He goes still behind her, and she realizes she's gone still, too. Her eyes are open again and staring at the wood floor in front of her, studying the fibrous grain of the planks, waiting to find out which way he'll go. Her throat is dry.
His fingers on her hair when he starts moving again are certain and gentle, and she just stops herself from shivering under them.
"I never told anyone," she says a moment later. Clears her throat, says, "Not then or since. I never told anyone." She remembers it so much more clearly than a lot of things from before, though. Than other, worse injuries she's sustained, she remembers the shock and the pain of that punch.
"His name was Luis. I'd left home to move in with him, I had nowhere to go, and it was so - he said he was sorry, afterwards. Said I just made him so mad sometimes, and other people had said that before too, and I was arguing, so yeah. Maybe. And where was I going to go anyway? So I just stayed."
She stayed, because she was young, and stupid, and afraid.
"It was a couple months before it happened again," she continues, quiet. "And a year before he really beat the hell out of me."
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chiming
CW: domestic abuse
Date: 2023-09-28 11:11 pm (UTC)From:His fingers on her hair when he starts moving again are certain and gentle, and she just stops herself from shivering under them.
"I never told anyone," she says a moment later. Clears her throat, says, "Not then or since. I never told anyone." She remembers it so much more clearly than a lot of things from before, though. Than other, worse injuries she's sustained, she remembers the shock and the pain of that punch.
"His name was Luis. I'd left home to move in with him, I had nowhere to go, and it was so - he said he was sorry, afterwards. Said I just made him so mad sometimes, and other people had said that before too, and I was arguing, so yeah. Maybe. And where was I going to go anyway? So I just stayed."
She stayed, because she was young, and stupid, and afraid.
"It was a couple months before it happened again," she continues, quiet. "And a year before he really beat the hell out of me."