L
lxngdon
Guest
Original poster
l a u r e n
Lauren opened her eyes when Anderson entered the car. She was still trembling with tears, her face red, but she wasn't scared of him. She may have been scared of him in the moment, but that fear was gone now, and now she was just shaken. And her shoulder hurt, but that wasn't the problem.
"No, I - I'm sorry," she stuttered. She had made him feel bad because she was crying, even if he had done what he had done to defend her. He was the opposite of her father. "I f - freaked out -- it's just -- y - you just l - looked like my f - father."
Lauren hadn't meant to say it. She had been sworn to secrecy by her dad, but when the words left her lips, they were followed by another burst of uncontrollable sobs and she sunk back into the seat of the car. God, it felt so good to get that off her chest, so good that she couldn't hold it back anymore.
"H - He's so h - horrible to me," she whimpered. "H - He's hit me my wh - whole life. He b - broke my arm last year, h - he puts c - cigarettes out on my sk - skin. A - and he's always so angry -- h - he got into some t - trouble with some d - drug dealers in New Orleans, that's w - w - why we had to m - move. He's b - been worse s - since then."
Lauren used her shaky hands to reach down and tug out the bottom of her blouse, from where it was tucked into her skirt. She then lifted it up, revealing the splotchy bruises on her abdomen. They were in the process of healing, and it was evident that it had only happened recently. The skin spanning from the tops of her hips almost to her bra was covered in the bruises.
And she showed Anders all of it.
"H - H - He did that the n - night I c - came home with the dress," she whispered. Lauren wanted to close her eyes, but she forced them to stay open to watch Anderson's reaction.