-Chapter 1-

Epilogue

He abuses her. He treats her like dirt. He almost never lets her out of his sights. He makes her deal with him every single day.

This is Serena's story. It's about how she was consistently abused by her boyfriend. His name was Seiya. He was always there. Whenever the wind blew...

"I-I'm so sorry... It won't happen again." Serena lifted her hand to touch the bruise on her face. After this, she went to the arcade, the one place she was allowed to be alone. But... Then she'd have to face Darien. She'd much rather him be her boyfriend than Seiya. But she didn't have a choice in the matter. Seiya would never let her leave... And besides, she was too scared to leave. She'd tried once already and he'd hunted her down and she got the beating of a lifetime. Actually, if she was ever able to leave, she'd never date again. With good reason behind it, too. Seiya was evil. Anything and anyone could make him snap at anytime. And when he snapped, there was no telling what would happen because he usually took out his anger on her.

"Well, next time, I want you to listen! I specifically said I wanted eggs without toast!" Seiya angrily yelled. "Worthless girl! What don't you understand about 'without'?!"

"I said I'm sorry! It'll never happen again! I promise!"

"Then I'll hold you to that promise! Now, go to the arcade!"

"Y-Yes, Seiya! Right away!"

Serena rushed out the door in an attempt to avoid being hit again. She always had bruises, so it was no shocker to see a brown, black, blue, or purple mark on her cheek or face or anywhere, for that matter. Serena knew for a fact that her friends worried about this, but she just smiled and passed it off as her being a klutz and tripping on hard concrete.

Her friends knew better than to believe this, though. They all knew she was clumsy, but there were far too many bruises for her to have fallen that many times.

Serena finally reached her sanctuary. Seiya hated arcades, so he never went inside one. This special place was the one place she could be safe from him. Her home was no longer available. She'd been forced to live with him for the past few months.

She walked in with a smile on her face. It wasn't a matter of being happy, it was solely a matter of fooling everyone else in the arcade that she was fine. But in fact, she wasn't. She needed help to get out of Seiya's grip. And the bad part was, she knew it. She was just way too afraid to admit it.

"Oh, hey, Serena! Did you trip again? That looks like a pretty nasty bruise." Andrew said. He, too, was concerned. He knew her too well to believe her lies about how she fell on steps or sidewalks or whatever else she could come up with.

"Oh! Um, it's nothing! I just fell and hit a building, that's all!" she answered.

"Okay, then. Whatever you say." Andrew worridly said.

Serena turned to go sit at her normal booth. All her friends were waiting for her.

"Hey, guys! I'm sorry I'm late! You see, I tripped and hit-"

"No!" Lita sternly shouted.

"Huh?"

"I said, 'No!'" she repeated.

"No... No what?"

"We aren't going to believe you anymore. We weren't born yesterday! We know something's up, Serena! You've just been hiding it."

"Yeah. We all know you're a klutz, but not even you can possibly fall every day! And you wouldn't hit yourself hard enough to create a bruise!" Amy agreed.

"If something's wrong, you need to tell us what it is! We can help!" Mina chimed.

"Yeah, meatball-head. Where'd you get that bruise from? And don't tell us you tripped." Rei demanded.

"..." Serena was speechless by everyone's outburst.

"Well? We're waiting." Lita pressed.

"...Do... Do you promise not to tell anyone else?"

"Sure, fine! Just tell us already!"

"I got it... From... Seiya..." she said after a few minutes of silence. She felt scared but relieved that she finally told someone.

After a few seconds it sunk in and the girls realized what their friend was talking about. "S-Seiya? You mean your boyfriend?"

Serena nodded her head, wondering what they'd think of her now that they knew her little secret.

"But... He seemed so nice." Amy timidly wondered aloud.

Serena looked down, trying to keep her tears at bay.

"Well, if he hits you, why don't you leave him?" Rei boldly asked.

Andrew could hear muttering coming from their table, but couldn't exactly understand what they were saying.

"Because... I can't. I've tried once, but..."

Lita pulled Serena into the woman's bathroom. The rest of the group followed, not knowing what Lita was up to.

"When they got far enough in there and they made sure no one else was in there or listening to them, Lita clarified what she was doing, "If he hit you once, I know he did it again!"

"Well... He might've... But he didn't really hit me that much."

"Where else did he hit you?!" Amy said, obviously concerned for her friend's health.

"Nowhere! It's nothing, really!" She should've expected them to act like this...

"Why do you feel like you have to lie to us all the time?!" Mina pushed.

Should've known she couldn't get anything past Mina... She sighed.

"Alright. I'll show you..." Serena turned around and lifted up the back of her shirt.

Everyone gasped in horror.

In the middle of her back was a huge, blue bruise. It looked like he'd hit her severely enough to break her back.

"How could he do this to you?!" Rei furiously yelled.

"I-I... He shoved me against a wall, okay?" She said as she put her shirt back down.

"And you're living with this guy?!"

"Yes..."she answered quietly.

"Why didn't you tell us?!"

"I was scared..."