Welcome to My Hell

The wispy cool breeze from the central air dried my salty droplets on my sticky cheeks. The abuse affected everything that existed, including my soul. My love for dance faded away because I was never in the state to enjoy it. Yes, it was a place to escape from all my problems, but at the end of the day I jump back in the pit of hell I live in. Ten minutes was left until class began. I had to get this painful event out of my mind. Reaching over to the trifling chrome boom box, I plug in my trim iPod. I needed something forceful, but not too extreme. With a light trace of my finger I chose a song from Adele. Set fire to the rain; that’s how I felt at this very moment. The melody calmed me, having my body react to the lyrics combined with the rhythm.

I let it fall, my heart

And as it fell, you rose to claim it

It was dark and I was over

Until you kissed my lips and you saved me

my hands, they're strong but my knees were far too weak

To stand in your arms without falling to your feet

But there's a side to you that I never knew, never knew

All the things you'd say, they were never true, never true

And the games you play, you would always win, always win

But I set fire to the rain

Watched it pour as I touched your face

Let it burn while I cry 'Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name

Babbles of small voices drizzled into the room. My students were watching me as I was dancing; I turned around and they all applaud, clapping and whistling. Suddenly, the thought of hurt dissolved away from my mind. The kids are who bring me back to my sanctuary from what I called life. As I waved in a gesture of welcoming them in, everyone released their bags and began to stretch. Class started and it never been more soothing in my life. I’ve enjoyed it so much that time went by too fast. The session was over and the kids gave me a group hug, and then left the empty room leaving me unaccompanied. It was almost time of the arrival of Kyle to pick me up. The words that Kyle said to me preoccupied my mind…quit your job or else.

Grasping the straps to my duffel bag, I head out the door to the main office. In my path stood a tall well-built man with hair that draped long and fine down his robust backbone. The stranger beamed at me, raising his hand in a hand shake custom. In hesitation I agreed to combine my hand with his. “My name is Georg, I saw you dance with those kids, you’re amazing.” The man smiled placing his hand behind his head nervously. I started to frown immediately when he brought up the subject of dancing.

“Thanks…but I’m actually leaving the studio.” I said in broken language.

His expression followed mimicked mines as he seemed to be disappointed as well. As his mouth started to peek open a voice called out his name demanding him to come, I didn’t get the chance to see who, but it looked like it was important. Before he hurried over, Georg glanced at me with a wide smile. “I'm really sorry to see you leave, but hey you should come to this club that my guys and I are hanging at all the time, I mean you can maybe give us a show.”

Walking up to the front desk, he wrote down the directions to the club he mentioned. As he handed it to me he gave me a flirtatious wink then rushed off out the swinging door. On the piece of crumpled paper it had the time for 9:00 tonight followed by the address. If I was going to be able to go, I would have to convince Kyle to let me. I didn’t want any of his friends to tag along because they will tell him in a heartbeat if it looked like I was trying to look at another guy; he would literally kill me. To keep that from happening, I would have to play it off as a him and I thing. Kelley appeared out of her office, detecting that my face didn’t change from the incident with Kyle this morning. “Is everything ok Katerina?”
I paused, this was the time I needed to tell her; or else. The feeling of my hands shaking grew obvious that I was nervy in front of her. “Kelley…I’m leaving.”
The look in her face was of disappointment, she knew that this was coming someday.

“Kat…you can’t have him running your life…if you need hel…”
Silence appeared among us as the ringing of the doorbell detonated into our ears. Kyle just came in behind me ready to collect me. At that moment it felt like a staring contest; I was starting at Kelley, Kelley stared at me, and I could feel the fiery stare from Kyle. At one more glance at Kelley, I’ve waved goodbye, knowing that it was my final day. Like a good girl, I turned around and headed out the door with him.

“So it’s final right,” Kyle said to me in satisfaction.
I slowly nodded my head as I grasped the handle of the car, plopping my body into the hot leather seat. Now that I gave Kyle what he coveted, I knew that his mood was a lot healthier than before. I took the chance to asking him about the club tonight. “Babe…I was wondering…I want to celebrate this and go dancing.”
Waiting for the bombs to set off in front of my face, Kyle turned his head towards my body.

“Where do you have in mind?”

I couldn’t believe that he was willing to go. My smile stayed hidden, trying to not have Kyle see my real thoughts of why I really wanted to go. As I told him the address he shook his head in agreement. While we drove off into the heated afternoon, I turned towards the studio, watching it dissolve. To kill time, Kyle took me with him at the skate park with some guy friends. I stayed in the car because I knew even the tiniest glimpse I would give at a stranger, especially if it was a guy, he would flip out. The heat started to trench the water that my body was made of. To keep my mind off the boiling sun, I played with the piece of paper that was in my pocket, reading the words over and over again that Georg wrote for me.

The sound of the trunk opening woke me from my nap. The sky grew dark as tiny diamonds drifted along the black blanket. As I glimpsed at my cell, it was 8. Putting the phone away in my sweatpants pocket, Kyle shit the door as he sat in the car, placing the keys into the ignition. “Are you ready to celebrate baby,” Kyle said with the ugliest grin on his face. We sped off to his house so he could change his drenched clothes. My clothes were in my duffel bag, so I changed in the car. Kyle wouldn’t notice me changing but my top because he never tends to pay attention to what I wear. In my head I was nervous and excited at the same time. Would Georg say something to me in front of Kyle and start a riot? Or would it actually be a day where I can have fun? These questions bothered me to the fact balls of sweat started to form on my forehead. Kyle spilled out of the front door wearing black skinny jeans and a green plaid shirt. The gray beanie on his head made his hair lay down, looking like a high school student. It was 9; we were finally on our way to the club. Energy exploded into my insides the closer we gotten to our destination.

“Ok…we’re here.”

Kyle pulled up to a building that looked like a manor in Los Angeles. Blue neon lights covered the roof of the front of the entrance. I’ve never been as excited since my first year of school as a little girl. My body sprung out the car and ambled towards the front entrance with Kyle. Electricity flashed into the shadowed sky as the flashing lights leaked out form the inside. As soon as we were let in, music blasted into our ears. Even then beat of the music started to make a rhythm of my blood pumping in and out of my frenzied heart. Of course as we got inside, Kyle wanted to go straight to the bar area. When we ever go to a club, I know he is scouting out females. At this moment I didn’t care, I was always used to him treating me like shit. As he was already drinking, I sneaked off searching where my new friend Georg was hidden. It felt like searching for a needle in a hay stack.

The club was too big, and I figured maybe he just didn’t show up. Stopping the search, I started to head towards the familiar bar Kyle had aimed for. A few hours has gone by so I knew that he was probably plastered already. Kyle never has been that type to drink frail drinks, and when he is drunk, he gets aggressive. Diffident to walk by him, I stood in the middle of the crowd moving my body to the rhythm. I didn’t care who was dancing around me, tonight was all about me. Not in the state of mind, I didn’t know that Kyle saw me. A strong jerk to my forearm made me hit my back to the stoned pillar. Kyle placed his hand over my head, glaring down on me like a mad dog. The smell of alcohol made me turn my head scrunching my nose.

“What the hell do you think you are doing…huh…huh…I’ll teach you you fucking bitch.”

In the corner of my eye I saw two guys rushing over our way. One looks bulky and wide, as if he was a bouncer for the club. The other had mixed blonde dreads, with an “A” cap on top of his head with a delicate fair toned face. Before Kyle was able to connect his fist to my face, he was flung into the bar table top. The bouncer repeatedly beat him to a pulp. Now at this point, the girl pushes the guy that is saving her life, but not me. I’ve enjoyed him getting his ass whooped. All of those memories of him beating me; it raged me. The crowd grew wild as they watched my boyfriend get crushed. After a good pounding, the bouncer hauled him off into the depths of nowhere. Tears started to form in my sockets as I still was intense with rage. The stranger with the mixed blonde dreads looked me in my eyes. After all this, I started to laugh. When I laughed, he thought it was ok to laugh with me. Even though I was laughing, he knew that it was only to shelter up the tears that were trying to shove out from my sockets.

“Why were you even standing with this guy,” the guy said looking at me with his brown striking eyes.

I looked at him still chuckling away, “That was actually my boyfriend.”

The handsome guy stopped laughing and stared curiously at my eyes. “And you dealt with him hitting you like that?”

My laughing stopped, and then the tears that were waiting to come out dripped down my cheeks. The guy placed my head to his chest. I don’t even know who this guy was and he was comforting me. “I’m Tom by the way…I thought you should know the guy’s name since I’m holding you and what not.”

Replacing my head from his shoulder, I started to chuckle a little. “There’s a smile,” he said to me lifting my chin up. “You know your beautiful right,”

I started to blush bright red as he commented me. We talked about random subjects, trying to get the horror out of my mind. There were many attempts of him trying to flirt with me, but I just wouldn’t budge. We both heard his name in the distance and in reaction; we’ve both turned towards the sound. It was Georg.