I'LL PAINT YOU MORNINGS OF GOLD
In the haze of all that had happened, the words rang clear.
"Thanks for forgiving me. I love you. I will never hurt you again."
They fell like raindrops on her heartstrings and her stomach knotted up. Those words. Not the three that every girl hopes to hear, but the ones that followed "I will never hurt you again." She believed him. She knew he must be sincere, or else why would he have bothered. She reached desperately for him and touched his face.
"I love you, too."
It was a piercingly bright day outside and the morning rose up over her body as she tugged the covers over her head. She knew that at any moment someone would come in and wake her, but she needed another three minutes in the warmth of her covers. She felt safe there, and as she lay, curled up in a ball, she remembered the dream she had just awoken from.
She'd been awake for three days waiting for someone. She didn't know who. Rick? No, that wasn't possible, because after the third day Rick came to her and demanded to know where she had been. She explained over and over that she had been waiting, and he kept asking what for. Then he grabbed her by the wrist and began to drag her. He dragged her to his car and put her in the trunk. The car seemed to hit every bump in the road as she lay very still in the dark, trying to keep her bearings. Finally it stopped, and she did not feel the relief she thought she would have. She was terrified as she heard the footsteps crunching over the gravel and scared she shut her eyes so that she wouldn't have to see his face so twisted in anger as it always seemed to be. The trunk latch popped and a cool breeze flew over her as light flooded her eyes. She squinted and shuddered, waiting for Rick to speak. Instead, she felt a pair of strong arms lift her from the trunk as if she was weightless. She felt safe, and knew she must be being rescued. She leaned into the arms, and squinted up into the face of her hero, but at that very moment, she awoke.
It was the same sort of dream she had been having almost nightly since she got back together with Rick. She ignored them for the most part, dismissing their warnings and convincing herself of how happy she was. But now something new had occurred. She'd been rescued. She knew it must mean something, she was a strong believer in omens and could no longer ignore the signs the dreams were sending. But who was going to rescue her? No one else had ever even looked at her the way Rick did, so why would they want to save her from him? As she pondered a voice shattered her thoughts.
"Terri, get up or you'll be late for school!"
She shook off the covers and stood too quickly. Her head spun and she was reminded of why she was constantly so dizzy and faint. It was, after all, Rick who had landed her in the hospital…..No. She shouldn't think that way. Rick was the only guy who had ever loved her and seen past her weight. He called her beautiful, kissed her like he meant it, and treated her like she was the only girl in the whole world. Why would she give that up because he made a few mistakes? Well, more than a few…