Maya

Riley left her window open, so I climb in. I settle down on the cushions of the bay window with the few tears I can still squeeze out of my eyes. I hug my knees as my body hurts all over. It's dark in Rileys room because she's not home. No one is.
/At least not until tomorrow. But all of a sudden, I hear the apartment door open and close and light floods into the hallway of Rileys open door. My body stiffens and my heart is pounding in my chest. I don't know how I would even defend myself toan
intruder in my fragile state.

I can hear footsteps in the hall and someone muttering to themselves. Something heavy is being thrown into a room and I hear a clicking sound. I then hear the washing machine turn on and I become more curious than frightened. I uncurl myself fromthe
spot I'm sitting from and carefully dare to investigate who's with me in the Matthews apartment. I have my phone in my hand just in case I have to call the cops.

I creep into the hallway and I now can hear someone singing in one of the rooms. And as I get closer to the open door that has the only light on, I start to recognize the voice that's singing "While My Guitar Gently Sleeps". I silently stand inthe
doorway listening to Josh sing as he does his laundry. As he gets to the chorus, I decide to sing along with him. Josh drops the shirt in his hands once he hears my voice and turns to face me.

"Maya, you startled me." Josh says to me and I watch his alarmed face change to a more worried one. I then become aware of what he's looking at and it makes me want to hide. "Maya, who did this to you?" Josh softly asks me.

Instead of answering his question, I start singing, lowly, where we left off in the song. Josh dares to move closer to me and I feel too paralyzed to move. I shut my eyes as I continue to sing. I then feel the soft touch of Josh's fingertipstouch the
bruise on my cheek and I wince at the tenderness of it. I reopen my eyes as I reach the end ofthe song and I meet Joshs heartbreaking blue eyes looking into mine.

"I can't go back there." I whisper with a new batch of tears starting to fall from my eyes and I'm surprised that my body can still produce them. "I'm sorry" I find myself apologizing.

"Maya, I'm feeling a little lost here. If you give me some clues, maybe I can help you better." Josh tells me while gently touching my arm.

"It's Lucas. His temper is out of control and I know he's cheating on me. And this," I point to my bruise. "This has got to stop." I open up to Josh.

"You're telling me that he's done this to you before?" Josh asks means I recoil from his touch and from the disgust inhis voice.

I turn and leave Josh standing where he is and I make my way into the living room area and curl up on the couch. I start singing "Across The Universe" as I bring my knees to my chest. I feel the cut that's surrounded by the bruise that's below myleft
eye throb. I dare to touch it and regret doing so. I bring my finger in front of my face and find blood on my fingertip. I then painfully get off the couch and make my way to the bathroom to clean my cut and I find Josh sitting at the kitchentable.

Once I get into the bathroom, I brace myself as I turn on the light to look at my face in the mirror. What I see looking back at me looks grotesque. The cut is bright red and the puffy bruise is turning purple and green. I find a washcloth and

a bottle of peroxide to clean my cut with. I pour some of the peroxide onto the washcloth and then gently dab it on my cut. I cry out from the stinging and then I see Josh appear in the bathroom by my side.

"Let me help." Josh calmly says to me and I remove the washcloth from my cheek to study it before washing the blood off of it before I hand it to Josh. "Try concentrating on your breathing as I do this." Joshinstructs me to do as he works

at cleaning my cut.

I close my eyes as I start to do as Josh tells me to do. His touch is so gentle, but I still find myself wincing every time feel him touch my bruise. Josh starts singing "I've Just Seen A Face" and I can't help but to smile. Listening to Josh singis
helping me be distracted from the pain I'm feeling.

"Okay, you're all cleaned up." I hear Josh speak and I open my eyes again.

"Thank you, Josh" I tell him with the tiniest of smiles as we stand only inches apart.

"It was no problem Maya." Josh replies as he washes his hands. "Where do you plan on sleeping?" He asks me causally.

"I don't know. Rileys room,or the couch." I answer with a shrug.

"I'll stay with you." Josh volunteers without being asked.

"Alright." I say with a slow nod of my head and the last thing I remember before drifting off to sleep is hearing Josh softlysinging "Blackbird".

With my eyes closed, last nights events come flooding back to me

"Just admit it! I know you're cheating!" I scream with tears streaming down my face.

"You want me to do that, don't you?" Lucas barks at me with a dangerous look in his eyes. "To just tell you only what you want to hear." He laughs as he picks up an empty beer bottle. "You want to know?" He then breaks the bottle as he comes closer to me. "She tastes better and fucks better." Lucas growls.

I stand frozen as Lucas staggers towards me. "Lucas, don't. Please, don't do this." I beg as I feel broken glass on my skin.

"Maya." I hear Josh calling out my name over and over again and finally I slowly open my eyes to finding him next to me on the couch.

"What time is it?" I ask taking notice that it's still dark out.

"Three o'clock in the morning." Josh yawns after checking his phone.

"Oh." Is all I speak as I go to wrap the blanket tighter around me as I get off of the couch to go into the kitchen to get something to drink. I find myself a water bottle and go to sit at the kitchen table instead of going back to the couch.

"That must have been some dream you were having before. You were thrashing around and making a lot of noise in your sleep." Josh tells me as he joins me at the table.

I look at his gentle eyes as he sits across from me. "It was a nightmare." I tell him. "A living nightmare." I correct myself as I drink my water. "I'll be right back, I'm just going to go to the bathroom." I say as I get up from the table and Joshjust
nods his head in acknowledgment.

Once I'm back in the bathroom, I grip both my hands on the sink and I just feel like screaming, but I know I won't. If I were to scream right now, Josh would be in here in a heartbeat. I'm not looking for anymore questions tonight. I'll have to

answer the millions of questions that Riley and her parents will have for me when they return home from Philadelphia later.

Before I return to Josh, I splash some cold water on my face. I step back out into the hallway and I hear Josh singing "Something" to himself. I pause where I am so I can listen to him and the song makes my eyes tear up, but in a good way. And oncehe
finishes singing, I finally make my way back to the kitchen table. I then finish my water bottle and just sit looking into Josh's eyes. Neither of us speak for I don't know how long.

"Everything's going to be alright." Josh tells me as he reaches for my hands fromacross the table just as soon as I watch the front door open. "I'm right here." Josh reassures me as I look up and make eye contact with Riley.

Authors Note: I know this chapter is a tad rough and I'm sorry for making Lucas the bad guy in this story. Please give this story a try. It just sorta came to me and I felt like I needed to write it out and give it a try to post it on
here. I don'tblame anyone who has a problem with any of this chapter. I'm hoping it gets better from here on. And if you haven't recognized the songs I used, they're all Beatles songs. Highly recommend listening to them if you're not familiar.
Anyways, please, leavereview the no matter what your take on this story so far is! I'd appreciate it! :)