The Betrayal

Respite

“What was that for?”

“To see what you’d do. What about this?” He raised the rod again, and I turned but he stuck my in the chest. I fell from the force. It knocked the wind out of me, and I saw a red line where the rod had hit. He hit me again in the middle of my back. I howled in pain. He rolled me unto my back and he struck my feet. He yelled but he kept me down. I was rolling on the ground in pain. He was now on top of me holding me down. I held up my arms to protect my face and he hit them, hard. He put the rod up to my face I tried to turn away but he hit my lip. He forced my mouth open and put the hot rod to my tongue. I moved my head and it fell out unto my neck. He then split my legs and I yelled. I tried to keep them together. He was strong enough to keep them apart as he shoved the rod into me. I yelled and was writhing in pain.

“Stop, please stop.” He laughed and got up and straddled me holding my hands down.

“Now, if you would have just done things right, you wouldn’t be here now would you?” I shook my head and stopped moving. There was nothing I could do anymore there was no point in fighting anymore but it was still burning. He got up and finally took out the rod. I sighed. He made one last mark hit it across my legs. I just laid there, not wanting to move, being in excoriating pain in spots all along my body. He came back to me and was on his hands and knees above me. “One last thing before you can eat.”

He sat up and stretched. I just lay there, waiting until I can get up. He raised his hunches and lowered himself down like any other time. It burned this time from my freshly injured skin. I held my breath and tensed. He released and pulled out. He got up and put his clothes back on, leaving me nude on the carpet.

 “Get dressed and I’ll bring you some toast.” I rolled over onto my side and tried to get up. My ankle didn’t want to hold any weight. I crawled over to the area I tossed my clothes. I found the panties and pulled them up, winching when they touched my brand mark. I found the bra and eased it over the burned patches on my arms. The shirt hung occasionally patting my back and I would tense everything. The pants didn’t help my butt feel better and sometimes irritated my feet. I was in pain, and Sean knew it. He was happy I was in pain, that I couldn’t move. I’ve played some sports with Dusty, but every time I got hurt she would laugh, especially when it was a dumb idea on my part. But she would always come over and make sure I was alright, get me to the hospital if need be.

I missed Dusty. I wanted desperately to see her. She lives about 30 blocks from here. She’s the closest person I know who lives around here. If I ever can figure out a way out, that’s where I’d head. I still remember when we first meet, well interacted. It was the first day of school, and she stuck out like a sore thumb, being goth and all. When everyone else was wearing bright colors and short skirts, and you see someone wearing nothing but black, long sleeves and pants, it makes it really easy to see.  I had seen her in the halls and during classes. I tried to be nice, you know, smile and say hi, but she ignored me for the whole day. There was this guy in school. The bully that thinks he can have whatever he likes. Well he was on me, making fun of me for my academic studies, and the way I dressed. I never dressed real nice for school. I was there to learn, and I couldn’t afford designer labels even if I wanted. Out of know where the goth girl walked up and confronted him. They argued and she punched him square in the jaw. He fell and collapsed on the floor. I thought he died for a minute. I thanked her and introduced myself.

“Samantha Nadia, but my friends all called me Sam.” She offered her hand and said her name was Dusty, Dusty Atkinson. But I could call her Dust. I call her by both names, Dust, Dusty. We’ve became fast friends after that. It seemed an unlikely duo. The Goth, and the Greek. But it worked. We are now so close we’re practically sisters. Sean then walked in tearing me from my thoughts by setting down a plate.

 “Breakfast it served. Now eat it up. I also suggest you take a nap cause I won’t be back for a while.” He left me alone with my toast and peace. I picked up a piece of toast with some strawberry jam and started eating. It tasted good, but my tongue hurt so bad it was hard to eat. It was starting to swell now. I was ready to fight, but I didn’t want this. I started thinking about Dust, and that lead me to Raphael.

 Raphael was my best guy friend. We grew up together. Our mothers were neighbors for a long time and became friends. We had many playdates at that time. Eventually his mother married and moved away to the rich end of town. It got really lonely without him.  I didn’t see him again until high school. We found each other in high school again and spent the whole first week catching up. We were together so much, people thought we were going out. Dust asked me about him. They didn’t like each other at first. A lot of tension and many times they would take turns talking to me. My two best friends refused to be in the same room as each other. It was tearing me apart.  Eventually they learned to cope with each other, and even became friends themselves. Raphael or Raph as we sometimes call him, is quiet, but can hold his own weight. He could win his share of fights if he chose to, but Raph didn’t get into fights.  He was my shoulder to cry on, well before Sean came along. He was there to help me. Dusty often told me that he had a thing for me, but I never believed her. We were just friends. Not to say he’d be a bad boyfriend. He would be the perfect boyfriend. He’s sweet, listens, respectful, willing to compromise. I’ve seen him with his girlfriends, and he’s so responsive to them. I’ve also seen him get in fist fights for them, because of something they say or do, even when he knows they’re in the wrong. I often feel bad for him because all of his girlfriends take advantage of how generous and giving he is. I could always talk to him like no one else. I trusted him with some of my darkest secrets. I always felt so comfortable with him. I don’t know what I would do without him. By this time I had eaten as much as I could with a burnt tongue and decided to try and take my mind off things. There was no way I could sleep, so I decided to see what was on TV. I turned it on and saw some cartoons. I decided to watch that. Partially since I was too tired to stand there and change the channel, and partially since I liked the cartoon that was on. Besides, it took my mind away from thinking about what could be next.