Pain seared through her as she slowly rolled over onto her front, pushing herself up from the floor. She got to her knees and held one hand to her head, the other still firmly on the floor keeping her balanced. The room was spinning. She was dizzy. Her heart was pounding. She felt her nose begin to trickle and dismissively wiped it with her right hand. She spun herself around slightly so she was facing her desk, holding onto its edges to ease herself up from the ground. She groaned and breathed heavily; shaking uncontrollably as she used the little strength she had left in her to pull herself to a standing position. She reached across the desk to her handbag, gasping in pain, trying not to cry out loud as she moved. Blood stained the edge of her desk where her right hand had been. She was frantic. She had no rational thought. Her only thought was of home. She had to get home. She had to get home now. She tipped the contents of her bag over her desk, some spilling over the edges onto the floor alongside other objects which had been thrown from her desk only an hour or so earlier. She grabbed her car keys and slowly headed towards her office door, pain ripping through her core with each shaky step she took. Her mind was hazy, her vision slightly blurred. She had to get home. She stumbled through the school, holding onto and sliding along walls whenever her lack of balance threatened to end her mission. She made it outside. The school was empty, no cars in the car park except her own. She reached her vehicle and slid into the driver's seat crying out loud as she sat, gripping tightly onto the steering wheel. Her body was throbbing. She started the engine and headed for her sanctuary. Once she was home everything would be fine.
She pulled up outside of her house. Turning off the engine and taking out the keys; she closed her eyes and leant her head against the headrest, her breathing erratic. She reached across to open the door, swinging her legs out of the car and onto the pavement. She pulled herself up and away from the car allowing the door to close behind her. Slowly staggering up her short garden path, she made it to her front door and to the inside of her house. Her home. She needed to shower. She needed to shower and go to sleep. She was so tired. Using all of her might she pulled herself up the staircase, each of the spindles of the banister acting as a climbing aid as she passed. She made it to her bathroom. Leaning heavily against the sink she allowed herself another pause her eyes closed once again. Slowly she looked up and into the mirror which bared her reflection. Her heart stopped.
"Oh god" she gasped through sporadic breaths.
Her left eye was black and swollen almost completely shut. Her right eye was bruised and there was a small cut across her right cheek. Her lip was bleeding and slightly swollen on the left and blood was smeared from her nose across her right cheek. She looked down her reflection noticing for the first time that her shirt was completely open. Her neck and chest were scratched and bruises were beginning to form across her stomach and ribs.
She stumbled back away from the sink, her right hand covering her mouth in shock. Hitting the wall behind her she immediately turned and ran to the toilet vomiting into the bowl. She knelt on her bathroom floor, her chest heaving heavily as she gasped for air. She tried to turn towards the door and raise herself from the floor but tiredness was prevailing. She lowered herself fully to the ground, rolling onto her back, her knees bent to one side and her arms outstretched either side of her aching body. With pain wrenching through her, dizziness and exhaustion had their wicked way, slowly and sucessfully pulling her into a deep, dark unconsciousness.
