Getting It Straight

"Is she okay?"

"I'm getting some antiseptic."

"Is it possible if she can stay here until she gets better?"

"Do you know her?"

"Yes, mom she goes to my school."

"Oh. Okay Jude but I don't know. What's her situation?"

"I don't know. Not exactly."

"Okay. I trust you, honey." There was a moment of silence, "This poor girl." The woman said.

I opened my eyes to see Jude, and a woman that must've been his mom.

"Hi, sweetheart." She said kindly, the look in her light green eyes, staring down at me.

"Don't call me that." I said spitefully. I felt her cringe, as if she did something wrong.

"Kristyn, don't talk to my mother that way." Jude said with-holding anger. I flinched. "I think she should rest for a while more." Jude said.

I looked to him. His brown hair was a mess, it stuck out everywhere. He was wearing jogging pants and a long sleeve shirt. Honest to say, he looks more normal at home than at school.

"Okay. Call us if you need anything." His mother said before leaving. I looked at her and then looked back at Jude. I looked at him with contempt in my eyes.

I stared him down as he was on his way out the door. At this moment I wanted to speak. I wanted to ask him questions that made him feel guilty but somehow I withheld it, like how he withheld his anger.

He was out the door and his hand was on the doorknob, he started closing it slowly.

"Stop." I said abruptly. The door stop closing and it opened widely to reveal the lost light.

"Yea?" he asked.

"Jude-" I said. I felt at lost with words, what did I even want to say about this.

"Yea?" He repeated, he didn't give an attitude but instead he seemed curious, there was a tone of worry in his voice.

"Don't tell anyone." I said, "Please."

He stared at me, "Okay." He said simply and closed the door roughly.

I shrunk down into the bed. I was tired.

~

When I woke up it was morning and I was confused to where I was exactly. The room walls were painted blue, the items around the room like the desk to the lamp looked expensive. There was a window that light shown through waking me up. It suddenly reoccured to me to where I was.

Jude.

His mother.

My pain.

I groaned and then rolled up my sleeves and then took off my pants.

I stared at the bruises that laid on me.

I wondered what the old hag used to get the bruises so deep and purple..

"Hey, would you want some brea-" I looked up to see Jude. He was staring straight at my legs.

My eyes went wide and before I could scream at him he was on the bed. I was speechless at his sudden actions.

He held up my hands and my legs and looked intensely at the purple spots on my arms and legs.

"Is this what he did to you?" He asked. I was confused.

"What?" I asked.

"Your dad, he did this to you right?" Jude asked me with his big green eyes.

I sighed, he thinks a man did this to me.

"Don't assume, it makes an ass of you and me." I said and smirked at him.

"Then who did this to you?" He asked holding a grip on me with urgency.

His hands were warm and so my skin was basked in his warmth.

I don't know what to say.

"Would you tell?" I asked cautiously. I don't understand the concept of why I should even tell him.

"I…" He paused, "Honestly?" He asked troubled, I nodded.

"Yes. You can't live with this person. Someone needs to know. There are people that can help you."

"No!" I choked on my word. I had sudden anxiety in the pit of my stomach. "Why do you care." I asked angrily pulling myself away from him. "I'm nothing to you. You don't know me and I sure as well don't know you." I said honestly.

"Why do you think like that?" He asked me.

"Like what?" I replied.

"Why are you so shielded? Do you think I'm a bad person or something?" He asks.

"I don't know. I don't really know you and here I am wondering why you're even doing this." I asked, "Am I not a waste of time?"

I looked hard at him, I showed no emotion but inside I was dying to understand the situation. Why did Jude help me? Why didn't he just leave me there to sleep on the bench like everyone else?

I didn't understand why he cared enough to bring me home to his family and let me sleep in his house.

I just didn't understand.

"No. You're not a waste of time. No one is. If you just open yourself, anyone can help you. But what you do and say pushes people away. This is your defense." He said.

"You wouldn't understand. So stop trying." I said.

I looked up to meet his eyes that were staring intently on my face. I looked away fast, he did too. He stood up.

"I'm going to get you some medicine for the bruises." He said before leaving quickly.

I sat there disheveled. It was true. I didn't let anyone come near me. That's my only defense. It's easier that way.

~

Jude came back with a medicated ointment bottle and swabs in his hand.

"What is that?" I asked.

"It'll help heal the bruises." He explained.

"Give it to me, I can do it myself." I said. He looked at me for a minute before he handed over the bottle and the swabs. I didn't exactly know how to put the ointment on the swabs without messing the whole bottle.

"Here, just give it to me and stop being so stubborn." Jude said. I scoffed but then gave it to him.

I laid my head on my knees as Jude was applying this cool-hot oil on my bruises.

We have been silent for about 30 minutes now. He was applying the medicine very carefully. I stared at the places he rubbed the medicine on. Every touch he applied on my body I cringed and groaned with pain.

"Where's your parents?" I asked.

"Work. It's the weekend but they still had some extra stuff to work on. The good thing is that they get home early today." He said.

"Oh." I replied, "It would be weird if they were here and saw this." I said.

"What? Me putting medicine on you?" He asked.

"No… you in a room with me in my underwear." I said.

"They don't mind. They trust me enough," He said.

"Are you saying that you wouldn't do anything?" I asked putting my head to the side.

He glanced up at me and looked at me with his green eyes.

"No." He said.

"Why not?" I asked. I felt a little grin appear on my face.

"Because, it's not appropriate." He said simply, he was still concentrated on applying the medicine on my bruises.

"Appropriate?" I said with humor in my tone.

"Why? Are you going to do something to ME?" He asked and glanced up at me with a spark of amusement in his eyes.

I rolled my eyes, "No thank you." I said with a smirk.

"Good. Because if you're going to stay here there shouldn't be anything going on." He said.

I paused to think, staying here?

"Staying here?" I asked.

"Yea… I think it's the best until you find a safe place to live." He said.

"Are you kidding me? No I'm not fuckin' staying here." I said and somehow I hit my head on the backboard of the bed frame. I groaned in pain.

"Can you not do any further harm to yourself." He said worried and annoyed.

"Where else are you going to go?" He asked trying to make a point. I was silent. I couldn't think of anyone I could trust with this situation.

"I'm not letting you go back there." he said.

"What are you? The boss of me?" I asked sharply.

"No. But I can use force to keep you away from your home." He said.

"How? Huh? What can you do?" I mocked.

"I can report an abusive home. They'd take you away… they'd put you in the system because you're under 17 and they'll press charges against whoever did this to you." He said.

I stayed silent, they weren't kidding when they said he was smart.

"I think we both know the easier alternative is for you to live here for awhile." He said. I looked away trying not to cry. I felt so trapped. It felt over-whelming. I've never felt this way before.

I was silent. He looked at me fore awhile until he pulled me back to the position I was in before I got heated up in the argument. He started where he left off, reapplying the ointment on me.

"I'm sorry." He said, "But I'm not letting you go anywhere until you find a safe place to stay." He said.

"What is the point of you doing all of this?" I asked desperate.

He was silent.