Within the Castle

The next day, without any discussion about doing so, we both got up earlier than usual and met at the lift a whole two hours before our work/university days begun. Once we had reached the bottom floor with no more than a greeting between us, he questioned if I would like to go for a walk so we could chat. I agreed.

We had barely gone fifty metres down the pathway when he began speaking.

“How did last night go?”

I sighed, reflecting back on it, “I couldn’t tell him to stop.”

Luke showed no signals of disappointment, almost as if he expected it. “At least you tried.”

“Okay,” I retorted, “and I failed, too.”

“Sometimes you need to overcome a few fails before getting success.”

“Luke,” I exhaled, “I’m never going to be successful. You don’t understand… him.”

“What don’t I understand?” he responded, interested.

My legs absentmindedly travelled beside Luke’s. I had no idea where we were headed and it didn’t actually matter because I knew that while I was busy speaking, he could control where we were going. We had a long time.

“He’s irrational and temperamental – even more than me. When I say something or do something that he doesn’t like, he gets mad and takes the aggression out on me. If I tell him to stop, he’ll go harder. And you know it goes further than him hitting me, Luke. It’s- there’s other stuff too. Like, like, the sex stuff. I’ll never find an escape. And, it’s probably best that I don’t. Because if I do then someone else is going to have to deal with him, and in all honesty, my life was messed up anyway. I can take one for the team.”

“Aurora,” he firmly stated, “nobody should be ‘taking one for the team.’ Abusive people should be locked up. Forever.”

“Yeah,” I countered, “but they don’t. He would probably get a fine, maybe, if I told the police. That’s all. So I think I’ll just deal with it.”

“But you don’t have to deal with it if you don’t want to.”

I was getting ireful now. It was hard for me to discuss the topic and stay calm. Earlier, I thought it would be fine, but Luke wouldn’t stop pushing me.

“I do, Luke. You don’t get it. I’m just stuck with him now and I’ll stay with him.”

“You said to me the other day that you wanted help?”

“I do,” now I was suppressing a scream for the public’s sake, ”I do want help, I hate it, I’m constantly in pain.”

“Then why change your mind last night when you could have saved yourself and said stop and then ran?”

“Because it wouldn’t have worked!”

“You don’t know that.”

“Okay, fine. Maybe it would have worked, and then what Luke? I would have come running to you and then all would have been swell for maybe a whole week if I was lucky, but then you would eventually get sick of me because you’re perfect, Luke, and I’m just me and I’m either too high maintenance with my emotions or I’m too boring, so you would get rid of me and then I wouldn’t have you or the damn devil and I would be completely alone forever.”

Both of us had stopped moving. Luke stood in front of me and was watching my outburst intently. His face was plain and peaceful.

“There you go,” he clucked, “that’s our real problem.”

My breathing was heavy and all my features were scrunched in together. Carefully he brought up his hands and placed one on each of my tense shoulders.

“Breathe,” his voice cooed before his hands started pushing my shoulders around to the left and down.

Following his lead, I sat on what happened to be a wooden bench. As soon as he rested down beside me, I was able to acknowledge the parkland that was directly in front of our eyes. I knew exactly where we where; one of the busiest open grass and tree areas in the whole city. However, at this time of morning, pre-work rush hour, it was empty apart from us, and the tweets of some birds high in the gum trees.

The greenery went down on a slanted hill beneath our feet, so we had a grand view of the whole space. I could take in every single tree scattered in the zone, and all the bushes that were planted on the border of the park. Little pink, yellow and blue daisies had sprouted underneath the large trees and were taking shade with the long branches. My nose filled with the fragrance of fresh pollen. Such a beautiful Spring. Beyond it all was the bright red sunrise, which gave the most scenic backdrop I had ever seen.

Never had I considered coming to this park in early hours, because it didn’t strike me that it would be so quiet and tranquil. I had forgotten everything that just occurred and I forgot that Luke even existed until he spoke. Then, I noticed his arm was swung behind my shoulders and we were seated so close our ribs were touching.

“Nearly as pretty as you.”

I just shook my head and snickered, “says the prettiest of them all.”

“So,” he begun reasoning after we’d both had enough time to absorb the surrounds, “you want to leave him. But you’re scared that doing that will leave you with no-one. You’re changing your mind constantly of which is better. One day you’re set on wanting out, but then you’ll realise you still want in. ”

Taking in a deep breath, I stopped myself from arguing with Luke. Even if I didn’t want that to be the depressing truth, it probably was. Now that I was a bit more relaxed, there was no need for me to disagree and uselessly defend my pitiful life motives.

Luke continued, “That means I need to work out how I can possible prove to you that I wouldn’t leave you. Ever.”

I kept silent.

He appeared deep in thought before randomly perking up, “can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” I replied.

“You don’t say Vincent’s name at all. And before you called him the devil. Is there a reason you do that?”

Swallowing, I closed my eyes and turned my head to face away. How embarrassing – I’d had no idea that I had called him the devil aloud.

“Yeah,” I muttered, “he just doesn’t really deserve a name. Real humans get names, but real humans aren’t so violent. So he’s a monster instead… and that’s what I call him. I mean, not to his face, obviously.”

“Well, hey, at least you understand how awful he is, and you’re not blind to how horrifically he treats you. That’s a good thing, my Princess.”

For the next while, we stayed put and quietly observed as the sun got larger and larger and lifted itself up over the horizon. Beside me, Luke breathed slowly and made casual glances at me. Whenever I felt his eyes dotted on my face for too long, I’d snap my head around and catch him. But he wasn’t fussed; in fact, he would grin wider at me.

To my discretion, the zooming and toots of cars and the general bustle of workers became more and more apparent for the longer we sat. Chirps up in the trees were being overtaken by the screeches of tires along the road and eventually Luke confessed, “we should probably head off now. Do you know how to get to your uni from here?”

I wasn’t thinking about university, actually. I was wondering whether I should or shouldn’t kiss him goodbye. All of me was aching for it, to feel the tingle sensation from the other day. But I wasn’t sure whether it was appropriate in an open setting.

“Aurora?”

I was just going to have to do it. My upper body lunged forward and I pressed my lips onto his. Our mouths weren’t connected as simply this time, but it was because Luke was smiling now and when his lips were curved so much it was impossible. I settled for a peck. It was enough hopefully to get me through the day.

He giggled a little when I backed off, and then questioned again, “are you going to be okay to walk to uni from here?”

“Yeah,” I was biting my lip.

“Okay. Good.”

We spent a moment just staring at each other.

“Well,” he perked, “I guess this is bye until tonight, maybe. Make sure you have a good day.”

I got up and started stepping backward, away from him, “okay, you too.”

A split second before I twisted around to face away from him, he exclaimed, “wait, wait.”

Quickly, he jumped over to me, halting my movement. His right hand came to sit gently on my cheek bone and then he allowed his face to creep down to mine. First he brushed our lips softly together, but then he fully moved in to snag a proper hook of my mouth. Ever so gently, he nibbled along my bottom lip before releasing me and winking.

“Later, gorgeous.”

All day I was bouncing around and wanting the time to go quicker so I could be with Luke again. To pass the time, I disciplined myself to complete assignments and read novels. I wished that my professor would come over and chat with me so that more time could be wasted, but he was active doing other lectures for his other classes.

Friday was always very private in the university library because nobody wanted to spend longer than necessary there. It was the beginning of the weekend – time to go home and prepare for a good night, or even rest up for an eventful Saturday. The night could be swell for me, because the odds were that he wouldn’t come home. Fridays were usually his time out with mates and on Saturdays, he’d take me with him to party. Usually. With my fantastic luck, he would be at my apartment tonight too.

If he hadn’t come by about 5:30, I decided I would go to Luke’s flat. Only if he wanted me there, that is. He probably wouldn’t. I guess I was being too hopeful. But I had a great amount of time to dwell on things. There were so many hours in the day.

Pick, pluck at the bright petals from the flower
He loves me
Tit, tut of my tongue chiming with the clock tower
He loves not
Clatter, cluck when the dice tells the balance of power
He loves me
Drip, drop is the water pouring slow from the shower
He loves me not

When I arrived at my apartment, I was more than relieved to see that nobody else was around. The silence was so happy. It didn’t take much before I could hear Luke shuffling into his own apartment and then there was a note passed underneath the wall.

Are you alone? Come over? Door’s open. xxx

With an extravagant smile on my face, I skipped all the way from my apartment to duck into his. There was barely time for me to get nervous. Though, when I first caught a glimpse of him, I was thrown into a world of shock. Luke’s work trousers were still on, his shiny silver buckled belt showing, but his shirt and jacket were off… Leaving him naked on his top half.

Of course, I had previously leaned up against him – so I knew there were muscles living underneath his clothing. However, seeing it for real put a pause on my breathing. Luke’s skin colour was paler on his torso, presumably because his chest didn’t often see the sun. And there were clear ridges and indents that outlined his defined abdomen and pectorals. I was amused. Everything about him was so desirable. His whole upper body was broad and it seemed so endearing in every way possible.

“Oh, hey,” he stormed, laughing, “didn’t realise you’d be here so quickly.”

My charmed eyes watched on as he fumbled around to grab his t-shirt, which was strung over the back of his lounge. While he reached his arms high to get the top over his head, I was able to obtain an even better view of his chest, seeing it heave up while he brought over the shirt.

“That’s better,” he vowed afterward, “much comfier than my work shirt.”

He wandered over to the dining table and pulled out a chair for me, motioning to sit. I was quite flustered from what I had just witnessed and didn’t really know what to say about it. Again, I praised God for giving Luke a wonderful ability to talk.

“So,” he gibed, “how was your day, babe?”

Now my brain was just swimming in a pool of paradise. Take your shirt off. Call me babe. That’s how to win me over. If he wanted me to do it now, I probably would call the police and get them to take away my monster. I would have done anything Luke wanted at that exact moment.

He strode over to his wine cabinet and opened it, snaring a bottle from the bunch. When he began walking back to me, after a detour for two glasses from the kitchen, he raised an eyebrow in my direction, suggesting I should maybe answer his question.

“U-uh-y-yeah,” I was a bit of a stuttered mess, “yeah. It was good.”

“What did you get up to?” he inquired, pouring the drink. This time it was a near clear colour, with a golden tint; not a rich maroon.

“Uh, nothing special. A lecture. Finishing some assignments.”

“Lovely,” Luke glossed, pushing the tall glass to me, “try this one. It’s completely different to what you’ve had before. I actually don’t know if you’ll like it. It tastes kind of fruity.”

Giving in to his request, I grabbed the thin part of the glass and brought it up to my mouth.

“Hold on,” he said, snapping to put both of his hands around my hand that held the glass. Using his fingers, he changed around my grip, switching my tacky fist hold to having a split between my two middle fingers where the cup could elegantly rest. “Perfect.”

Shaking somewhat, I anxiously lifted the liquid up, cautious of spilling it. When I tilted it to slide over my tongue, I closed my eyes. Luke was correct, I agreed, as it ran down my throat. Very fruity.

“It’s nice,” I ended up smiling to him.

“Really?” he awed, “you don’t have to say you like it if you don’t. There’s hundreds for us to try, so you won’t like all of them.”

“No,” my voice needed to be assuring because I was telling the truth, “it does taste good. Seriously.”

“Okay, well, I’ll believe you for now. Want to hear about my day?”

Luke had a skill of story telling. If I had lived his day, I would have reported back saying ‘yeah, met three new clients. That was all.’ But Luke managed to pick at the tiniest of details in his day and make them out to be the most humorous of events. Although he worked a completely different job than I would ever want, the way he spoke about it so entertainingly made me want to be his personal assistant. Then I’d be able to witness all the fun with him.

For an hour or more, we discussed. I told him how I wanted to be a writer and he instantly accepted and supported the notion. He made a comment that struck a bone in me, though.

“You won’t have any job if you stay with Vincent, you know. You won’t achieve any of these goals with him.”

I hadn’t thought ahead like that before, so that made me upset. Luke saw I was sad and babbled on about something else. Not long later, he moved the topic of conversation to dinner, asking what I would like to eat considering he hadn’t purchased anything on the way home. Me not minding didn’t help the situation, so he made a couple of options.

“I’ll take you out to a restaurant, or we can get take-out somewhere close and bring it home.”

Despite swooning over the first choice, I knew I had to pick option two. All the restaurants in the town were in the same vicinity as the pubs and hotels – where the devil probably was tonight. I couldn’t risk being seen with Luke. Plus, I was deficient in clothing to wear to some place nice. In total, my wardrobe would have had one dress maximum and it would have been something simple and not fancy enough for eating out.

We got Chinese from a corner shop less than a block away. When we were walking there, Luke dropped his hand to fall into mine and our fingers gladly intertwined with one another. It was really nice. Inside the store, as I pulled out my purse, Luke employed his hand again to take the purse from me, zip it closed, and drop it back into my bag.

“I can pay for my own,” I informed him, but he wouldn’t take that.

“No, sweetheart. I’m supposed to be impressing you and showing how much you mean to me, not the other way around.”

I didn’t know how I felt about that. Luke had impressed me, months ago. What he was really attempting to do was prove that he would never leave me once I left the devil. Unfortunately, I wasn’t convinced he would ever achieve me thinking that.

Back at his flat, he pulled me into his lap on the couch and we ate in the comfort of each other. We kissed after and even though there were hints of soy sauce and greasy noodles, it still tasted like him. I loved it. Inevitably, there was a repeat of the occurrences in the lift, because I couldn’t keep to myself once I’d had a small sample of him. I just hoped that Luke wasn’t bored of it, and that he wouldn’t ever get bored of it, because there was no way I would be in the future.

“Baby,” he mumbled while pecking along my cheek to my ear, “your skin’s clearing up. You look good.”

The best I could manage was to mumble back, “mmm.” It kind of sounded like a moan instead of a response, and that was okay, because in reality, I had definitely needed to let out some sort of noise with the intimacy he was permitting.

Luke’s fingers gently tugged down the neck of my top so he could see a little more of my shoulder. Instead of being dense blue and purple, the skin was a very light lilac. Another day or two and it should return to my normal white complexion. I was glad these bruises weren’t lasting long like others I had had in the past.

Even though I was no longer in a state of pain when someone touched me, Luke still remained gentle and didn’t force heavier strength into our kisses. He let me go wild, though, and simply revelled in how snoopy my hands were and how hungry my mouth was.

The night continued on, and not much changed. Luke’s hands moved from being on the outside of my shirt to slipping underneath the material and resting on my skin. The feeling was alike to getting zapped by a taser. Except it wasn’t hurtful – the electricity made me feel really good. Really alive.

I had lost track of time, but Luke was mindful – being the one to bring my attention to the fact that I should probably go back to mine and get some sleep.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” he questioned as he led me to the door. My hand had a very tight hold on his, like it had for almost the entire night. I couldn’t remember if I had let it go since he initially took a hold of it on the way to get food. Even whilst we ate, I’d gripped my fingers tough around his knuckles so he could only use his other spare hand to shovel up the noodles. I didn’t want to let go of him.

“I’ll be busy,” I mumbled, remembering tomorrow would be Saturday.

He urged me to explain, “with Vincent?”

“Yeah.”

“What will you be doing?”

We’d reached the door then and Luke was turning it and using his foot to assist getting it open.

“We go to parties on Saturday nights.”

“Do you want to go to the party, Princess?”

I frowned, “do I look like the type of person who would enjoy a party with around a hundred irresponsible people while I’m sober? It’s not my type of thing.”

“So why do you go?” he pushed me.

“I don’t have a choice.”

“Oh,” he sounded genuinely shocked, “sorry, sweet heart. I didn’t know it was in the constitution of rights that Aurora Rose had to attend a party every Saturday night. But, you’d know more about that than me, so I’ll believe you.”

That’s the point that I tore my hand off from him. My bitter self had come out for a show. I stomped away from him and reached into my pocket to find the key that would open my own apartment.

“Hold onnn,” he slurred, “Aurora, listen to me.”

Stubbornly, I kept my vision directed to my doorknob and away from his gaze.

“Aurora.”

No.

“Look at me.”
No.

“Babe?”

“What?” I spat, turning my upset eyes to his apologetic ones.

Luke placed his hand on my shoulder and softly talked to me, “I was trying to make you see how silly that idea is that you don’t have a choice. Of course you have a choice. The only thing forcing you to go anywhere with him is your fear of him. He shouldn’t be controlling you.”

Grinding my teeth, I glared at his eyes. I knew that was the concept he was trying to get across, and I think that was the reason I was mad. Because Luke was correct.

“Well,” I gritted, “what am I supposed to do?”

“You’re supposed to just say no.”

“And then he’ll hit me.”

“And then you will say ‘Vincent, did you know that hitting me is illegal and I can call the police on you if you continue? And, did you know that just the bruises on my body are enough for you to be put in jail? And oh, Vincent, did you know that because one in three women get physically abused, they’ll never believe you over me when I take you to court.”

My voice was shaky, “and then he’s gonna ask where I found that out because I’m too stupid to know all that.”

“And you will say that your boyfriend next door searched it up on the Internet for you. But that doesn’t go to say that you couldn’t have done it yourself because you’re a smart, strong and beautiful girl, who can do anything for herself and doesn’t need a worthless pig dragging her down.”

Boyfriend? My face twisted up and I heard nothing after the first sentence.

“Yes, boyfriend,” he answered my unspoken question, “I’m yours when you want me, Princess.”

I went to say something, but I didn’t know what. At that moment, I was too confused and emotional for anything. Luke must have received the notion I wasn’t going to speak, so he wrapped it up.

“You need to get some sleep so you have enough energy to stand up for yourself tomorrow. So, good night. Sleeping Beauty needs her rest.”

Carefully, Luke picked up my hand that was dangling by side and lifted it to his mouth. Closing his eyelids, he placed a soft kiss above my wrist and then gave a calm smile before trancing back into his flat. Without anywhere else to go, I copied him and zipped into my own apartment. Once my door was shut, I realised just how tired I had become.

Sure, my legs were weighty and it was a struggle for me to raise my feet to walk. And my arms were almost too heavy to reach up and flick on my bedroom light switch. But, most of all, my brain was utterly exhausted. It felt like it was dragging my entire body down with it. My frame could not hold it up any longer. There was an overload of choices and dilemmas rattling in there.

Did Luke actually want to be with me? How could I trust him?

I did want to get rid of the devil. I did. But was it worth the consequences of standing up to him? The possibility of it not working?

I didn’t know.

Luckily, the stresses didn’t keep me awake, as there was such a solid amount of them that they actually put me straight to sleep. By the time I woke up, it was to the sound of the loud asshole barging through and cursing.

“Where’s my fucking drinks?”

What a lovely alarm to shoot me from bed in the morning. And ‘where are’ would have been a more grammatical form for the sentence. Nevertheless, my blur of sleep was eliminated in a second, and it was only twenty seconds before I had propped a drink into his calloused hand.

The day went on as I would have imagined. Hand him more drinks, clean up some of his mess. Listen to his insults. Make him food. Think about Luke. Worry about Luke hearing him through the walls. More drinks. Insults. Help him to the bathroom. Insults, insults. Drinks. Luke. Luke. Drinks. Insults, drinks, Luke. Luke. Insults. Drinks.

At 5pm, I begun preparing for the party. With minimal choice, I wore the same outfit as I had the week beforehand. My makeup was done plainly and with simple, bland colours. I didn’t need, or want, to stand out during the night. It didn’t take me long to be ready, which was a beneficial thing because he couldn’t bellow at me for being slow.

He was so drunk that beer was oozing from all of his pores. Getting him outside the apartment and down the lift was an effort and a half, but even worse was trying to get us to the party. I hadn’t the slightest clue where the drinking fest was being held, and I was relying on his untrustworthy directions to get us there.

“Why aren’t we there yet, slow bitch,” he slurred endlessly, blaming me for his incapability to lead us.

Some sun still loomed around the air, meaning it wasn’t quite dark time yet and we wouldn’t be too late arriving at the party. Weaving through the streets and roads in an attempt to find the place made me feel incredibly unsafe, however. We had moved away from the city zone and were wandering around the suburban areas. I hoped that if he was so drunk he could not even get us to the house, then maybe he would forget how angry he was and I wouldn’t receive the wrath of it all later.

“I think it’s left.” “I think it’s right.” “Go there.” “Are we fucking there yet?” “This is your damn fault.” “Where the hell am I?” “Go that way.” “No, this way.” “Hurry up, slut.”

My ears being intently awake helped us to eventually locate the house, as I was able to hear the bass booming from a street or two away. Walking for such a great time outside, whilst there had been an evident breeze, had made me quite cold. It was a relief when I spotted the house, because I knew that inside there would be a swarm of heated bodies, grinding against one another and generating more sweat and warmth.

When I got inside, he was immediately heaved away with a group of exultant men. And my predictions were wrong. The home was even colder inside, which surprised me.

I often wondered if the people at these parties knew who I was. They seemed to ignore me majority of the time, and I was okay with that. But they never kicked me out, and I never had to explain that I was actually here with someone – not just trespassing. Possibly, they saw me enter with him and knew who I belonged to. I wasn’t just a loose animal; I had an owner and he would come retrieve me at the end of the night.

As per usual, I snuck around the reasonably crowded place until I found a screen door that could allow me to exit into the backyard. Scanning the area, I noticed that there was only one garden-lounge seat that would have to do me for the night. Walking over, I plopped down and leant back. Once my spine hit the back of the chair, I could relax somewhat. That would be my position for the next coming hours. Luckily, it was quite comfy, and the way that it was pulled out and back meant I could lie and gaze at the stars, rather than the happy people inside who would ultimately make me jealous of their lifestyles.

Just while I was getting used to the cushions on the seat, I felt the presence of another person come near to me. Immediately, I was concerned and my head was about to jolt upward and pull my entire body up. But then, what I smelt was so familiar and so comforting, that all my worries slipped away.

“Hey, Princess,” he breathed, standing tall next to me.

“Luke,” I sighed, looking up at him, “what are you doing here?”

“Ah, I thought I’d come see what all the hype of Saturday night parties was about.”

Without more ado, Luke sat beside my knees, where there was only just enough room for him. I took in that he was wearing a blue polo and khaki pants. The outfit may have sounded casual, but the quality of materials that these items were made of put him at a much higher level than anybody else in the vicinity.

“Scoot over, babe,” he asked while I aimlessly soaked up his appearance.

“Oh,” I gasped, and instantly pushed my body as far to the left as I could so that Luke could try and fit properly next to me.

When he slid his bum back onto the chair and put his back against the rest, he noticed we weren’t both going to fit. My ass was now half off the seat and I assumed Luke was the same. Not wasting time, he placed his hands onto both sides of my ribs, and then raised my body up with his strength. In a second, I was between his open legs and slouched down significantly. When I tilted my chin up, I could see Luke’s pure face above, looking down to me. His thick arms travelled underneath my armpits and wrapped around my torso, just underneath my breasts.

Suddenly, I was at ease.

“You look pretty tonight,” he stated

I blushed at his words; a contrast to what I’d been hearing all day. “So do you.”

Luke smirked, “why, thank you, Aurora.”

Closing my eyes for a moment, I seared into the pure bliss of him.

“So what’s up?” he broke the silence.

“A sky full of stars,” I retorted.

Both our heads travelled up then, and funny enough, it was night enough for the tiny dots to be sprouting their light into the black sky. There weren’t any clouds or obstructions from the view. It was quite beautiful. And even more beautiful was Luke’s soft face staring up in amusement.

“Do you know any of the constellations?” Luke posed to me.

As soon as I said no, he was jumping into a fountain of happiness. Here was a chance for him to present to me a whole world of knowledge. For ages, he used his pointer finger to pinpoint each special pattern of stars. Southern Cross. South Celeste Pole. Cetus, Eridanus, Phoenix and Sculptor visible. Others that I would never remember the name of. Some that Luke had made up himself.

“How do you know all these?” I wondered, amazed.

“Aurora,” he laughed, “I’ve told you. I grew up in the country. There’s nothing else to do at night but watch the sky.”

“What is going on here?” a voice smashed above us.

I knew who it was and I knew my joy was over and I was scared. Hastily, I shuffled out of Luke’s grip and rose from the chair, standing up to look at him.

“You’re the fucking prick from next door,” he seethed to Luke, “aren’t you?”

I had completely forgotten where I was. The music from the party had been zoned out, and so had all the colourful disco lights and the dancing people. I wasn’t aware of how much time had passed. But I didn’t even realise it was passing when I was with Luke. We had created our own bubble, separate from the moving world. It had been us, and the galaxy. The blonde boy had had me entranced by his smarts and gentle presence. With him, I was at peace. Now, everything was crashing down.

My legs took me a step back when Luke stood up also. The devil and the angel were standing less than a metre apart again, this time facing one another. Before in my life, I had been scared. However, this was different. At that space in time I wasn’t scared for myself. I was scared for Luke. Absolute anger and madness was staring him in the face.

Yet, somehow, he didn’t look frightened. Luke’s face was calm. His arms dangled by his side, not tensed. He blinked a few times, but no more than ordinary.

“Hey, Vincent,” he smiled, “I think we met the other day.”

The composure in his tone only riled the monster up even more. I could perfectly see his already hard face turn to frozen ice.

“What. Were. You. Doing. With. Her.”

“Oh, Aurora and I were taking in the sky. It’s wonderful how the stars can align so magnificently and precisely every single night.”

Too bad things weren’t aligning right now. Everything occurring seemed so unreal. I watched the devil turn greener and greener with disgust and fury, and Luke remain collected and un phased. It was as though I was witnessing it all through a TV screen. The happenings weren’t actual. They were fake.

Slowly and heavily, the monster took one step in the direction of Luke, eliminating the gap between them. His fingers curled up into the palm of his hand, creating an aggressive fist. He was ready to punch. And Luke didn’t know that. Luke just stood blankly and sweetly and innocently. And perfect angel Luke was going to be punched.

I tried to scream. I tried to warn him. He needed to move. I couldn’t watch this happen.

But nothing came out my mouth. The devil had cast a spell on me and I was stuck. My limbs weren’t working and neither was my tongue. There was nothing I could do. The breathing coming from me was staggered and desperate.

“We’re going home,” the monster spoke gravelly to me, without looking in my direction.

He hadn’t hit Luke yet. And I didn’t know why.

“Oh,” Luke spoke back, raising his voice, and turning to face me, “I didn’t realise that. Aurora, you didn’t say anything about wanting to go home. Do you want to?”

Oh, God. Of course, Luke. Dump me in this situation. No I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to go back to the apartment and be beaten until I passed out. I didn’t want to be half unconscious while he has sex with me. I didn’t want to be reminded of how worthless I am. I didn’t want to wake up the next morning and be unable to get out of bed. I didn’t want that. No.

My response was so quiet and tiny, “… yes.”

A burst of sadness flooded over Luke. He seemed absolutely distraught. The devil chortled loudly in his face and I wished that I wasn’t alive so that this all wouldn’t be happening. A wonderful opportunity had been missed by me, and even if I wanted to, I couldn’t describe why I’d say that.

With an embarrassing slap on the ass, I was sent on my way back home with the opposite person of who I desired. The whole walk, I prepared myself for what I was in for. It was potentially going to be the worst ever. I could tell he was mad, because he had a strong, vicious grip of my arm for the full walk. Now, he was less intoxicated. I knew that, as he was walking in a straight line and could determine for himself the way home.

In the back of my head, past the imagining of how much I was about to hurt, I thought about Luke and was praying he would get home safely. I didn’t even know how he had gotten to the party in the first place. There was no way that he would have known anybody there, or gotten an invite someway. He must have followed me there. When I thought about that, I was kind of happy and amazed that he bothered to track me like that. On the elevator upward, I held my breath unintentionally.

At least, I decided, I had been given time to mentally ready myself for this beating.

But, I was so incorrect.

About it all.

The devil obviously was impatient. He could not be stewed punishing me for spending time with Luke. He just wanted me, and then he wanted to sleep. It was fast, and over before I knew it. His dick was in, his dick was out. Easy.

Besides the usual small pain below, I wasn’t psychically dying or in immense ache anywhere.

Well, except for my heart.

It was trapped in the image of Luke.

And how he’d probably give up on me soon if I didn’t stand up for myself.

I was close to falling asleep when I saw a note shoved underneath the wall. Cautiously, I slipped from my bed and folded it out so I could read it.

:( I want you to choose me… xx

If I didn’t feel bad before, I felt horrible now.

Luke, if I turned him down he would’ve hit you…

That’s better than you getting hit, Princess.
xox

I huffed, and became annoyed that Luke seemed to think he was delivering the goods now. He wasn’t. He didn’t get it. And I would want to be hit a million times instead of him being hit once anyway. I was already broken to pieces, so I may as well get thrown and stomped on some more.

He didn’t even hit me tonight, just other stuff. So it’s fine.

Is it fine, baby? Is him raping you fine? …