Disregard the Lies

Everything had been going well with Sadie and Jonathan since their fight about Amber, and they had been going strong ever since. Amber had continued to try to convince Sadie that she had actually slept with Jonathan, but Sadie had learned to ignore her.

She began opening her locker to get her Ice Girls outfit out when she heard Kyra calling her name. She glanced up at Kyra, and she couldn’t believe what she saw. Kyra’s body was covered in bruises. Sadie walked over to her, gingerly touching her bruises. “Kyra, what happened?” she asked, inspecting her body.

“Do you think you can help me cover them for tonight?” Kyra asked her, ignoring Sadie’s question.

“We can try,” Sadie told her, taking the foundation out of Kyra’s hand and walking with her into the bathroom so they could get a better look under the lights. “Kyra, tell me what happened,” Sadie ordered, lightly trying to put the foundation on her skin to cover the bruises. “Who did this to you?” she questioned.

“Lance,” Kyra said, barely above a whisper.

Sadie immediately stopped what she was doing, standing in front of Kyra, looking in her eyes. “Lance did this to you?” she questioned, and Kyra nodded her head.

“I’m going to kill him,” Sadie muttered.

“Sadie,” Kyra said with a laugh.

“Scratch that,” Sadie suddenly said. “I’m going to have Jonathan kill him,” she corrected herself. When she saw Kyra laughing at her, she looked at her. “What?” she asked. “I’m not even kidding, Kyra. Lance hit you! He can’t get away with that. And, I know Jonathan’s going to agree with me.”

“Sadie, he’s a really nice guy,” Kyra began.

“Yeah, a nice guy that hits you!” Sadie interrupted.

“Sadie, he was drunk at the time,” Kyra defended him. “I swear, he’s never like this. He got drunk, and I said something to make him angry, and he hit me,” she explained.

“Kyra, do you hear yourself?” Sadie questioned. “You’re defending him! There is no excuse for him touching you! Please tell me he didn’t get anywhere near Sophia,” she begged.

“No, no!” Kyra cried. “She wasn’t anywhere near him. What, do you think I’m a bad mother or something?” she asked, suddenly offended. “Sadie, I would never put my daughter in any danger. I don’t get why you’d even ask me that!”

“I’m sorry. But, I had to know,” Sadie told her. “So, I want to know exactly what happened. What would cause him to hit you? I thought he was a good guy!” she said, putting more foundation on Kyra’s arms, which were bruised from where Lance had grabbed her tightly.

“Well, we went out to dinner, and everything was going fine, but he started ordering drinks, and I could tell that he was getting a little drunk. So, I asked him if we could go home. He finally agreed, and by the time we got back to my place, the alcohol seemed to have hit him. He started getting angry for no real reason. And, I said something to upset him, and he just went off on me,” Kyra explained.

“Where was Sophia?” Sadie asked. Even though Kyra had already told her that he hadn’t touched Sophia, she still wanted to make sure she hadn’t seen her mother being beaten.

“Melanie was watching her,” Kyra told her. “I already told you that he didn’t touch her.”

“What exactly happened with you and Lance, though?” Sadie asked, inspecting Kyra’s other arm to see she needed to add a bit more foundation to it. “You said that he went off on you, but what exactly happened?”

“I honestly don’t even remember what I said that set him off,” Kyra told her, inhaling sharply as Sadie pressed a bit too hard on her bruise. Sadie quickly apologized, and Kyra continued. “But, all of a sudden, he grabbed me and threw me up against the wall. I remember looking into his eyes, and he looked like a completely different person. He started hitting me, and then we he got bored, he just left.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Sadie repeated.

“Sadie,” Kyra began.

“No!” Sadie exclaimed. “Kyra, he tried killing you! I’m not going to take this lightly. I swear, I’m going to…”

“Sadie, I’m fine,” Kyra interrupted. “Besides, I’m pretty sure he’s not even going to remember doing it today. I mean, he was so drunk last night.”

“That is no excuse,” Sadie told her, checking over Kyra’s body one last time to make sure her bruises were covered. When she was satisfied, she handed the bottle of foundation back to Kyra. “Please tell me you’re not going to see him anymore.” When Kyra didn’t reply right away, Sadie turned to look at her, wide-eyed. “Kyra!” she exclaimed. “If for no other reason, think of Sophia. What happens if Lance happens to get drunk one night, comes over to your place, and Sophia is there.”

“Lance wouldn’t touch her,” Kyra insisted.

“Yeah, and you also never thought he’d touch you,” Sadie pointed out. “And, he did that. Kyra, think about your daughter. I get that you think Lance is this great guy, but he’s not if he’s hitting you, drunk or not. You need to break up with him,” she told her, as they went back to their lockers and finished getting ready.

Throughout the game, Sadie couldn’t help but think about Kyra and how worried she was if Kyra decided not to break up with Lance. Sadie had tried her best to convince Kyra that it was for her and Sophia’s good to break up with him, but Kyra wasn’t so sure.

As the final horn blew, letting Sadie know that the game was finished, she was thrown out of her thoughts, and she quickly made her way to the locker room. She had been so preoccupied thinking about Kyra that she hadn’t even paid attention to the game. She knew that the Red Wings had won, but she couldn’t tell you who had scored their goals.

As she made her way out of Joe Louis Arena, she felt her cell phone vibrate, and she picked it up. “What do you say you come over to my place?” she heard Jonathan say.

“Sure,” Sadie replied, and just by the tone of her voice while saying that one word, Jonathan knew there was something wrong.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked her. “What’s the matter?”

“I’ll tell you when I get over there,” she told him. “Have you left the arena yet?” she asked, not wanting to go over to his apartment and him not be there.

“Yeah, I just left. I’ll be home in like ten minutes. Where are you?”

“I’m just making my way out to my car right now. So, I’ll see you in a little bit, okay?” she told him.

“Okay,” Jonathan told her, hanging up the phone.

As soon as the doorbell rang, Jonathan whipped the door open to see Sadie on the other side. He didn’t know what was going on, but he could tell by the way she was acting on the phone that everything wasn’t okay. “Hey,” he told her, moving aside so she could walk in. “So, what’s going on?” he asked.

“If I tell you something, do you promise not to tell anyone?” she asked him, walking around him and placing her coat on the back of his couch.

“Sadie, what’s wrong?” Jonathan questioned, not answering her question.

“I need you to promise,” she insisted.

“Fine,yes, I won’t tell anyone. Now what’s going on?” he asked, getting more anxious by the moment. He sat down at the table, and Sadie sat across from him.

“I think Kyra’s in trouble,” she told him.

“What’s wrong with Kyra?” he asked, concerned. Kyra had become somewhat of a sister to him over the past few months, and he didn’t want anything to happen to her.

“Lance,” Sadie stated.

“Lance?” Jonathan questioned. “Her boyfriend? What does he have to do with anything?” he asked, confused.

“Kyra came into the locker room today, and she had bruises all over her. I mean, they were all up and down her arms, and she even had them on her stomach,” Sadie began, and Jonathan’s eyes went wide. “I asked her where she got them, and she told me Lance had gotten drunk and she said the wrong thing, and he started hitting her.”

“Where was Sophia?” Jonathan asked, concerned for the young girl.

“Kyra said she was at Melanie’s, but that’s not the point. I told her that she needed to break up with Lance because there’s no telling what he’ll do next, and she just told me that he was this really nice guy, and that he only hit her because he was drunk. Jonathan, I don’t know what to do. I’m scared he’s really going to hurt her.”

“Okay, well, we can’t really do anything if Kyra’s not willing to break up with him,” Jonathan told her.

“I know, and that’s what’s killing me,” Sadie cried. “I keep telling her that he’s going to do something worse to her or he’s going to go after Sophia, and she won’t listen to me.”

“Well, we’re going to have to let her figure it out on her own, then,” Jonathan told her. “I don’t know what else to do if she refuses to break up with him.” Sadie nodded in understanding, even though she had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

***

The following night, Sadie sat in her living room, watching television when her cell phone rang. She immediately picked it up when she saw it was Kyra calling her. “Hey, Kyra, what’s up?” she asked.

“Sadie, I’m in trouble,” she heard Kyra say in a small whisper.

“Kyra, I can’t hear you,” Sadie told her. “Where are you?”

“I’m at home,” Kyra told her, her voice not any louder than before. “Sadie, I’m in trouble,” she repeated. “Lance is here, and he’s drunk and angry,” she added.

“Oh my God, Kyra,” Sadie said, quickly standing up and grabbing her coat and keys. “Where’s Sophia?” she asked immediately, running out the door, quickly locking it behind her.

“She’s here with me,” Kyra answered, and Sadie could tell Kyra was crying.

“Okay, I’m on my way. Just keep Sophia and yourself away from Lance, okay? I’ll be there in just a few minutes,” Sadie told her, running out to the car and starting it, driving as fast as she could to Kyra’s apartment.