waiter. I remember how angry he looked when he first slapped me. I remember the last thing he said to me. I remember all of it. 

I decided to take off what's left on me and turn the shower head on. I wince as I step under the steaming hot water, causing me to turn on a little bit of cold water just to be able to bear it. I turn my back towards the rushing water and let it drum on my back. I stare at the tile wall as the events from last night replay in my mind: being held to the wall by my throat; Trevor throwing me onto the couch as if I was a mere piece of paper: him hurling punches at me and me pleading with him to stop. The recollection of it all brings tears to my eyes. I place my hands on the wall out in front of me and hang my head down between them. I squeeze my eyes shut and cry out the way I so desperately needed to last night. I can't take this anymore. I'm living in constant fear of Trevor, and I can't live this life anymore. I've finally had enough.

I get out of the shower and wrap  myself in a towel that I pulled down from the towel rack. I stomp inside of my room and search for my phone. I end up finding it under the covers. I snatch it up and make a phone call. The other end begins to ring, and I hope that the person at the other end that I'm trying to reach picks up.

"Mm, hello?" Mariah's groggy voice says as she answers.

"Mariah, it's Drew," I say as quickly as I can. 

"Drew, I was just about to call you," she yawns.

"Yeah, right," I sigh through the phone.

"Okay, so I was sleeping, but I'm awake now," she says.

"Why were you asleep? It's eleven o'clock in the morning over there."

"I had to work late last night. Owner of the coffee shop I work at thought that it would be cool to turn into a bar after six o'clock everyday, so now I'm a barista and a bar tender."

"Oh," is all I have to say to that.

"So, what's up?" she asks me. I look down at my feel and inhale deeply. I'm gonna do it. I'm finally gonna do it. I'm gonna do it, and I'm not looking back. Ever.

"I'm ready to come to Bingley."

Her side of the line was silent for a while. I almost thought that she had either hung up or the call was lost. But then I hear her say, "Really?"

"Yeah, really. I wanna come to England," I say. 

"Okay...Okay, yeah. No problem. Why'd you change your mind?"

"Last night."

"Last night? What happened last night? Did Trevor do something to you?" Mariah asks, her voice getting louder with each question.