Realism Fan Fiction ❯ White lies ❯ Pain ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

White Lies:Chapter Three

“Don't forget Brat, do not leave this house!” Growled an angry Chris as he slammed the poorly installed door to the house, leaving to go who knows where, but it surely involved alcohol. The slam of the door left the house in a dead silence, only broken by a series of strangled sobs from Mimi, who was curled up against the marble kitchen counter. She vainly attempted to stop the onslaught of tears, watching the rays of sunlight illuminate her bowl of half-eaten cold cereal.

`Will I always have to deal with this abuse?' She thought as she wiped her cheeks free of sullen tears and sighed heavily. She glanced dejectedly at her bowl of cereal, it was futile to try and eat it all…Her appetite was long gone. The wooden chair squeaked as it was pushed along the stained hardwood floor as Mimi stood up from counter. Putting the remaining cereal back in the box from which it came, she tried to clean the kitchen the best she could. Maybe when her uncle returned he would see this as apology for the disturbance last night…If he even noticed. However, the tears clouding her vision made cleaning more than a little difficult, and she soon found herself giving and climbing the creaky stairs into her small room.

The room was nothing special, before Mimi had came into the picture the space was only used for storage…And it mostly still was. One pale green wall was covered in dusty, forgotten boxes; the other side contained a few bags of her own, a stained mattress and hospital blanket that served as her bed and a minute window seat. She flopped her tired body onto the upholstered cushions, leaned over and unlatched the dirty window opening it with some difficulty and allowing the soft morning breeze to caress her as she stared out into the world. A sigh escaped her pale pink lips once again as Mimi gazed at the morning sky, admiring how beautiful the weather was. Not one cloud dared to appear in the gorgeous sky. The birds were chirping and fluttering around carefree in their freedom. It was one of those days that it was not too cold nor too warm, just right for leaving the house and taking a walk. Staring at the bright, awaking world before her, it was no doubt, a beautiful day, a day she was not allowed to enjoy.

As she turned her attention to all the neighboring houses on her street, she watched in envy as children ran freely from house to house, chasing one another with water balloons or some creature they had found. Laughing without a care in the world, they had no one to ruin their fun, no uncle to fear.

“Oh how I wish I could exist in such a world…”

A familiar cloaked figure appeared on the street, hands shoved deep in his pockets and head looking down. It caught her attention immediately.

“Vince!” Mimi called out, relieved to see the only friend she had managed to make in this town. The relief made her uncle's rule instantly forgotten as she waved to the boy, fully catching his attention. Glancing down at the distance from the window from window to ground, Mimi decided it was not that big of a leap. In a heartbeat she had braced herself against the window's frame and jumped out the second story window.

Vince looked up at the approaching girl and gave her a look of surprise then a small smirk of recognition. Mimi was a little taken back that his face was more exposed now, she could actually point out his facial features now, including his stunning blue eyes.
“Hey Mimi, how are you?” He asked her, his voice taking on a hint of worry, but who could blame him after witnessing what he did the night previous?
“I'm good, sort of,” She said with a forced carefree smile hoping all her cuts and bruises were hidden with her dirty jeans and white t-shirt.
Vince raised an eyebrow at the girl. “What do you mean sort of, is there something wrong Mimi?” He tilted his head to look at her with more worry. Even though he was indeed worried most of his actions were only a skilled act of playing dumb.
“Oh nothing important, I…Fell down the stairs, so I'm kind of sore.” Mimi pouted and sighed. It took all of Vince's will power not to roll his eyes; she was such a terrible liar. He extended his hand to her, touching the crimson line across her right cheek.

“Looks painful…Might even scar…I have something at home that can fix that…” He said softly to her, inspecting the wound, a light blush creeping upon his cheeks, it had been years since he had last put his hands on a woman…Even if it was just a gentle caress to see a wound more clearly.

Vince's blush was mirrored on Mimi's own cheeks as she shrank away from his touch. Her own hand flew up to her cheek to check the wound for herself, she cursed herself mentally for not leaving the house without make-up…But at least he didn't seem suspicious.

“I'm horribly accident prone… I wouldn't be surprised if this scarred…But…Maybe we can stop by your house while you're showing me around this town!” She tried to turn his attention away from her markings and more on city-girl-in-a-small-town act. She was answered with a curt nod from Vince as they both turned and continued to walk down the street.

“Well, this is my shit home, mind the mess or you might end up with a few more cuts to clean up…” Vince warned as he fought with opening the old stubborn door to his home or more specifically apartment, Mimi snickering behind him. It seemed as if the entire day had been filled with that, laughter and joy. Two things that were very foreign to Vince, but glad he was able to experience at least once…Even if it was with a girl he barely knew.

Finally the door gave way, after some coaxing and a swift kick or two. Vince soon vanished within the small apartment, on the quest to find the lotion he had mentioned earlier, which left Mimi free to roam the cluttered home.

It was slightly cramped quarters, being one of the smallest apartments Mimi had ever seen. Then again she had lived in a city of skyscrapers, where it wasn't out of the ordinary to have an apartment be larger than any house, especially if you were lucky enough to grab a penthouse suite. But Vince's space only contained three rooms, but at least they seemed spacious. The front door had immediately led her into a large space, which seemed to serve as a kitchen, living room and dining room all in one. Dirty dishes filled the sink, laundry had claimed one of the two sofas in the living room portion of the room, and it had seemed as though the carpeted floor had never seen a vacuum. Somehow, this was comforting to her, it made the mysterious boy seem more…Human…

Venturing further into the room, she found the door to the backroom, which she could only assume was a bedroom. The door was half open, which in her mind meant it held no deathly secrets that would be the death of her if she ventured further.

If she had thought the front room was in disrepair, the backroom was a disaster zone. But the set up was familiar, a cramped room, single mattress serving a bed, lots of boxes. The only difference was in her room one could actually see the floor, not have clothes and a plethora of scrap paper and containers blockings one's view. But room's clutter had a theme; art supplies. Sketches covering the walls, boxes of paint sets, paint brushes and canvases stacked in corners, dry paint staining most of the clothes lining the floor, and a half dried paint pallet set on top of a box that might serve as a bedside table.

“I'm an artist…I don't think my talent is worth anything…But it keeps me busy…” His voice made her jump and yelp in surprise, a crimson blush consuming her cheeks as she spun around to see Vince. He didn't seem frustrated or annoyed that she had wandered through his place, as if his mind was too focused on finding the bottle to care. Either that or he had expected it from her.

“The few ones I've seen look really good…” She commented, glancing at some of the sketches taped to the walls. She turned back to him, smiling sheepishly. It was rude of her to just go wandering through someone's home, especially when the person was being kind enough to allow her some break from her hell. She took note that his bandana was pushed back more than usual, his eyes clearly visible. “I forgot to mention this earlier…I love your eyes…” She complimented, subconsciously taking a step closer to him to properly admire his eyes.

“Uhm Thanks…” Vince responded with a silent gulp, fear reflecting in his cerulean blue eyes. She was closer to him, closer than what was comfort for him…Or safe for her. “Here's the lotion I told you about!” He nervously shoved the bottle into Mimi's grasp, moving out of her way so she could get past him to enter the bathroom.

“Thanks…” It was Mimi's turn to raise an eyebrow at the boy. Moving past him she noticed him nearly flinch when she became almost close enough to touch him. `He's acting like I'm going to attack him or something…I suppose he has space issues…' The thought swirled around in her mind as she entered the bathroom, reading the instructions on the bottle. The bathroom was the only clean room in the house…Nothing out of place except for the abundance of shaving razors…But that was normal for any male living alone. Grabbing a facecloth, she wet it thoroughly. She managed to catch a glance at her reflection in the mirror and her breath caught in her throat. `How did he get me so bad? He only slapped me around a few times…' Curiosity of her other wounds plagued her mind until she final gave in. Vince was still in his room anyway, so he wouldn't catch her glancing at the mess Chris had made of her. Turning her back to the mirror, she lifted the back of her shirt, nearly turning green at the array of colors across her pale back. She wasn't aware that bruises could be nearly every color of the rainbow. “That's going to take a while to heal…Guess I'm not going swimming any time soon…” She muttered softly, turning her attention away from the mirror.

“He hits you right? That uncle of yours…”

Again his voice made her jump, spinning around with lightning fast speed, adjusting her shirt to hide the hideous bruise from him. But it was too late, he had seen all he needed to see, she saw it in his eyes as he leaned against the frame of the door. His arms were crossed over his chest, which was breathing heavily, as if trying to control himself from making a rash decision. His posture was almost intimidating, mostly because he looked pissed and she did not know him well enough to know how to calm him.

“Please don't play stupid with me…I know abuse when I see it…” It was the first time she had heard such a cold tone come from Vince. For once his actions actually matched his appearance.

“It isn't his fault…He got stuck with me…He wasn't ready to be put in a parent role yet…He just doesn't know how to react…It's really my fault…” She tried to sound nonchalant about the situation, as if it was a casual occurrence that she had become accustomed to. In response, Vince only shoved his hands angrily in his pockets and moved back into the depths of the apartment.

“I'm sorry…” Mimi whispered, afraid that she had upset him. She quickly finished applying the scar cream to her cut, running the water to clean up any mess she had made, and then sulked back out to the living-dining-kitchen room. Vince was waist deep in laundry and boxes, hunting for some article or another.

“What...Are you doing?” Mimi asked with a gulp, hoping her question wouldn't anger him any further. Vince did not answer her however, he simply just continued his search through the midst of boxes and linen, until he found exactly what he was looking for; a blanket.

“I'm finding an extra sheet…”

“Why is that…?”

Vince glanced up at her, most of the anger had dissipated from his eyes, having only a slightly stressed appearance about him, not the infuriating anger his body had been radiating only a few moments prior.

“Because you're not going home.”