Put Your Heart Where Your Mouth Is

I stared at myself in the mirror once again, only this time I was crying. My make-up running down my face and making me look even more ridiculous then I already looked. I tried to wipe the tears from my face. I didn’t like crying, it made me feel vulnerable. There were bruises all over my face and body. The black and blue marks covering me. This is what I looked like behind the make-up. This is what Scander did to me.

There was a hard knock on the door. I finally looked around to see where I was. The room was dark, with only one lamp in the middle of the floor. There was a door to my left, and the mirror in front of me. Other than that, the room was completely empty. I didn’t recognize it.
The knocks continued, but I didn’t want to answer it. The knocks were violent, and urgent, and I knew there was something bad on the other side.

“Lacey, open the god damn door!” Scander. He was trying to break in. I quickly put my back against the door and tried to force it closed. He was to strong though. The door flew open making me fall to the floor. I crashed into the lamp, breaking the bulb and making the whole room pitch black.

I heard Scander’s footsteps as he shuffled around the room. There was a click and a flashlight turned on. He brought the light around the room until he found me. He quickly walked over.

“What, Lacey? Were you just going to leave me? You know how much I need you,” he said in a low voice.

I looked in his dark gray eyes, with my icy blue ones. “Find some other whore.”

“No, you are not leaving!” He screamed as he started coming closer.

I screamed and sat straight up, earning a shooting pain from my ribs. It was just a dream.
“Bad dream?” I looked over and saw a guy with an afro sitting in a chair, reading a magazine.

“You could say that…” I said, acting strangely calm considering I’m in a room with some guy I don’t know. “Who are you?”

“I’m Ian. Do you remember what happened?”

I thought back and remembered the drunken man knocked out on the ground, while someone else repeatedly kicked me in the ribs. Scander, of course. I winced just thinking about him. “Yes I remember,” I mumbled. I didn’t want to tell some stranger that my boyfriend beat me because I wouldn’t have sex with some strange man. That now I have nowhere to go. “Where am I?”

“You’re at the hospital. That guy must have been hitting pretty hard, you broke a couple ribs,” he said looking worried. “Did you know him?”

I nodded. I more than knew him, I was with him.

“I take it you don’t want to tell me about it,” he said.

I looked down at the rough white sheets that covered me. “I’m sorry,” I muttered. “Thanks a lot for helping me.”

“It was no problem. You kind of scared me when you passed out, I thought you were dead,” he chuckled.

I laughed with him. “Why did you stay?”

He shrugged. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay I guess. The rest of my band is out there in the waiting room.”

“You’re in a band?” I asked. I usually know the members of the bands I like, so I’m guessing I never heard of them.

“Yea, it’s called The Cab. We’re on tour with Panic at the Disco right now.”
“Were you the first band that played?”

“Yea, why?” He asked

“I saw you guys. Well, for a couple songs at least. Then…” I trailed off, remembering what happened afterwards.

“You were at the concert?” He sounded surprised. “How did you end up in that alley then?”

“It’s a long story, I don’t really feel like talking about it now,” I muttered, leaning back on my pillows.

“Okay, well we can leave now. They just wrapped up your ribs, and you have to be careful with them for awhile.”

“Okay.” Ian helped me up, and we walked out of the bright hospital room. We went straight to the waiting room to meet up with his band mates. The room was extremely crowded, but I was pretty sure I could guess which ones were with Ian.

There were four guys practically falling asleep in their chairs. I had no idea what time it was, but it must have been late. Two of them had perfectly straightened hair and they were all wearing tight, colorful pants. They were definitely in a band.

My theory was proven right when Ian walked up to them, dragging me with him. “Guys?” They didn’t move. “Guys, wake up.” Still sleeping… “Guys! Wake the fuck up!” Ian yelled. This time they all jumped, including me.

“What?” One of them groaned. I felt bad for them. After all, they were only staying here because of me. Or Ian made them, either one.

“Lacey, this is Cash, Marshall, Singer, and Johnson,” he said pointing to each of them. “Guys, this is Lacey.”

I looked over at Singer. “Your name is seriously Singer?” I asked, confused. Who would name their child that?

He laughed. “No, my names Alex. But Marshall and Johnson’s names are Alex, too. They go by their last names, but I go by Singer because I’m the singer of the band. And plus, Deleon would be a weird name.”

“So what’s the damage?” Marshall asked.

“She has a couple of broken ribs. It could have been worse.”

“Great, awesome, can we go back to the bus now? I’m tired as hell, and I hate hospitals.” Johnson said. He gave me a dirty look and walked out of the waiting room.

“Don’t worry about Johnson, he gets cranky when he doesn’t get his sleep,” Singer chuckled.

Ian sighed and rolled his eyes. “So, do you have someone you can call?”

I looked at my shoes. Here it comes. “I don’t have anywhere to go… I was living with the guy that did this to me.”

“You were living with him?” Marshall asked, shocked.

I sighed and nodded. “He was my boyfriend,” I mumbled.