I think too much anyway.
Moonlight shone in brightly through the window, lighting his way to the kitchen. The linoleum was cold under his bare feet as he trudged to the refrigerator half asleep.
His mind was on Amara though and the scene in the hallway. She look terrified and all because something brushed her leg? There's got to be somethig more, Amara's strong, a lot stronger that she was in that hallway, he thought as he pulled out some orange juice. It always made him fall asleep when he was younger, a glass of orange juice. I'm odd...
Down the hall he heard a soft thud. Stopping mid-drink, he put down the cup and walked out through the living room to the end of the hall and listened. He heard nothing else. Suspicious now he began to walkd down the hall still listening for any sounds of movement. He passed the bathroom and the closet on his left and ended at Amara's door.
"Amara?" He knocked. No answer came so he quietly pushed open the door and peeked in. Amara was asleep in the bed curled up in a ball, whimpering slightly.As he took a closer look, he could see she was still asleep. Bad dream, that's all. Her window was open though, the curtains billowing in the breeze, He padded over to it and shut it tightly, locking it to make double sure, then went over to the side of Amara's bed. Reaching down he took hold of the blanket and pulled it up around her. She looked so serene as he leaned down to kiss her cheek.
"NNNOOO! Get off me! NO!"
Daniel flew back and grabbed his face with his hands. Amara, in the middle of her bed, began thrashig and screaming at some unknown assailant. The wall came up behind Daniel fast and he sank to the floor in pain. He caught his breath and stood up, trying to get through to her over her yells. The darkness of the room didn't make it any better though, she couldn't see who it was. Daniel, still holding his face, searched along the wall for the switch. He found it and flipped it up. Amara shrieked again.
Damn, she's hysterical! He ran to her, grabbed hold of her arms and shook her hard. She continued to scream in his ear making him more frusterated. Not wanting to do it, he struck her across the face.
She stopped then her eyes wide and staring at him as if seeing him for the first time."Daniel? What are you doing in here? I thought you were...," she squinted her eyes a little and looked at his face more closely, "what happened to your face? Did I do that?"
He put his left hand back up to his face and pulled it away. It came back with blood. Amara, in her thrashing, had scratched him. Damn, he thought. He let go of her and walked out of her room and into the bathroom. The relection in the mirror showed three long scratch marks down his cheek. Below the sink he searched for a bandage to put on for the night. After a few minutes, he finally got it on and walked out to the kitchen to finish his drink. Outside the door in the hall, he looked down towards Amara's room. The door was still open and the light was on. Amara was sitting on her bed rocking back and forth. He debated on whether or not to go talk to her but decided against it. In the kitchen he stood beside the table and swallowed the rest of his orange juice in one gulp. He put it in the sink and turned around. Amara stood before him, her eyes red and swollen. They looked at each other for a moment. He stared at her eyes and clearly saw fear in them, but also shame.
"He raped me you know?"
His eyes widened in shock and confusion, as he stared at her standing before him. "What do you mean...?" He trailed off as she broke down. He stood frozen for a second, looking at her weeping in front of him, before walking over and helping her up into a chair. Her breath was ragged as she tried to breath and talk in between crying.
He went to the stove and put on the kettle and retreived two cups from the cabinet. It's going to be a long night...
"Ouch! Watch it, it's hot." Daniel warned placing a cup in front of her. She took it quietly and swallowed some of the coffee, then put it back on the table.
"All right. I am in total, utter bewilderment here. Who raped you and when? Why for that matter?"
Her eyes looked up at him and he felt his heart being wrenched. Clearly this was bad. Her hands shook as she wrapped them tighter around her legs and began. "It was last year, during Christmas. I had starting dating Alan," she paused at the confused look on Daniel's face, "my recently ex-boyfriend. But I had just started dating him and Jesse was...well he was odd about it. Always making snide remarks about him whenever he came up in our conversations, glaring at him when me and Alan happened to meet him, everything. He kept warning me that something wasn't right about Alan. That he was wired wrong or something."
"What do you mean?" Daniel asked.
"He never really went into it, never explained." She paused for a drink. "He just always insisted I should stop seeing him. But the only thing that was wrong with Alan was he was a jerk." Daniel chuckled softly at this. "Turned out though...Jesse was the one who had something wrong." She blinked to clear her eyes.
Daniel stared at her waiting for her to continue. He was on the edge of his seat looking at her face. She didn't meet his stare and instead brought her shaking hands up to wipe away an escaped tear.
"He uh,.....he was drunk and uh..." she ws crying openly now, and taking a deep breath before speaking again. "He was drunk and he came to my apartment. I could smell it on him so I told him to go home and sleep it off. But he forced his way in. I tried to push him out but he stood firm and started saying all this shit about me being a stupid whore and how....I don't remember half of it. I didn't know what he meant. Then he took me into..into my room and he..he..." The sobs in her throat cut her off and she stopped talking. Daniel reached for her and she leaned forward into his arms, where he held her as she cried in anger and shame, her head resting on his shoulder. I'll kill him, he thought. This is fucking unbelievable.
Amara quieted some in his arms and he loosened his embrace, letting her sit up straight. He looked at her hard again and realized something. "But what did Jesse mean the other night? During Truth or Dare?"
"His friend Mark something or other, was a heavy drug dealer and Jesse lived with him. Jesse had always done drugs but not really heavily you know? Anyway, some deal was supposed to happen and Mark didn't want Jesse to go. Jesse got pissed and threatened to tell the cops. Well Mark couldn't have that so he pulled a gun on him and told him that if he did, he wouldn't live long enough to get out of the apartment. I don't know everything else after that, just that Jesse came here looking to stay for a while and I told him to leave. All about three weeks after he..."
Daniel squeezed her arm reassuringly. "I know, I know. Go on."
"So I told him to leave and he did. Then the calls came. He wanted me to take him in so they wouldn't find him, stop him from ratting them out. He said I owed it to him for some reason or other. But in the end they found him and so did the cops. He got arrested and wanted me to bail him out. I left him there, I wanted him to rot in jail for what he did to me. And he did. For the next four years. After he came out he was different, really different. He swore to me he was changed and sorry for what he did." She scoffed. "I believed him."
Daniel stared at her in disbelief. He had always known she was hding something, but this? This was crazy. This stuff only happened in the movies or books. She looked back at him, her eyes red rimmed and puffy. No, he thought, it happened, but not again. I won't let it.
He opened his mouth to speak but Amara spoke first. "Thank you." She whispered.
"For what?" He asked laughing.
"For being here, with me andhelping me. I really appreciate it. You don't even know me that well and yet you've stayed with me during the night and gave me someone to confide in. I've been carrying that around for so long."
"You mean, no one else knows? Lori? Kendra?" She shook her head at each name. "No, no one. I was too ashamed."
Damn Amara, it wasn't your fault! It was his." She looked down suddenly. Daniel reached out and gently lifted her head up. "Don't forget that."
She nodded with fresh tears pouring down. Daniel grinned and she leaned forward suddenly, hugging him tightly. He returned it just as much and he put his head on her shoulder. After a while he noticed she had grown quiet and her breathing had returned to normal. He looked down to see she had fallen back asleep against his chest, her eye lashes resting on her face. He scooped her up softly, so as not to wake her, and carried her back to her room. Inside, he placed her in her bed and wrapped his arms around her
