Page 46 of Don’t Forget Me

Lysandra let go of me, slightly pushing me onto the sitting area situated near the paned windows of the entrance hall.

“Of course I do. Stay here, I’m going to get a pack of ice from the kitchen,” she replied.

“You can’t just sneak into the kitchen,” I hushed, anxiety swelling in my stomach.

“Yes, I can. I’ll be back in a few,” she said.

My head pounded and felt heavy; I barely even missed her absence. The ice packet crinkled between her fingers, I felt the frigidness of her hands before the blocks of ice refreshed my swollen face.

“The cold will lower the swelling of your skin, help with the bruising, and hopefully with your disorientation,” she spoke. Her words seemed more like slurs, but the cool packet relieved me of the hot blood that rushed underneath my flesh. “I also brought some alcohol to clean your scratches.”

“Scratches?” I asked.

“Yeah, your cheek is bleeding.”

Nothing but a frustrating sigh escaped my lips.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, holding onto the ice.

She shrugged. I watched as she built up the courage to tell me.

“Because I wish someone had done it for me,” she said quietly, a hidden thought almost forming across her features.

I could feel my own heart breaking inside my chest. “What do you mean?” My voice almost cracked.

“It’s a story for another time,” she whispered with a gentle downward curve of her lips. She had softly been jabbing a cotton ball with a strong coat of rubbing alcohol across my cheek. I withheld the flinch that dared leave me.

Slowly, tentatively, I reached for her hand. There was a deep grief portrayed through her brown eyes; the windows of her soul had been wide open for me to comprehend her scars.

“What happened?” I questioned.

She lowered her gaze to her trembling hands, held between my own as she let out a shaky breath. “My stepfather.”

“Is that why you are here? You ran away from home?” I asked.

A slow nod.

“What did he do to you?”

“The physical marks I have are nothing compared to the ones in my heart,” she revealed.

There was a long pause that accompanied us before I replied, “I understand.”

“I know.”

We sat there, right next to each other, in silence. A noiseless ambiance that seemed to weave threads around our hearts, binding us to one another. It was inexplicable.

This girl. She was out of this world, from an entirely different dimension. No woman deserved to suffer through such horrors, but she hadn’t let it break her. Instead, it had strengthened her. I admired her strength despite not knowing her entire story, yet I couldn’t wait to hear about her afflictions so that she would no longer have to grasp onto them alone.

“You don’t have to carry your burdens in solitude any longer.”

“Why’s that?” she asked.

“Because they are mine now too.”

A genuine grin caused her rosy lips to move upward, and I made it my life’s mission to continue seeing her smile like that.

“I think he broke my glasses,” I said, breaking the silence that engulfed us.