I never was one to go to others when I needed help. I find it weak and like you are crying for attention. But today, today was different.
I knocked on the door of my next door neighbor's house and waited anxiously for a response while I continuously checked behind me to make sure he wasn't following me. It seemed like it took forever for that door to open, but as soon as it did I let out the breath that I hadn't realized I had been holding. "Can I help you?" a teenage boy maybe three or four years older than me asked as he opened the door.
"Oh umm…yeah…can I please use your bathroom? I'm locked out of my house and it's that time of the month, if you know what I mean." I lied. His face turned from confused to uncomfortable as soon as I said that and he let out an awkward cough before opening the door wider and stepping out of the way so that I was able to walk inside. "Thank you." I said as I looked around for the bathroom. It took him a moment to realize that I had no idea where it was, but as soon as he did he led me into a room down the hall.
"Take as long as you need." I gave him a smile as thanks as he left the room, shutting the door behind him. As soon as he was gone I pulled off my jacket revealing a rather large cut coming from my forearm. I winced in pain as I took off my shirt and pants revealing about ten more cuts and at least three bruises that were already beginning to form. I threw my clothes in a pile on the floor as I turned the water on and grabbed some toilet paper, beginning to try and wash up as many cuts as possible. The cuts that seemed to hurt the most to clean up were the deep gash on the side of my face and my split lip. I knew I was going to need to get some stitches to take care of those, but I wasn't sure how I would get to the hospital to do it. Looking at myself in the mirror, I was surprised that the boy didn't ask about the cuts that were visible even with my jacket and jeans on. I knew I was going to have to come up with some sort of story since I obviously couldn't tell anyone the truth. I looked through the drawers and cabinet in the bathroom to see if there were any band-aides, but had no luck. I wiped off all my cuts one more time before starting to put my clothes back on when there was a knock on the door.
"Just a second" I called out. I finished putting my clothes on, made sure all the toilet paper was flushed down the toilet and as many of my cuts and bruises were hidden before opening the door.
"umm, who are you and what happened to your face?" a boy who looked my age asked me as I came face to face with him in the doorway.
"I'm Joyce and don't you think it is a bit rude to ask someone what is wrong with their face? I happen to think I have a lovely face thank you very much." I pushed past him and started walking towards to the door. "Thank you for letting me uses your bathroom." I said to the boy who answered the door who was now sitting on the couch watching TV.
"You know that is not what I mean Joyce. Why is your face cut up?" The boy had followed me from the bathroom and had now grabbed my wrist to stop me from leaving. Luckily he was behind me or he would have seen my face tighten as he grabbed the exact place I happened to have a rather large bruise.
"Not that it is any of your business but I dropped my glasses and they broke and since I cannot see very well without them I accidentally ran into a tree when I was walking home and a branch cut my face." I lied as turned to him and pulled my glasses out of my pocket showing him how they had actually broken. He nodded accepting the lie I had just told him.
"So why did you come use our bathroom?" he asked me causing me to roll my eyes as I put my glasses back into my pocket and crossed my arms. This boy needed to learn to stop asking so many questions.
"You sure do ask a lot of questions." I said to him, completely ignoring his question. When he didn't say anything I knew that he wasn't going to just drop that question.
"Like I told your brother over there, at least I'm assuming he is your brother sense you both seem to look alike; at least I think you look alike, I can't really tell without my glasses. Anyway, as I told him, I am locked out of my house and I needed to use the restroom. Now if you will please excuse me, I really should be going." I didn't give him time to even process what I had just said before I was out the door and walking down the street. I walked past my house and towards the park a few houses down, trying to think of a way I could get to the hospital to get my lip stitched up. I knew I could either walk there even though that would take me at least five hours, or go back to the boys house and ask for a ride since I already told them that I was locked out of my house. I knew the only logical choice out of the two options was to go ask for a ride; so, I pushed aside my views on asking for help and made my way back to the house.