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Trapped
Avoiding Eye-Contact
I woke up and began to look around at my surroundings. Yellow walls, white ceiling, and tan carpet; I was in the guest bedroom.
Looking over at the clock on the nightstand, I realized I had less than an hour to get dressed for work. I had the late shift again tonight; from four to midnight.
I pulled on a nice, work-suitable shirt along with a nice pair of pants and work shoes. I applied a load of coverage and base to my skin wherever blemishes, scars, and bruises showed. Once they were no longer visible, I moved on to hiding my eyes behind the brown contacts I was forced to wear. After that, I pulled my dark hair into a bun with my bangs left to fall where they may.
I didn’t even bother with looking in the mirror once I was finished. I always looked the same; pathetic and betrayed, even hurt beyond repair. Unlike the girls I worked with, I wasn’t pretty or attractive—I wasn’t even a plain Jane. I wasn’t anything to look at; maybe my eyes were, but they were covered up by brown contacts at all times.
TJ was asleep when I walked downstairs. His friends were long gone, leaving behind a mess for me to clean up. I quickly picked it all up before leaving for the bus stop down the street, where I waited nearly fifteen minutes for the bus to arrive.
I spent the whole bus ride to work avoiding eye contact with the people around me. It was sad that I was a 25-year-old woman scared of making a wrong move or saying the wrong thing. I absolutely despised the person I had become—the person I was forced to be out of fear for my life. Never the less, I focused on looking at my shoes the whole way to my stop.
When I got to the diner, Jerry was in the back while Jenna was setting up a new pot of coffee behind the counter. Jenna Masterson was one of the nicer girls at the diner—the nicest, really. She was a little on the shorter side with warm, sun-kissed skin and long, blonde hair that framed a face of brown eyes, full lips, and a pierced button nose. She was on the quiet side, like me, yet she managed to utter more than the few words I usually struggled with.
“Hello, Kymber,” Jenna sent me a friendly smile as she started the coffee maker.
“Hi,” I managed to say, returning her smile with half one on my way to the back room. Once I had my apron tied around my waist, I went back to the front of the diner, where I helped Jenna clean up the tables and chairs. We were soon joined by Lauren, Kaysie, and Sasha, who took care of the few customers we acquired.
After six PM is when we really started getting busy with customers. I was cleaning up table 9 near the back when Jenna asked me to help her with a large group that just walked in.
There were fifteen or so in the group, so I quickly agreed to help her with the large group. I tossed my rag behind the counter with the others before following behind Jenna like the pathetic little follower that I have become.
We were met with a chorus of Jenna’s name when we reached the three tables pushed together to form one.
Apparently, Jenna knew them because she laughed at them, showing off her pearly white teeth. Jenna was pretty and friendly—two things I used to appreciate, used to be, and no longer are. I envied her ability to be happy all the time. I wanted to be happy. Mainly, I just wanted my old life back.
Jenna turned to look at me, mumbling softly so only I could hear her. “Kymmie, can you go get me a few more menus, please?”
Nodding my head, I quickly scampered off to the counter, where I grabbed more than a few menus to be safe.
Jenna mainly took over taking care of the group, only asking for my help every so often, which I was very thankful for. I didn’t like taking care of big groups as they often required more talking and entertaining than I liked to do. I didn’t mind helping, though.
I noticed several of the people kept looking at me funny, like they didn’t know what to think of me, but I paid them no mind as I continued doing my job. There were nine guys—most of who were relatively attractive—and six girls, or women if I may, that were very pretty. There was no way I would or ever could match up to their attractiveness, so why force them to look at my boring face? I just kept my head down, managing to avoid eye contact the best I could.
Well, I did until it was time to bring out their orders. It took three of us waitresses to bring their food out to them.
I called out the orders on my tray and gave them to whoever claimed them. It wasn’t until the second to last plate left on my tray that someone said something other than “here” to me. She had dark, curious eyes that felt like they were looking into my soul. Her hair was a rich, chocolate color that reached her waist in length. I wanted nothing more than to run from her curious eyes.
“Wait, I know you!” She exclaimed, looking up at me from her seat. The guy next to her, whose muscular arms were covered in tattooed faces, looked from her to me before giving me the same look. “What’s your name?”
Before I could even think about answering her, or possibly running from the room, a loud, stern voice yelled out my name, causing me to jump. Turning around, I saw TJ standing tall with ferocious, animal-like glint in his eyes that made my body frozen with fear.
“Oh TJ, hey,” I stuttered out, quickly handing the last plate of food to Jenna—who gave me a questioning glance—before I ran over to give him a kiss. His hands on my hips looked normal to all looking, but they were rough, forceful, and bruising. Trained in not voicing my pain, I simply bit my lip and looked up at TJ with a blank stare.
“Don’t ‘oh, TJ’ me,” He growled, lowly. “Get your things, and let’s go.”
It was only a little after 6:30 in the afternoon, but I couldn’t tell TJ that. He didn’t care if I still had five and a half hours to go in my shift or not, and if I even dared think about voicing that to him, I’d be slapped across the face.
“Okay,” I scampered across the room, past all the stares that followed me, and into the back room to grab my stuff. Jerry was back there, so I quickly made up a lie about being sick so he would clock me out.
Jenna gave me a confused look as I brushed past her, but I could only give her a half-smile that quickly disappeared as I was guided out of the diner by a tight, forceful grip on my upper arm.
TJ practically shoved me into the passenger seat, slamming the door in my face, before he got into the driver seat. I just knew I was in for it when we got home to TJ’s house, and I was literally shaking at the thought.
Looking over at the clock on the nightstand, I realized I had less than an hour to get dressed for work. I had the late shift again tonight; from four to midnight.
I pulled on a nice, work-suitable shirt along with a nice pair of pants and work shoes. I applied a load of coverage and base to my skin wherever blemishes, scars, and bruises showed. Once they were no longer visible, I moved on to hiding my eyes behind the brown contacts I was forced to wear. After that, I pulled my dark hair into a bun with my bangs left to fall where they may.
I didn’t even bother with looking in the mirror once I was finished. I always looked the same; pathetic and betrayed, even hurt beyond repair. Unlike the girls I worked with, I wasn’t pretty or attractive—I wasn’t even a plain Jane. I wasn’t anything to look at; maybe my eyes were, but they were covered up by brown contacts at all times.
TJ was asleep when I walked downstairs. His friends were long gone, leaving behind a mess for me to clean up. I quickly picked it all up before leaving for the bus stop down the street, where I waited nearly fifteen minutes for the bus to arrive.
I spent the whole bus ride to work avoiding eye contact with the people around me. It was sad that I was a 25-year-old woman scared of making a wrong move or saying the wrong thing. I absolutely despised the person I had become—the person I was forced to be out of fear for my life. Never the less, I focused on looking at my shoes the whole way to my stop.
When I got to the diner, Jerry was in the back while Jenna was setting up a new pot of coffee behind the counter. Jenna Masterson was one of the nicer girls at the diner—the nicest, really. She was a little on the shorter side with warm, sun-kissed skin and long, blonde hair that framed a face of brown eyes, full lips, and a pierced button nose. She was on the quiet side, like me, yet she managed to utter more than the few words I usually struggled with.
“Hello, Kymber,” Jenna sent me a friendly smile as she started the coffee maker.
“Hi,” I managed to say, returning her smile with half one on my way to the back room. Once I had my apron tied around my waist, I went back to the front of the diner, where I helped Jenna clean up the tables and chairs. We were soon joined by Lauren, Kaysie, and Sasha, who took care of the few customers we acquired.
After six PM is when we really started getting busy with customers. I was cleaning up table 9 near the back when Jenna asked me to help her with a large group that just walked in.
There were fifteen or so in the group, so I quickly agreed to help her with the large group. I tossed my rag behind the counter with the others before following behind Jenna like the pathetic little follower that I have become.
We were met with a chorus of Jenna’s name when we reached the three tables pushed together to form one.
Apparently, Jenna knew them because she laughed at them, showing off her pearly white teeth. Jenna was pretty and friendly—two things I used to appreciate, used to be, and no longer are. I envied her ability to be happy all the time. I wanted to be happy. Mainly, I just wanted my old life back.
Jenna turned to look at me, mumbling softly so only I could hear her. “Kymmie, can you go get me a few more menus, please?”
Nodding my head, I quickly scampered off to the counter, where I grabbed more than a few menus to be safe.
Jenna mainly took over taking care of the group, only asking for my help every so often, which I was very thankful for. I didn’t like taking care of big groups as they often required more talking and entertaining than I liked to do. I didn’t mind helping, though.
I noticed several of the people kept looking at me funny, like they didn’t know what to think of me, but I paid them no mind as I continued doing my job. There were nine guys—most of who were relatively attractive—and six girls, or women if I may, that were very pretty. There was no way I would or ever could match up to their attractiveness, so why force them to look at my boring face? I just kept my head down, managing to avoid eye contact the best I could.
Well, I did until it was time to bring out their orders. It took three of us waitresses to bring their food out to them.
I called out the orders on my tray and gave them to whoever claimed them. It wasn’t until the second to last plate left on my tray that someone said something other than “here” to me. She had dark, curious eyes that felt like they were looking into my soul. Her hair was a rich, chocolate color that reached her waist in length. I wanted nothing more than to run from her curious eyes.
“Wait, I know you!” She exclaimed, looking up at me from her seat. The guy next to her, whose muscular arms were covered in tattooed faces, looked from her to me before giving me the same look. “What’s your name?”
Before I could even think about answering her, or possibly running from the room, a loud, stern voice yelled out my name, causing me to jump. Turning around, I saw TJ standing tall with ferocious, animal-like glint in his eyes that made my body frozen with fear.
“Oh TJ, hey,” I stuttered out, quickly handing the last plate of food to Jenna—who gave me a questioning glance—before I ran over to give him a kiss. His hands on my hips looked normal to all looking, but they were rough, forceful, and bruising. Trained in not voicing my pain, I simply bit my lip and looked up at TJ with a blank stare.
“Don’t ‘oh, TJ’ me,” He growled, lowly. “Get your things, and let’s go.”
It was only a little after 6:30 in the afternoon, but I couldn’t tell TJ that. He didn’t care if I still had five and a half hours to go in my shift or not, and if I even dared think about voicing that to him, I’d be slapped across the face.
“Okay,” I scampered across the room, past all the stares that followed me, and into the back room to grab my stuff. Jerry was back there, so I quickly made up a lie about being sick so he would clock me out.
Jenna gave me a confused look as I brushed past her, but I could only give her a half-smile that quickly disappeared as I was guided out of the diner by a tight, forceful grip on my upper arm.
TJ practically shoved me into the passenger seat, slamming the door in my face, before he got into the driver seat. I just knew I was in for it when we got home to TJ’s house, and I was literally shaking at the thought.