These Bright Lights Have Always Blinded Me

Belladonna's P.O.V.

I was cold, wet and miserable. The sun that had been shining so brightly this morning had disappeared under a mass of storm clouds and the moment I stepped outside it dropped its load of rain on me. I had already decided that I would lock my bag in my locker so that it wouldn't get wet and I was glad that I did. The rain was simply pouring down. As I walked to Starbucks along the footpath cars drove past, splashing dirty, smelly, puddle water all over me. The rain, combined with the wind succeeded in making me the coldest, wettest, most miserable girl in New Jersey.

When I finally walked into Starbucks I was shivering and my teeth were chattering.
"Shit Bella! Are you alright?" James asked, from behind the counter.
I nodded. I was glad that I had a spare change of work clothes here. That's when it hit me. I didn't have a spare hoody. I stopped dead in the middle of the room, water dripping off me and making a puddle on the floor.
"I brought my hoody today, if you wanted to borrow it?" James offered, obviously realising what I had just realised.
I smiled at him gratefully and nodded.
Thanks so much James!
He smiled and nodded once at me.

I walked into the staff lounge and grabbed my spare work clothes and James' hoody, which was hanging on his hook with his school bag. I walked into the bathrooms and quickly pulled off my saturated clothes and dried myself off with a shitload of paper towels. I ignored the sight of all my cuts, bruises and scars and just focused on pulling on my work clothes. After I pulled on my work clothes I pulled James' hoody over my clothes. His hoody dwarfed me. If I stretched my arms out you couldn't see the tips of my fingers. I folded up the sleeves several times and left them like that. The final touch was flicking the hood up and attaching my badge to the hoody.

I walked out and James pouted at the sight of me.
"My hoody looks better on you than it does on me. That's just not fair," he whined.
I raised an eyebrow.
How the hell could you think that? This hoody if like 50 times too big! I could practically wear this thing as a dress!
He laughed.
"It's not that big," he defended.
I smirked.
That's what she said...
He rolled his eyes and shoved me playfully. I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Don't stick it out if you don't intend to use it," he said flatly.
An idea sparked in my mind. I gestured for James to come closer and looking at me confused he did. I quickly reached up, pulled his head down to my height and licked his cheek.
"EW! Gross!" he exclaimed, pulling away.
I smiled widely. This is what I needed after today. I needed just some nice, relaxing banter and fun with a friend.
You told me not to stick it out if I wasn't going to use it
"Well...well..." he stumbled to find a comeback.
"Well...I'm leaving!" he declared.
The smile dropped from my face.
What do you mean?
"I've got a date and Sandra's covering my shift and I've gotta be going right about now actually. So I'll catch you later," he said.
I watched him sadly as he grabbed his schoolbag and left.
So much for having a good time chatting with James

Unfortunately, today seemed to be a dead day. In the space of two and a half hours I managed to serve three people. On a normal day I would have served about 15 people. On a busy day I could serve between 25 and 35 people, not counting the ones the other person would be serving as well. Dead days are horrible because they're so boring and they give you time to reflect on things, and I did not want to reflect on today. Soon it hit six o'clock and a woman burst in already giving me her order, which I only caught half of. She walked up to the counter and looked at me in a demanding way.
"Excuse me miss, I would like my coffee before Christmas comes!" she snapped at me.
Excuse me ma'am, but I'm going to have to ask you to repeat your order
She gave a disgusted look at the note, before looking at me.
"What the hell is this?!" she exclaimed.
I gestured to my badge which read,
Hello, my name is Belladonna. I am a mute
She wrinkled her nose at me and then turned to Sandra, who was reading a magazine.
"Excuse me! May I get some service from a real person?!" she demanded, shooting me a dirty look, as if I'd somehow offended her.
I felt stung as Sandra shoved me aside with a friendly smile to the woman.
"Sure, how may I help you?" Sandra asked smoothly.
I clenched my teeth at the woman but looked away before I managed to burn a hole with my lazerbeam eyes.

Not long after Damien and his goons walked in. Inwardly I groaned, I'd forgotten that today was Damien's 'Beat-Up-On-Belladonna-While-She's-At-Work Day'. Damien came up to the counter and smirked at me.
"Hey there, ready to start the Beat-Up-On-Belladonna-While-She's-At-Work Day yet?" he asked.
I told you.
Damien, I don't even know why I'm asking, but please, not today.
"Now why would you say that? Had a bad day?" he asked with mock sympathy.
I looked away from him in disgust.
"You know nothing pleases me more than seeing you upset. I'll work hard to try and make you feel even worse now," he said cheerfully.
I sighed. I don't know why I even bothered.
"Now we all want our regulars but we want two of our regulars. You know where to find us," he said, then left.
I rubbed my eyes tiredly and set to work making 10 coffees.

Once they were done I brought them out to Damien's crowd and set each coffee in front of their respective drinker. They'd been coming here ever since they found out I worked here, 2 years ago. Each time, they each ordered the same thing so I had come to know which coffee was whose. I turned to leave when Damien gripped onto my wrist firmly. It didn't hurt, but it held me back. I looked at him warily.
"Have you tried the coffee's here?" he asked.
I nodded slowly.
"Have you ever tried mine?" he asked.
I shook my head, black coffees weren't to my liking.
"Well, I think you ought to," he smirked.
With that he picked up one of his coffees and threw it in my face. I jerked back as the scalding liquid sloshed onto my face, my hands, over James' hoody and down my shirt. I feverishly patted myself as the liquid burnt me. Tears of pain slid down my face as Damien laughed in my face.
"How'd that taste?" he sneered.
I glared at him, filled with a rage as red-hot as the coffee and spat in his face. His grip turned vise-like, and started to hurt. He yanked me down and sat me on his lap. I stiffened up and sat there frozen like an ice sculpture.
"That was a stupid fucking thing to do, and now I'm gonna hurt you. I'm gonna hurt you so bad you will scream," he hissed in my ear.
Then he did the worst thing he could do to torture me. He pulled my hood off.

My long, blonde hair spilled down my back and Damien knotted his fingers in it. I shook my head to try and cover my face, but it was no use. Damien yanked my head back so it was resting on his shoulder.
"Dude! She's pretty!" I heard Landyn exclaim.
My face wrinkled in disgust. I would rather them trying to torture me than actually like how I looked.
"Mate, she's not pretty. She's nothing but a fucking emo slag," Damien spat.
I let out a sigh of relief. He didn't think I was pretty.
"Check out her scars, man!" Kris commented.
I felt my face heat up in self consciousness and worry.
"As I said, she's not pretty. She'll never be pretty. Not even with a plastic face," Damien scowled.
I closed my eyes and tried to think of a happy place. That thought immediately vanished as I felt scalding liquid get poured down my shirt. I clenched my fists and struggled in Damien's grip as the liquid burnt me. I bit my lip and reflex tears started to slide down my face.
"All you gotta do is scream for me baby," he sneered in my ear, knowing full well that I wouldn't scream.
I thrashed against him and then I felt more liquid go down my shirt. I couldn't stop my tears from falling from my eyes. I arched against Damien, trying to get the hot liquid away from me with no avail.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of skin on skin and the cup was knocked away. I breathed a sigh of relief and I jerked out of Damien's grip. I opened my eyes to see Gerard punching the shit out of Damien. I saw the other guys stand up to try and help Damien but one look from Gerard sent them running.
"Sir! Sir! You have to get off that man at once! Or I'll be forced to call the police!" Sandra cried.
Gerard looked at her angrily.
"What?! You yell at me for punching this guy, yet you sit there and read on how to stick your finger down your fucking throat while your co-worker is getting abused?!" he yelled.
Sandra looked at me and wrinkled her nose before turning to Gerard.
"Sir, if you do not get off that man right now then I will call the police," Sandra said firmly.
"Fuck you, you fat cunt," Gerard spat.
"SIR! I demand--"
"Shut the fuck up or I'll be calling the police and telling them you stood by and watched your co-worker get assaulted," Gerard snarled.
Sandra looked at him shocked. Then she walked to him and pulled him off Damien.
"C'mon baby...you don't have to be like that, I'm sure there are plenty of other...solutions we can come up with..." she purred.
Gerard and I looked at her with the same look of revulsion. He gently swatted her hands away and turned to me.
"You alright?" he asked softly.
Tears were still going down my face and I didn't have my hood on. I cringed away and then scrambled up.
"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay, it's okay," Gerard said soothingly.
I stood there looking at him wide eyed before I turned and ran into the staff lounge.

When I finally emerged, I had my wet clothes in my hands and my hood over my head.
"Hey, you want me to give you a lift back home?" Gerard asked, popping out of nowhere.
I jumped and flinched away from him.
Yes please...
Gerard nodded and lead the way. I was grateful that he understood that I didn't want to talk. The entire way home was made up of silence until we reached my place.
"You know, you're pretty. You should take your hood off more," Gerard complimented in a soft tone.
Thank you for the compliment, but I would rather keep my hood on
I made to get out of the car when I realised I hadn't thanked him for beating the shit out of Damien.
Gerard, thank you for beating Damien and thank you for giving me a ride home
"S'all good. I'm just glad I got a sudden craving for coffee," he smiled.
I gave him a small smile and then climbed out of the car and walked into my purgatory.