I didn’t want to stare, but I couldn’t look away. There she sat on the bench waiting for her break to end so she could go back to work at a job that she hated. It made her feet hurt and her backache. She didn’t think she was smart enough to get a better job, so she figured her only option was working in a factory where she had to put heavy boxes on a truck from 4:30 am- 2:30 pm.
The clock finally struck 12:00, her break was over, and she slowly raised from the bench on to her feet, with her head down and defeat in her eyes. I watched her until she was out of sight, and once she was, I just sat there wondering if I would see her again. I went back to that same spot a couple of days in a row, and I never saw her again.
A few months had passed, and I had finally stopped thinking about her.
There was finally a little crisp in the air, and the leaves were bright orange and red. The perfect time of year for sweaters, a light scarfs. The atmosphere was inviting, and I don’t think I could’ve chosen a better day to move into my new apartment. I left my windows opened as I decorated my new place and kicked off the fall season by cooking my first pot of broccoli cheddar soup. My new place was looking and smelling like home.
I was finally ready to relax, so I plopped down on the couch with a bowl of warm soup and began daydreaming out the window. For a second I thought I was seeing things, but no that was her. There she was moving boxes into an apartment right across from me. She looked different..she looked happy. Smiling from ear to ear. But the guy that was with her was barking out commands to her, all while he smoked a cigarette. I don’t believe I saw him pick up one box, she did it all.
As the months rolled by, I became obsessed with what was going on across the street. I know I drove my boyfriend Elijah crazy, but then he became a bit interested, or should I say concerned with what he saw.
Night after night, her boyfriend would yell and scream at her, and she would run inside from the porch crying, and then he would slam the door. I couldn’t take it anymore so I waited for her to get into her car and I met her there.
I said to her,
“Hi, my name is Kelli, and I live right across from you, and I can’t help but notice that your boyfriend yells at you a lot and calls you some pretty terrible names.”
She said, “yes, I know who you are, and I see how nice your boyfriend is to you. I’ve noticed that you two are always laughing and talking… I wish I had that.”
She slowly took off her sunglasses and revealed the most prominent black eye that I had ever seen. I immediately thought of Rocky III at the end of his fight with Apollo Creed. I gasped and quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her into my apartment, and told her that she has to call the police. She began to talk quickly and said to me that she knows that he loves her, but he doesn’t know how to show it. He’s hit me ever since we were 16 and now that they are 20, the hits are her new normal.
She now identifies love with pain. The harder the hit the deeper the love.
~Not the end~
You could have chosen any blog to read but you chose mine and I’m honored.
~Belladonna~