"She...
She screams in silence..."
---Green Day, "She".
Summer stumbled into the tiny bathroom, with its unfriendly warning of "Employees Only". The world spun around her, determined to do whatever it could to get her out, and one tiny hand clutched at the rim of the scum-ridden sink. She dropped to her knees and put her hand to her mouth worriedly. She checked the reflex action – she mustn't bite her nails. Not again. Not after he- not after what happened last time.
She dropped her hands, and looked over them nervously. The skin around the tiny slivers of cut-too-short nail was still red and raw. She clawed her way back up, and raised herself slowly over the basin, every movement an effort. Yes, there it was. The mirror. She studied her reflection critically. Can't look sad. Can't look too happy. Don't want to look like she's feeling sorry for herself. Don't want to look like she's got some dirty little secret...
Not after he- not after what happened last time. She settled on a blandly neutral expression, that cleanly erased all the rare traces of the person she once had been. Her feelings, emotions – all wiped away in that one instant. She was like a clean white sheet of paper, perhaps crumpled and torn but still ready, still waiting for someone to tell her how to act, how to feel. Still waiting for him.
She noticed with a shock that she still had that scarlet smear of blood and tears branded on her face, showing up brilliantly against her white skin, like a vicious act of defiance. She gave an involuntary shudder, disgusted with herself. She turned on a tap, and splashed some water on her face, gasping aloud at the shock of the icy water on her tender skin.
Suddenly, it all became clear, as though a tinted glass in front of her eyes had been shattered, or a hazy mist had vanished. My God, it was true. She was ugly! Her greasy, unkempt hair was scraped back, she had massive purply-blueish bags under her tired eyes, and a red mark with bruising was spread over one side of her face.
She'd tried to tidy herself, to look pretty again, for him, because she loved him, and wanted to prove that. It hadn't worked though, he'd asked her why she was "tarting herself up". Was there some other man? No, she told herself, don't blame him! It's not his fault, it's not just that. He was right. Everything he'd said, he was right. She had no inner beauty, none at all. And he wasn't being harsh, she'd deserved a few home truths, it was for her own safety after all. This way, she wouldn't ever get above herself and besides, he loved her anyway. And the most important thing was – he was right again – she was lucky to have him, very lucky.
She went out, with a bright, fake smile plastered on her face, contrasting deeply with the pure sadness that was hiding in her eyes and weighing on her heart.
She went out, to meet the man she called "loving husband" and everyone else called "cruel tyrant".
Unlikely-to-bear-it: Yay, I'm really glad you liked it. I'm also glad you thought it was unrealistic, I was a little worried about the whole Freddy-lapping-up-the-beer, I thought it might be taking it all alittle too far. This is a really short chapter, I'm sorry to say, and there's not much Freddy in it either. In fact, scratch that, there's NO Freddy in it. Don't worry, though, he'll be in it next chapter. Oh, and in case after reading this chapter you think that he's Summer's husband - he's not! Aww, however much of a drunken wreck Freddy might be, I'd never let him hurt his wife - or any one - 'cause he's not like that. He might hurt some guy, but not a girl. Anyway, I hope I updated soon enough, but I'm not sure where this is going myself!
Marcy Bayd: Whoa, a lot of 'good's there! Well, three actually, but still... I'm glad you like it, and I hope I carry on with my good start! ;o) Thanks for the review!
thesolitary-dragon: for some reason I always want to put a 'one' in there, like theonesolitary-dragon, I don't know why. Anyways, nice review, the longest I've got! only really annoys me when it's being stupid, and just says "bad gateway" all the time, I don't really have any other problems with it. Wow, there's a lot of nice compliments in that review, lol! The words 'awesome' 'powerful' and 'beautiful' really took me by surprise, I was like... is this meant for me? And of course you're good enough, if you hadn't written your fic then I'd never have been inspired to write this one. So there. I win! It's not that angst/seriousness isn't "my deal", exactly, and comedy's all very well, but I can never combine the two. It's either a totally happy, light piece with no real meaning, or it's total angst, and way overboard, so to speak, like this one. I'm really, really glad you liked it, I think this is the first review I've ever got off you! The Recess fics of yours I read were... "Always By My Side", a couple of your one-shots, "Where The Skeletons Lie" and "Kiss Me At Midnight." Poetic? Wow, that's... wow, lol. I'm really... pleasantly surprised. Look at all my "...", if these were words then I'd be speechless! Anyways, thanks for the awesome review and don't ask me where this story is going because I, myself, really have no idea! So, I hope you like this chapter, too.
i am phsyopathic: I'm really glad you liked it, I hope I updated soon enough for you!
i am not a chipmunk: I feel soooo honored! Speechless? Really? Wow! I just... wow! Whoa, a threat if I don't update! That's... quite worrying, lol... Yeah, I do write quite a lot of light stories, but after a while, when you're depressed, all the happiness gets quite annoying, and I have to get out all the badness by making all my characters as messed up as possible. Let them go through the pain so I don't have to! Um, please don't spaz out, I've updated haven't I? Oh, and you don't think the Freddy drinking the beer out of the carpet was a little too much, do you?