A Girl With a Broken Smile

The next hour or so went on like this. Hard hits and tears that threatened to roll down my face, but I fought them back. At least I could be in control of something, right? Finally he was done with me. Leaving me battered and bruised on the living room floor. Slowly I picked myself and limped my way to my room, before throwing myself onto the bed. One would think that I’d be use to this by now, that it wouldn’t hurt anymore, that I’d be numb, but I wasn’t. Numbness was something that I wish I could have, but no matter how hard I tried I could never seem to fully shut off my emotions.

A few minutes later I finally sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed and stared at the floor. I wanted so bad to just get up and leave, but I hardly had any strength left to move. A soft sigh escaped my lips before I glanced around the room, my eyes landing on my cellphone. Who could I call? Blair? She was still mad at me and refused to answer her phone the last ten times I had called today, why would she suddenly pick up now? I could always call him. Wait, no, what was I thinking, I couldn’t call him. Besides, what would I possibly say?

I stayed like that for awhile, my eyes locked on the phone as if it would suddenly ring and all my problems would be gone. Without even thinking my hand found its way to my pocket and I slowly pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. I quickly flipped opened the phone and punched the numbers in. I took a long deep breath, before finally finding the courage to put it to my ear. The ringing made my head spin, but I just clutched the phone harder, fighting the urge to hangup.

“Hello?” His sudden voice almost made me jump. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

“Hello?” He said again, a hint of annoyance in his voice. I still couldn’t make myself say anything.

“Anna... Anna is this you?” His voice was much softer this time. It even sounded concerned.

How... How did he know it was me? Quickly I hung up the phone in a panic and without a second thought threw it across the room as if I was disgusted with it. I glared at it, my mind swirling with all sorts of thoughts. How did he know it was me? I didn’t give him my number, so how did he know? Was he expecting me to call? Even if he was, why did he sound so concerned? Did he kn... No, no he didn’t know. There’s no way he could know.

I was soon ripped my thoughts by my phone ringing on the far side of the room. It had to be Matthew, but I couldn’t make myself get up and answer it, I just couldn’t. It rang for what seemed like forever before finally I moved and picked it up. I stared at for a moment, wishing he’d just give up and stop, but he didn’t; it kept ringing. Slowly I took in a long deep breath as if I was preparing myself to answer. It rang once more, and finally I pushed the phone open.

“He... Hello?” My voice was shaky.

“Anna, it was you.” His voice sounded almost shaky as well, but why would his be like that?
“Uh...” I paused for a moment, thinking of something to say. I couldn’t lie, he already knew it was me. I sighed, and nodded as if he could see me.

“Yeah, it was, but I didn’t mean to call. I... I accidently called you, but I was trying to call my friend. I’m sorry if I bothered you.” I said quickly, praying he’d believe me and just let me be.

“Oh...” He breathed. “Well, I just wanted to make sure everything was alright.”

Make sure everything was alright? Why wouldn’t everything be alright? No, everything wasn’t alright, but why would he think it wasn’t? As much as I didn’t want myself to believe it, he had to know something, but how much did he really know?

“Ye... Yes, everything is fine. Thanks for the concern though.” I said a bit too quickly.

“Well, that’s good.” I swore I could hear him sigh, but I just shook it off. “So, seeing as I’m just closing up shop and I have nothing else to do, would you like to get together? Maybe go out for a coffee or something?”

I froze, not sure what to say. Honestly I would love to go out for a coffee with him, but I couldn’t let him see me like this. I knew for a fact that I had fresh bruises on me and I could even feel a line of crusted blood on my lip. I could only do so much to hide them.

“Anna?” He questioned.

“Umm... I ca.. I mean... Uhh... Sure. Sure. Where would you like to meet?” I suddenly found myself saying. It was as if my lips had a mind of their own. I closed my eyes and let out a sigh.

“Great! I was thinking the little shop on the corner of Third Street. You know the one that you have to pass to get to the pet store?”

“Mhm. I’ll meet you there in about an hour.” I couldn’t lie to myself, I was excited to meet up with him, but I just couldn’t shake this feeling that he knew something.

“Awesome, see you soon then. Bye Anna.” And without that, he hung up, leaving me with my head hung low, wondering whether or not this was a good idea.

After a short time I managed to drag myself off of the bed and force myself to get ready. Though my clothes were clean, I still felt dirty in them. Quickly I changed into a soft pink shirt and a pair of skinny jeans. I brushed my short hair out and pulled my bangs out of my face with a small butterfly barrette before moving towards the mirror.

I took in a sharp breath when I finally saw the damage he had done. A large bruise was starting to surface on the right side of my face. The corner of my lip was busted, with small spots of dried crimson around the cut. I sighed and tried my hardest to cover everything up. I brushed on some light foundation, trying my hardest to cover the bruise, but still trying to not look fake. My lip would be the hardest to hide. I tried a few different types of lip gloss, but nothing was dark enough to fully hide the cut. Finally I settled on a soft shade of pink and hoped for the best. Maybe he wouldn’t notice.

After sneaking past Mark, avoiding oncoming traffic and running from a neighborhood dog I finally found myself in front of the little shop. I stared at the door for a few minutes, as if it would magically open for me and welcome me in. It never did though, instead I had to force myself to open and find the courage to walk in.

That’s when I spotted him, sitting in a both in the far side of the store. I couldn’t help, but to notice that it was away from everyone else. Had he done that for a reason? No, I’m just overthinking things like I always do. I sighed again, before making my way towards him. He hadn’t noticed me yet, I could just turn around and leave and he wouldn’t even have known that I was here. Suddenly he turned, his eyes meeting mine and a small smile spreading across his face. Busted. There was no running now. I forced a smile on my face and kept walking his way.

“Anna! I’m so gla...” He suddenly stopped talking, his eyes landing on my lips. I could feel my heartbeat quicken and I debated running out right then and there, but my legs didn’t move.

“Anna... What happened to your lip?”