Jessica and I

Part II

I sat on the couch, flipping through the infinite masses of boring channels. In 890 channels, there is absolutely nothing good on. What else is new? I swear…TV’s have a curse built in to always have you miss the good shows, whether you are attentive or not.
My chest was throbbing, so I got up and headed to the bathroom. I peeled my shirt off and tossed it on top of the toilet and examined myself. Half a dozen bruises were scattered around my torso, still black and blue. Recently sealed gashes littered my arms and shoulders. The pain stabbed away at me, but it only took one thing to make me forget any ache I felt- the reason I had obtained these cuts.
If I could do it all over, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. A few gashes in exchange for Jessica’s darling life, and allowing her to open her heart to me. There wasn’t a regret in my mind. I’d sacrifice far more for the girl that I loved so much.
The folks were still out of town. They had called a few hours ago to tell me that they would be back in a couple of days. Some recent company crisis had seized their full attention for the moment. At least I had the house to myself, and I was going to make the best of it. No annoying roommate or dorm supervisors- that called for snacks, movies, and a whole lot of nothing.
I grabbed my dad’s keys and headed to his truck. I already had the snacks, so I just needed some movies. The sky was beginning to darken, though it was only early afternoon. Good thing I brought my hoodie. It was slightly worn, but it kept me warm and toasty, and was the one treasure I had pulled away from college.
I went to Blockbuster, grabbed some recent DVDs, and headed back home. I took a while deciding, making it almost four o’clock. As I stepped into my truck, I looked up at the sky once more. Dark clouds littered the sky, and rain began to pour down. The sun was completely hidden behind thick rain clouds, making the afternoon quite dark.
My dad’s old truck kept hiccupping along the road home as it began raining. Within minutes, the rain had become slightly violent and the wind had picked up quite a bit. The sky was quite dark, making it what you’d picture a ‘dark and stormy night’.
As I neared home, I passed by Jessica’s house. I smiled, remembering her soft, pouty lips locked with mine. How I wish she wasn’t grounded for being out camping alone with a boy. Jessica was nearly incapable of lying, especially when confronted directly about something. If her parents asked her anything about where my parents were on our camping trip, she’d tell them without question.
I arrived home and parked the collapsing truck. Movies in hand, I dashed into the house, hurrying to avoid the vengeful sky. Once inside, I tossed my things down and returned to the couch, popped a DVD in, and relaxed. While it was freezing and stormy outside, it was quite warm inside. I can’t, however, say that it was cozy, as Jessica wasn’t here.
As I began to drift off from the dullness of the video, I heard a knocking at the door. I shook my head as to ignore it, yet it continued. I got up, though much to the disapproval of my sore body. Wondering who would be soliciting in this kind of weather, I walked to the door and opened it.
Outside I saw the most painful sight imaginable. Jessica stood out on the porch, under the bombardment of the sky, shivering miserably. I knew body signs, and this was a very unusual shiver. It was of both cold and fear. Her arms wrapped around her shoulders, struggling to retain some heat. Her hair was soaked, her mascara was running, and her left eye looked almost black, though she kept it turned away from me. She was wearing a green tank top with purple pajama bottoms, both drenched thoroughly. Yet even through all this, she was pleasant to look at it.
I put my arms around Jessica and lead her inside, shutting the door behind her. I didn’t know what to say. What happened? Are you ok? What’s wrong? Tell me something!
Jessica stood quiet, except for a few drops that continued streaming down her face. These weren’t rain droplets. Her face was now hanging down, with her left side turned away from me intentionally. I reached my hand to her chin and tilted her face, so I could see what she was hiding.

“Seb…promise me you won’t get mad.”

While I wasn’t sure what I would be mad at her about, I promised. She tilted her head up, allowing me to see her black and blue left eye. The running mascara mixed with the clear bruise from a punch only extenuated the sadness in her eyes.

“Jess! What happened?!”
“My dad,” she mumbled. “Got really mad when I told him about the trip.”

I clenched my hands into a fist and began heading towards the door. While it was just a bruised eye, a thing I had suffered a hundred times without any extravagant pain or worry, I was now becoming hysterical. It wasn’t so much as the pain associated with it, rather than the fact that someone had hurt the most important person in the world to me.

“You promised…”

Those magic words made me pause. While she could have physically tried to stop me from marching out the door and beating her dad into a bloody mess, her delicate words had far more powerful of an effect.