Beloved

The sun shone brightly and the wind blew the grass gently around her where she lay with her eyes closed serenely.  This was her favorite place, here all her problems were forgotten and she could escape the noise.  Her lips curved slightly into a peaceful smile, here she could pretend she was happy.  She sighed as reality forced itself into her mind reminding her that she was supposed to meet Jake for her date.  She opened her eyes and slowly sat up.  Crying out in shock as she looked at a nearby tree and saw a man leaning against it.  She stood and demanded, “Who are you? How long have you been there?”  He smiled and taking a step towards her replied, “I was taking a walk and stumbled upon you, I haven't been here long.  I'm sorry to have disturbed you.”  “No,” she said “you have no need to be sorry.  You just startled me that's all, I'm not used to seeing other people around here.  I should go, I'm running late.  Bye”  He smiled, “Pleasure to meet you.”  She walked away quickly, taking out her cell to check the time. “Fuck, I'm going to be late.” she sighed.

Two hours later she sat at Suzy's diner, pushing around the food she wasn't in the mood for.  Sitting across from her was her boyfriend Jake.  The diner was mostly empty except for a few men sitting at the counter.  She and Jake sat at their usual booth in the corner, a view of the street out the window next to them.  One of the florescent lights flickered slightly and the smell of grease was thick in the air.  Seemingly oblivious to her unhappy state Jake babbled on about something that she didn't care to hear about.  The bitter stench of old coffee filled her nose and she looked around and discovered that the booth next to theirs obviously hadn't been cleaned in quite awhile.  An abandoned coffee cup, the likely source of the disagreeable smell, sat on the table next to a half eaten burger.  The ugly green colored seat beneath her was ripped and faded.  Their table tilted slightly and someone had carved their initials into it near where the salt and pepper shakers sat now sat.  Suddenly Jake stopped and waving his hand in front of her face said, “Yo, earth to Kira.  You're not even listening to me are you?”  When she didn't immediately answer he rolled his eyes, “Alright Kira maybe we should head back to my place.”  That got her attention and her brain scrambled for an excuse so she wouldn't have to go with him to his place.  He stood, paid at the counter and waited expectantly near her.  Finally she gave up and stood as well, unable to think of a valid excuse to escape him.  He wrapped his arm around her and they walked to his car.  As they drove she stared out the window, wishing to be anywhere else.  They arrived at his apartment and as soon as he closed the door behind them he pulled her to him and kissed her.  She stiffened at his touch and closed her eyes.  Jake's apartment wasn't very big, he never bothered to clean before she came over and she could smell old pizza and beer coming from the living room nearby.  She felt nothing for Jake, she never really had.  She knew he only had one motivation for being with her and she hated letting him use her like that, yet she did nothing about it.  He pulled off her shirt, running his hand over her stomach and kissed her neck.  She shivered involuntarily as he undid her bra then led her to the bedroom.

The next morning she pushed his arm off her and rolled out of his bed.  The only window in the room was open letting in a slight breeze and the dirty curtain hanging over it blew around.  Quickly gathering her clothes off his cold wooden floor and getting dressed before he woke up.  She glanced at herself in the mirror on his closet door and sighed deciding she didn't care.  She left his apartment and took a cab back to hers.  She closed the door and leaned against it for a moment, letting a single tear fall down her cheek.  She went to her room, her bed was made neatly and she found herself trying to remember the last time she had actually slept in it.  Taking off her clothes from the night before she walked to the bathroom and turned on the shower.  She was about to step under the water when her phone rang.  She sighed, wrapped a towel around herself and went to get the phone.  She recognized the number immediately and for a moment she considered not answering.  Eventually she did and frowned as the person on the other end spoke.  “No, Jake.  I just needed to get home so I could take a shower before work.”  She paused listening to his answer before saying goodbye and hanging up.  She went back to the bathroom, took off the towel and stepped under the hot water.  She sighed and closed her eyes as the water gently washed over her.  After her shower she grabbed a energy drink from the fridge and hurried to her car.

Traffic was bad and she was late as she rushed into her work.  She quickly pulled her uniform vest over her shirt and punched in.  Her manager greeted her with his usual smile and wink as she walked past him.  An hour later she found herself standing at the register staring off into space as she waited for customers.  Eastern Market was a small locally owned grocery store that paid minimum wage and would hire pretty much anybody.  They didn't get many customers as they were in a bad part of town and Kira often wondered how they were still in business.  There were only a few aisles in the crowded store and the back wall was covered with refrigerator that held the cold drinks.  The floor was tasteless black and white checkers and the walls were white and peeling.  The ceiling had several spots that leaked constantly and the buckets that sat underneath smelled of stale water.  Kira was so lost in daydreams that when a customer did walk up it took her a few minutes to notice.  Lucky for her he wasn't their usual sort of customer and he waited patiently.  When she snapped back to reality she apologized to the customer several times while scanning his items.  He just smiled and told her to have a nice day and left with his groceries.  Several hours passed until the next customer came in and this time he was more like their usual customers.  Eastern Market was one of the only places in the area that sold alcohol.  This customer was obviously already drunk as he reached over the counter and tried to touch her.  She easily dodged his hand and plastering on her best fake smile she said, “Sir, you've paid and have your groceries, please leave.”  He responded by grunting and walking away.  The rest of the day passed excruciatingly slow and when her shift was finally about to end her manager walked up to her with a look that screamed danger.  “Larry called in.  Apparently he's having some kind of 'family emergency',” he said tracing out quotation marks in the air and rolling his eyes.  “I need you to cover his shift.”  He obviously wasn't giving her much choice so she just sighed and told him it wasn't a problem.  By the time she could go home it was dark out and not having gotten much sleep the night before she was exhausted.  She got into her car and cried out in frustration when it wouldn't start.  She tried to start it several times before finally giving up.  Her apartment was a good couple hours away on foot and walking through this area of town at night wasn't the least bit safe.  She wasn't afraid though and started walking.  After about an hour and a half of walking Kira realized she was completely lost.  She looked around herself and found she was in the worst part of town.  She hadn't realized how out of shape she was, she made a mental note to find the time to work out more while trying to figure out how to get home.  Suddenly the air around her seemed to change and she immediately focused on her surroundings.  Out of nowhere a hand grabbed her, dragging her into the dark alley nearby.  How cliché.  She thought briefly as she was thrown to the ground.  She scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could.  Unfortunately she didn't get very far as she ran into a very tall wall.  She spun around to face her pursuer and saw nothing but darkness.  Her heart beat loudly in her ears as she held her breath.  Panic started to set in as the dark shape of a man appeared in front of her.  Her eyes were wide as she searched the darkness in front of her, desperately seeking an escape.  As he got closer she could just barely make out his features which were twisted into what was most likely a smile.  “mmm so pretty.”  he said.  Her hands shook and she struggled to stay upright as her legs went weak with fear.  “Leave me alone.”  She squeaked.  He laughed and in one swift movement struck her with a hard pipe of some kind.  More dark figures emerged from the darkness as once again he threw her to the ground.  Again he hit her and the other dark figures kicked her.  She closed her eyes tightly, bracing herself against the attack.  Someone grabbed her head and slammed it into the rough, damp pavement repeatedly.  Time seemed to slow as blow after blow hit her shooting pain through her entire body until eventually she felt nothing.  It was almost as if she was just a witness to this brutal attack rather than the victim.  She watch curiously as the man with the bat made the others stop.  He handed his bat to one of them then they backed away melting into the darkness.  He tore off her bloodied shirt and ran his hands over her broken body, moving so that he was on top of her.  Her view as a witness faded as he slapped her face and she was brought back to harsh reality.  She cried out, desperately pleading to any god that would listen to save her.  It seemed one of them listened as the man was thrown off her and she was forgotten as her rescuer was attacked by the men who had disappeared into the darkness moments before.  She didn't get to find out what happened as the pain became too much and she blacked out.

It seemed her rescuer had won the fight because when she regained some consciousness she felt the strong arms of her rescuer carrying her away, her head rested against his chest and she could hear his heart beating steadily.  Her eyes struggled to focus as all she saw was a blurry face.  “No”  She rasped.  He must have stopped walking as she no longer felt movement.  “It's okay, you're safe with me.  I'm not going to hurt you” he said, obvious concern coloring his voice.  “No hospital. Please.” she pleaded.  Not able to wait for his answer she once again let the darkness claim her, putting her trust in the mysterious man who had saved her.

She had no idea how long she had been out as she finally regained consciousness.  She kept her eyes closed trying to remember what had happened.  She was currently laying on a very comfortable bed covered in soft, warm blankets.  She breathed in and was met with the pleasant smell of clean linens and cologne.  The gentle warmth of the sun caressed her face and a slight cool breeze whispered across her face.  If it weren't for the throbbing pain in her head she would have wondered if she was in some kind of pleasant dream world.  She opened her eyes and looked around the foreign room.  The walls were a soft blue, the window nearby where the sun was coming from was draped in a clean white curtain.  Her eyes continued roaming the room, noting the painting of a grinning child surround by a field of sunflowers.  There was a dresser with several pictures of various people on top of it and finally her eyes rested on the sleeping man sitting in a chair by the bed.  His eyes were closed peacefully and something in her memory stirred.  He looked familiar but she couldn't quite place it.  He seemed to be dreaming and nothing else existed as she watched him.  She didn't know him but for some reason her heart skipped a beat when he smiled in his sleep.  Suddenly she felt guilty for watching him so intently and she looked up at the ceiling.  Every part of her hurt, just breathing seemed to intensify the pain.  She freed one of her hands from the blankets and was about to touch her face to see how bad it was when suddenly a hand grabbed her arm gently stopping her movement.  “I wouldn't do that if I were you, might hurt quite a bit.”  The voice immediately calmed her from the initial shock of her arm being grabbed.  She turned and looked at the origin of the voice, the man who she still couldn't place from her memory was looking at her.  His face which had been peaceful from sleep moments ago was now filled with concern.  He didn't let go of her arm as he continued, “You were hurt quite badly and against my better judgment I didn't take you to the hospital, like you wanted.”  She closed her eyes briefly “Thank you,” she opened her eyes and looked into his deep brown ones, “not only for not taking me to the hospital but for saving my life.  Thank you.”  He let go of her arm and leaned back into his chair not breaking eye contact with her.  She yawned and was surprised at how tired she was.  “You've been through a lot.  Close your eyes and sleep.  Everything will be okay, you are safe.”  He said soothingly.  Though her mind was still buzzing with unasked questions she was exhausted and allowed herself to listen to him falling asleep easily.