Kaleidoscope Eyes

If there was one thing Isabella Yates was, then it was conflict shy.

She hated hurting people’s feelings, and on the rare occasion that she did the guilt over it would tear her up. She had always gone out of her way to make others happy and more often than not put her own happiness at the cost of others.

However, this was all starting to change for Isabella.

The first step was to turn her phone off.

It had been ringing every day non-stop. Each hour her phone would vibrate over and over until she couldn’t take it any more. So she turned her Blackberry off and took the battery out, hiding it in a separate draw, trying to avoid the temptation of just smashing it.

This was a wonderful idea in theory but two days after she had committed this act, David came into the kitchen whilst she was preparing a vegan stir-fry, holding out his own battered phone towards her.

“It’s your mother.”

With a sinking feeling Isabella put down her chopping knife and took the phone off David. She walked outside into parking lot with the bright sunlight beaming down on her before answering the phone.

“Why the hell have you turned your phone off?” was the first thing that she heard from her mother. “We’ve been worried sick about you!”

“I’m sorry Mum the battery has broken and I haven’t had the chance to get it replaced yet,” Isabella said, hoping the white lie would sink down easily with her mother.

“Oh well that explains it, Mark has been frantic and he told me that he’s been trying to get in contact with you for the past five days and he hasn’t been able to reach you.”

The mention of Mark, like every time, brought Isabella’s mood to rock bottom. The anger, rejection and fear all swelled up inside her and she felt as if she were about to explode.

“Mum I told you me and Mark were over, he shouldn’t be calling the house phone anymore.” She tried to keep the anger out of her voice and the tears that threatened to drop out of her eyes but she was having a hard time.

“I still don’t understand why you two broke up, you were so perfect for each other…”

Before her mother even had more time to gush about the past and what had been, Isabella interrupted.

“Mum I have to go, I’ll call you when my phone gets fixed.”

She hung up straightaway, not even waiting for a goodbye or an ‘I love you’ from her mother. She couldn’t bear to hear her voice at this point in time, not after everything that she had done. Or rather what she hadn’t done.

Isabella took a deep breath in and straightened out her tank top, trying to calm herself.

“You look like you need to get out of here.”

She turned around slowly to see John stood only a few feet away from her, sunglasses on top of his messy brown hair, and a slightly concerned expression on his face. He had his hands shoved awkwardly in his pockets and advanced towards her cautiously.

Isabella could only nod. She didn’t want to speak in case her voice gave away how she felt.

“Our set finishes early today so I’ll meet you at two here, is that okay?”

She didn’t even have to think twice about it. So three hours later Isabella found herself in a taxi sat next to John who was wearing a fresh change of clothes after his show, and was driving into the city centre of the town Warped was stopping at today.

“I didn’t think you were the mall kind of girl,” John said as the taxi pulled up to the curb. “Plus I heard you talking to David the other day how you wanted to go to Urban Outfitters some time, so here we are.”

John gestured behind him and it was only then that Isabella could make out the large letters that proclaimed her favourite shop. She was instantly bowled over by his attentiveness and that fact that he listened to what ever she spouted off to her friends. John laughed at the blissful expression and he held the door of the shop open, letting the cool air conditioning hit them as they walked in.

Two hours later Isabella felt far more relaxed than she ever had. John humoured her without complaining; compliment the outfits that she tried on and willingly picking up a dress or a top in a different size for her to try on again. He was consciously making this afternoon all about her. He had seen the expression she had been wearing whilst on the phone, and even though he had only know her for five days he had already learnt that this specific expression brought nothing good with it.

After several outfit changes and even more minutes pondering Isabella finally retreated from the changing room with two dresses and a new pair of leggings. Just as she was about to pull her credit card from her purse a smiling John snatched the clothes away from her, and with three quick strides of his long legs he was stood at the counter paying for the items. Her protests fell on dumb ears and after a few minutes he returned to her holding out the large brown carrier bag.

“You really shouldn’t have done that,” Isabella said smiling up at him.

“I know, but I wanted to,” John replied, thrilled by her own happiness and joy over the situation.

He felt as though nothing could dampen the situation, nothing could kill the sweet and cheerful mood that had slowly blossomed. But he was wrong.

As they were leaving, Isabella saw a jacket that was displayed high up on the wall that she hadn’t seen before. She walked towards it and stood on tiptoes to examine the inside of the jacket which was trimmed with fake fur. As she stretched her arm out, her tank top rode up and what John saw alarmed him to no end.

A scattering of dark blue bruises were lining the small of her back, and John could see even more of the dark stains by her sides. The angry marks looked like grotesque blossoming flowers that nobody ever wanted. They blemished her skin and spoke of ugly times.

He took a sharp breath in and Isabella heard this, not having realized that John was stood as close as he was.

“What is that on your back?’

His voice was devoid of any of the warm humour that she had been graced with all afternoon. His eyes were set and he looked visibly ready to tackle the issue of her mutilated back and sides.

She yanked her top down quickly, the panic visible in her eyes. She was searching for some excuse, and all the while cursing her stupidity and carelessness. After such a careful attitude she ruined everything in just one moment.

“Oh that’s nothing John, nothing at all.”

Her panic to say something: anything came across very clearly, and of course John didn’t buy it. He looked at her critically, took a deep breath in and moved. He grabbed a hold of her arm and led her out of the shop.

“We are going to talk about this right now.”