Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Stella POV
“STELLA, STELLA!?. Are you ok?” I could hear my friend calling my name as I felt this pounding in my head. Things were spinning like crazy, and all I could see were blurry images of people looking down at me and whispering to each other.
I tried to stand up but stumbled right back down. My friend wrapped her arm around mine as she set me down gently. “What the hell just happened?” I asked. “You just fell down a flight of stairs, you big clutts, are you ok? Your head is bleeding?” Bree tells me.
Bree has been my best friend since middle school. She knows more about me than my mother. When she moved from Kentucky down to Texas, we instantly clicked. She was the only one who understood what it was like to be in an abusive relationship with their parents. Her father was an abusive drunk, and her mom was always out with other men. When her mom was home, she stayed in her bedroom, getting high. We did everything together and stayed away from our homes as much as possible. She became the sister I never had and the rock that held me up most days. We moved in together right out of high school mainly to be there for each other and save money, as we are both putting ourselves through college. We both knew we had to do this on our own to better our lives.
My mom was stuck in a revolving door of men coming in and out my whole life. My real dad died of a car crash when I was just 6. Most of these men she would meet at the local bar. She would bring them home, sleep with them a few times, get the shit beat out of her, and they would toss her out with the trash. The problem was, I was beaten just as badly as my mother. She wouldn’t defend me at all and would blame me for everything that happened to her. I haven’t spoken to or seen her in 8 years when she ran off with her latest loser.
“You really should go to the campus nurse, your head looks bad.” Bree told me as we walked down the hallway next to the main office. “I’ll be fine, I just need to go back to the apartment and get it cleaned up. Don’t worry, the head just bleeds a lot” I said. “Plus the last thing I need is someone else worrying about me.”
One of my professors saw the whole thing and came over to see if I was ok. “That was a pretty good fall. Do you need help walking to the nurse?” Professor Walker was a young, tall, and handsome man with a very chiseled body. I can’t say that I haven’t fantasized about what it would be like to be under that rock-hard body. “Um, no, thank you, Professor, I’m fine.” I could feel my cheeks getting hot. He reached out and put his hand on my back, and a hot wave came over me. I wanted to feel those hands all over my body. “Thank you for your concern. I’m just going to head home.” I had to find a way to get away from him before I jumped him right here in the hallway.
Most of the people have I have come into contact with throughout my life have always acted as if they cared for me. I usually get too involved and too attached, and they end up breaking my heart, using me or discarding me like trash. I promised myself when my mom left, I wouldn’t end up like her.
It was my senior year of college. My goal is to get my degree in Child Therapy and get the hell out of here before anyone figures out how broken I am.
Bree and I sat in the hallway on a bench next to the office. “I’ll take you home if you want me to?” We always rode to school together. Most days our classes were at the same time. The other days we would hang out in the library until it was time for our class. “No, it’s fine, you have more classes, and I don’t want you skipping them for me,” I told her putting my head back on the wall behind me. ” I don’t mind, really. I can explain to my professors what happened.” She said, looking at me with concern. “I’m pretty sure the whole campus knows what happened at this point.” I chuckled a little, and a sharp pain went through my head. I winced and moaned as I put my hand over my eyes.
“I will have Aaron come get me instead of going to my other classes. I’ll just have him take me to the apartment so I can get cleaned up. What time is your last class over today?” I asked Bree as we walked out the doors to the parking lot. “5:30, do you think you will still want to go out after?” She asked me.
“I’ll be fine, I’ve taken worse hits.” I cringed at the memory that flashed through my mind as I said that. She smiled sadly at me, knowing what I meant. “Ok, I love ya, see you soon.” She hugged me and went on her way. I got out my phone and texted Aaton asking if he was able to come and pick me up from school. I felt my phone buzz and looked at the message from him. “Seriously! Fuck, Stella, I’m a little busy, but I will drop what I’M doing and do whatever you want me to.” Ugh, I hated when he talked to me like that. Man, I sure wanted to tell him off and explain how much pain I was in, but I just responded with “Thank you, love you” not wanting to deal with his attitude today.
Aaron wasn’t always the kindest person or the most patient either, but he’s my normal, and I don’t know that I want to find out what would happen if I told him I wanted to break up. So I stick with it and block out the unpleasant moments.
I went back into the building and went to the bathroom to look at the damage. I stood there for a few minutes staring at myself in the mirror. There was a gash on my hairline above my right eye. Blood had made its way all down the side of my head. Several girls had come into the bathroom, and after seeing the blood, they would ask if I was ok. I told them thank you, and I was fine. I quickly wiped the blood that I could off and walked outside for some fresh air. I didn’t want anyone else asking if I was ok.
About 20 mins later, I see Aaron’s car pull around the corner of the parking lot. Speeding up to where I was and slamming on his breaks, making the most horrible squealing sounds. He wanted to make sure I knew how pissed he was and how inconvenient it was for him to leave work.
He was the boss of his own business and could do as he pleased, but he often wanted to make me feel as though he would be ‘in trouble’ if he had to leave for some reason. He inherited the company from his father when he decided he didn’t want to work and wanted to travel the world. Ever since then, he had completely changed. He went from this fun-loving and outgoing person to someone angry and possessive.
We have been together for about 9 years. We met my sophomore year of high school and instantly clicked. We were both in sports and loved the same foods. We knew we would be together forever. He was there for me when my mom ran off, and he made me feel safe. That all changed about two years ago. It started with fights and yelling, but it quickly turned to me having to cover up the bruises. The worst moment was when he put me in the hospital. He got way too upset about a text I got from a classmate. He promised me that he would change and that it was just a weak moment.
I got in the car, and he wouldn’t even look at me. We drove silently the whole way to the apartment. Once he pulled up in front, he finally spoke to me. “Do you realize how inconvenient it is for me to just leave work, Stella? Unlike you, I have a real shit to take care of.” I looked over at him with tears in my eyes, “Oh seriously Stella, you’re going to act like that again? All I ever do is shit you want me to do. I’m getting really tired of always being at your call and I ha...” “STOP IT!” I finally found my voice and screamed at him. He just looked at me with shock. “Do you have any clue what happened to me today?” I yelled at him. “See that’s what I mean, always about you.” I turned my head so that he could see the large gash on my head. “I fell down the stairs, and my head is killing me ok?” “Well, you were probably checking out some other guy, you stupid whore.” By this point, I was crying.
“FUCK YOU, WE’RE DONE,” I screamed, but as soon as I finished my last word, a hot sting ran across my face, and suddenly I could taste blood. “Look what you made me do, shit Stella, I’m sorry.” He reached over for me, but I jumped out of the car as fast as I could. I could hear the car door close behind me, and I started running up the stairs. “STELLA! I’M SORRY! STOP!” I quickly unlocked my door, ran inside, and slammed it shut right as he was approaching the top of the stairs. I pushed my back against the door and slid down to the floor, crying uncontrollably. He started banging on the door yelling. “Stella, open this door right now!” He stood there quiet for a minute before I heard him speak again. “Fine, you want to play this game. You will be crawling back to me tomorrow, just like always.”
After a while, he finally left and started down the stairs. I watched out my window as he got in his car and sped off.
I turned on the bathwater and just let the bubbles take over. I sat there for about 30 minutes crying and yelling about everything that bastard put me through. I got out of the bath, got dressed, and laid down on the bed.
A few minutes after I had laid down, I heard this loud knock on the door. I looked through the peephole and saw it was Aaron. He was visibly upset and asked for just a second to explain himself. “Please, Stella, I can’t think to lose you.” I started to unlock the door and was going to tell him to fuck off, but he punched the door open so hard it threw me backward.
He grabbed a hold of my neck picking me up off the ground and slammed me into the wall. “Aaron, your hurting me, please, stop.” I tried to say while his grip tightened around my neck. He threw me down to the ground, went towards the kitchen, and grabbed a knife off the counter. I ran to the bedroom, hoping I could get there and lock the door before he could reach me. He kicked the door open, breaking it off the hinge. He grabbed me by the hair and threw me to the bed. He climbed on top of me with the knife to my neck. “I told you that you were mine.” Be brought the knife up came down into my collar bone. I screamed out in pain.
“STELLA, wake up. You’re having another nightmare.” I jumped up with a panic feeling over my body and looked around the room for him. I reached up to my collar bone and felt the long jagged scar he had left behind.
