You Think You're So Great

“Emily!” My mom began to yell. “Why?... that’s all I want to know, why?” I felt ashamed for dragging them all through this, but I had no idea this would happen, I didn’t think I’d fall for my rapist, not in a million years. “He changed.” I stated simply and the rest of the ride home was silent. Once the car stopped I hurried out of it and up to my room, where I plopped down on my bed and wondered what was wrong with me. I was interrupted from my thoughts by the sound of my phone ringing. “Hello?” I answered. “Emily.” It was Brayden on the other line. “I want to see you.” He told me. I still had conflicting emotions about him but the affectionate ones were slowly winning over the fear and hatred I used to have for him. “I want to see you too.” I told him. “Would you be okay with coming over?” he asked hopefully. Against my better judgment I agreed, “I’ll be there in 15 minutes.” I said as I hung up the phone. “Where are you going?” my mom asked as I went down the stairs and grabbed my keys. “Out.” I told her and shut the door behind me.

“This must be the place.” I mumbled as I got out of my car and walked to the front door. As I reached to press the doorbell the door opened and a freshly showered Brayden was standing there, and I couldn’t help but notice how nice he smelled. “Come in.” he smiled. I slowly walked inside his house and it was nice and really big. “Let’s go upstairs.” Brayden suggested and I nodded and followed him up the stairs and into his room. As I stepped into his room I gazed at all the hockey trophies, medals, jerseys, and other hockey decorations. “Wow. You really like hockey, don’t you?” I asked. “Yeah, I do.” He laughed. “Come sit down” he motioned beside him on the bed and I reluctantly did so.

He put his arm around me and brushed the hair away from my face. “Don’t be scared of me, please.” He paused, “I’m not going to hurt you.” I relaxed a little against him and leaned my head onto his shoulder. I watched him as he picked up a remote and turned the television on. “Whatcha wanna watch?” he asked. “Anything is good.” I told him. He turned it to some reality TV show and we leaned back onto his pillow and he pulled a blanket over us, I was too tired to care that I was lying in bed with him, I actually kind of liked it. And surprisingly, I felt safe in his arms.

Brayden’s POV

Brayden kept his arm around Emily and watched her breathe, and before he knew it she was asleep. She must have been tired, he thought. Pretty soon his eyelids got heavy and he drifted off slowly to sleep. A few hours after he’d fallen asleep he was woken up to the feeling of Emily moving under his arm, he looked at her and she looked panicked, and sweaty. “What’s wrong Emily?” he asked concerned. “I, uh, just had a bad dream.” She managed to spit out. He looked at her, “It was about me wasn’t it?” he asked, the sadness obvious in his eyes. She averted her eyes quickly from him but looked back at him when she spoke again. “Yeah…” she said hesitantly. Brayden tightened his arms around her and kissed the top of her forehead. “I’m so sorry, I really am.” He told her. She looked up at him, “what made you change?” she asked and sat up in his bed, Brayden sat up too. “Well, I think it started with something that happened to me while I was in jail.” He told her tentatively. The thought still made him feel sick and he couldn’t even imagine how Emily must feel, having something like that happen to her twice. “What happened?” she asked curiously. “N-nothing important,” he quickly told her, “but what really made me change was when I started seeing a psychiatrist.”

Emily seemed pleased enough with that answer because she had calmed down and had snuggled up against Brayden. “Oh,” she said sleepily as she drifted back to sleep. Brayden smiled down at her and soon followed her lead and fell asleep once more. At 9:00 am Brayden’s alarm clock awoke him and Emily. Emily got up, and so did Brayden. “Well, I have to go.” Emily said, frowning. Brayden frowned back and pulled her in for a tight hug. “Bye” he said as he watched her walk out of his room and down the stairs. When he heard the door shut he remembered he had an appointment with his Doctor that day.