Short Story Step 1

Things would never be the same — that much was clear. How had things changed so quickly? I thought back to the day when we decided to get our own place, not even a year ago. Back when we were the epitome of happy. Love had flowed through our bodies… we could never get enough of each other, but now the tension in the room was so thick I could barely breathe. My right cheek was throbbing with so much pressure I was almost certain there would be a mark the next day. Brandon sulked in from the kitchen carrying slight regret on his shoulders with an ice pack in his hand. 

“Here use this, it should help with any swelling. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, you know I would never do anything like that on purpose,” he uttered, gesturing the ice pack to my cheek. 

“It’s fine,” I whispered aloud. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I could hear my father’s voice in the back of my mind telling me that crying was for the weak. I am not weak. Yet here I am becoming submissive to Brandon’s unnecessary outburst of anger. My mind wandered back to when I was a fiery teen, confronting my dad about his domestic violence and calling the cops without even blinking. Where was she now? I was so strong in that situation, but now that I am the one being struck, I am silent. My hands began to tremble as I slowly brought the ice pack to my tender skin. I could feel him trying to pick apart my brain, wondering what thoughts were racing through it. The only thing on my mind was that this was my reality, there is no rewind button in life and I am forever stuck with the actions that just took place. If I was being completely honest with myself, I didn’t want to face reality; this reality that I couldn’t quite wrap my head around. It was almost like being drunk. No, no it was the aftermath of being drunk, long after the hangover is gone, where your brain physically hurts to remember the past. 

“Hazel come on, talk to me. Tell me what you’re thinking about right now.” I could tell that his words were more of an order versus a plea or a question. My brain was turning into word vomit, it felt like I was having a constant battle with myself, pondering over which would be the right words to say.

“I have no idea. I’m at a loss for words at the moment. I’m not quite sure how you want me to react,” I spoke so fast that I wasn’t thinking about the words falling from my lips. My eyes went wide at the realization as my hand went up to cover my mouth with a hint of remorse. But maybe the remorse was more myself than him. As I lifted my eyes to meet his, I could see the anger softly boiling behind his emeralds. He shook his head with a tinge of disgust as he pulled at the roots of the dark brown tendrils. 

“I had no other choice, you weren’t listening to me! I was trying to get your attention and I overreacted. I’m sorry, I don’t know what else you want from me. Is that enough for you?” he scoffed. “You never understand me. You’re always stuck in your own world and never give a damn about anything going on in mine. Was I just supposed to sit there while you were being selfish? I was trying to voice my side of the story and you didn’t care.”

At this point all my sorrow was balling up into anger and I knew that escalation was the only way to handle this situation. Before I could think logically, my hand gripped the ice pack so tightly I was afraid it was going to burst just like my heart. In a blink of an eye the cold compress flew from my fingertips as I wailed it at his chest.

“Are you kidding me right now? You can never take responsibility for your actions can you? This is all my fault, I should’ve been more caring towards you and your emotions, jeez I am so beyond sorry. Is that what you want to hear? I am so sick of seeing you wear your self pity on your sleeves.” I know that my backlash was a mistake, but I was so tired of walking on eggshells around him, scared that his possible bad day could become my worst nightmare.