I'm not sure exactly what this is yet, but a huge thanks to my friends on iFunny. Roleplaying with them is where i get my inspriation for these. This is also gonna be hella weird and historically inaccurate.~Maria's POV~

I'm walking home, hugging my coat around my arms. Of course, I'm dreading the moment i step through the door. James will be waiting for me, seeing as i left without his permission. Normally i wouldn't do such a thing, knowing the consequences, but i had to. I couldn't stand a moment longer in that wretched house. I suppose my face is conveying the dread i feel more so than i thought, because a young man stops me.

"Excuse me, are you okay?" He's smiling, but his eyes convey genuine concern. I shrug up my coat a bit more, and adjust my hair, not wanting him to see the bruises on my arms, face, and neck from last night.

"I-I'm fine" I take a deep breath and force a smile. The gentleman frowns at me.

"No, you're not. I may be insane, but I'm not stupid. But you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." The stranger smiles kindly again, and i try to smile back. "At least let me help you get home."

My eyes widen and my throat goes dry as i think abiut what James would do if he saw me walking with another man. He may not love me, but he would still freak out and...

"Nononono!" I shake my head repeatedly. He frowns again, confused. I fix my hair again, realizing the movement of my head may have revealed one. He steps cautiously towards me and I flinch, drawing unwanted memories of James advancing in the same way for much less pure motives. His eyes seem to betray his realization. I can feel the dread get worse. He knows... He'll try protect me and walk me home, James will-

"Relax." He cooes, and suddenly I'm curled in his arms. "I understand."

"Y-you do??" He nods.

"I won't walk you home..." A feeling of relief settles over me. "But the next time you get out, I'd like to meet up. Here's my number... just shoot me a text when and where." I nod, taking the slip of paper. He lets me go and I continue home, slipping the paper into the safest place i can think of- my bra. Not that it's completely safe from James there, but safer than anywhere else. I take a deep breath and knock timidly on the door. As expected, James opens it, roughly grabbing my hair and dragging me inside, slamming the door behind me.

"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU??" He screams. I see Susan out of the corner of my eye and i mouth "hide" to her, even though i suspected it was already too late. From the tears streaming down her face, it looked like James had taken out some of his anger on her. My poor Susan... she wasn't supposed to have been out of school yet. She gratefully obliges, running to her room. James pulls me up to whisper in my ear by my hair, causing me to wince.

"I asked you a question, bitch..." He sneers, although I know he doesn't actually want my answer. He throws me against the wall, and i whimper. "You KNOW not to leave unauthorized!!" He slaps me, hard, leaving my wet face stinging. He wraps both his hands around my neck, pinning me on the wall to where my feet don't touch the ground and leaning in, all of his weight on me. I can't breathe. I. can. not. breathe. Panic starts to settle in and i thrash at his hold. He sneers and lets me go just before everything goes black.

I wake up later, naked and sore. I already know what happened while i was unconscious, i don't need a horrified Susan to tell me. She climbs over to me, handing me some clothes, pills for the pain, and a slip of paper.

"He got mad about this..." She says, referenceing the paper. I look at it and curse. It had that man's number on it... Susan looks sympathetically at me. I get dressed, wincing. Susan hugs me. It's not the first time she's helped me recover like this, and it won't be the last.

"Where is he?" I whisper coarsely, my throat dry.

"He left to go somewhere. It's just us." My daughter comforts me. She brings me a water bottle and we show each other our worst bruises, seeing exactly how bad it is. Soon, she falls asleep in my arms and she almost looks like the little girl she should be. I let the tears drag me into a nightmare-filled sleep.

It's not long before i have permission to go to the grocery store. My best and only friend picks me up, handing me my phone. I keep it at her house because i know James would take it if he knew. Immediately, I punch in the number.

3:17 pm

[Me] Hey... it's the girl you talked to.

[Gentleman] Hey! Are you ready to talk?

[Me] Do you mind if I bring a friend?

[Gentleman] Of course not

[Me] We'll see you at the cafe next to the grocery store.

[Gentleman] Will do.

I sigh and put my phone away. Peggy sighs and breaks the silence.

"How bad?" I fight the tears coming to my eyes again, recalling The night before last and yesterday, the last times he had beaten me.

"Pretty bad." I sniff, adjusting my scarf, thankful for the cold weather. "He-He's hitting Susan now, too." Peggy turns to me in horror. She starts another one of her rants, again peppering it with offers of living with her. Just like always, i turn her down, knowing James would get to me anyhow. We pull up to the cafe and get out, me limping slightly but doing my best to hide it. I see the man at a table, and he waves us over. He stands up and kisses both of our hands. Peggy giggles but i can't bring myself to. He notices my reaction.

"Please, sit down." He gestures to the cold hard bench, and although i already know it will hurt, i ease onto it, wincing anyways. Comcern plahs across his face and he waits patiently for me to begin talking. We sit in silence for a few minures before i take in a deep breath.

"Let's start this the right way, tje normal way. Hi, I'm Maria Reynolds, and this is my friend Peggy Schuyler." Peggy waves, and the man smiles.

"A pleasure to meet both of you. I'm George Fredrick."

HAHA WEREN'T EXPECTING THAT WERE YOU? Probably expecting Alex, but nooo... I'm far more obscure than that