Right then, John seemed to sober up and realize what he’d done. When he saw Laura crying on the floor, he knelt down and started apologizing his ass off.
“Oh my God, baby, what have I done? Are you okay?” He asked.
“No, I’m not okay.” Laura said and got up off the floor.
“Here, let me help you.” John said and grabbed her other arm gingerly.
Laura flinched away from him and said, “No – don’t touch me.”
Laura went upstairs to the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and broke down crying again. ‘This isn’t the first time he’s done this,’ She thought to herself. ‘I dealt with it last time, I can do it again.’ She saw that she had a cut on her forehead from where she hit the wall. She got out the peroxide and cleaned it. She knew that this wasn’t going to be the last time John came home drunk and did something stupid. She could only hope it would be a while before it happened again.
She finished cleaning her cut and put a bandaid on it. She went downstairs and saw John sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. His brown hair was all over the place.
“John…” she began. “I can’t live like this. You need to stop drinking. You are 23 years old, you can control it.”
John looked blank.
“I can’t take any more abuse. I just can’t.” Laura broke down and started crying. “You have to promise me that you’ll stop drinking, okay?”
Laura looked at John. He had almost no expression on his face. She wasn’t about to give up. She loved him, and she had faith that he could stop.
“John, look at me.” Laura said and took his face in her hands. “I know that you can stop drinking. I believe in you. Now promise me.”
John looked up at Laura and said “I promise. I promise I will never hurt you again.”
“Okay” Laura said. “I think, for tonight, you should just sleep down here. I need some time to think, okay?”
“Alright. I’ll go get my stuff.” John said.
“Okay.” Laura said and breathed a sigh of relief. “I love you,” she said as he climbed up the stairs. She didn’t hear a reply.
Laura went upstairs and thought for a long time. She decided she had to talk to someone. She knew neither of her sisters would be home, they lived in LA, the time difference meant they’d be either in school or working. And she really didn’t feel like making a long-distance call right now. She debated for a few hours whether to call AJ or not. She didn’t know if it would feel right. By the time she had decided, it was after 10pm, and she thought it was too late to call. She picked up her journal and started to write. She wrote about everything – the rehearsal, AJ, the argument, and the abuse. ‘This won’t be the last time he does it, even though he said he’d stop.’ Laura wrote. ‘I’ll talk to AJ tomorrow. Good Night.’ With that, she got into bed and turned off her light.
