Opened Sores by Zarah Smith (uplifting books for women .TXT) 📖

onto the other side of the room.

"That damn boyfriend of yours is messing with your fucking head!" He screamed in anger still reaching for her.

Mr. Cameron caught her foot and she fell onto the floor face first. He heard someone outside of the house and wondered who was here. He looked at her daughter with a smirk on his face. She was holding her nose, trying to stop the bleeding. She got up and ran past her father and down the stairs. Mr. Cameron heard a knock on the door and went to open it. On his way down the stairs, he could hear Alyssa in the bathroom.

He opened the door with a devious smirk on his face. He looked Gavin up and down and almost slammed the door shut on his face. Mr. Cameron smiled softly putting on the fake charade that he knew Gavin could see right through. He almost jumped up in happiness when he seen the smile on Gavin's face turn into a death glare.

"Gavin!" Mr. Cameron spoke, making sure he was loud enough for Alyssa to hear. "How can I help you on this lovely day?"

"Is Alyssa home?" He asked clenching his fist tightly. It took all the strength in his body to not hit Mr. Cameron.

"She's," He started, smirking to himself. "In the bathroom cleaning herself up. But please, let yourself in."

Alyssa came out of the bathroom hoping to find her father gone. She watched Gavin carefully navigate his way around her dad and cursed herself for coming out of the bathroom with her hand still to her nose. The tissue was becoming bloodier the longer she stayed and stared at the two of them. Gavin's eyes grew wide when he spotted the blood. He walked over to her and reached for her nose.

"Alyssa, what happened?" He asked with concern in his voice.

"Oh, you know her," Mr. Cameron started. "She's such a klutz. But that's okay. I'm sure you'll watch her so she doesn't hurt herself even more."

Gavin glared at Mr. Cameron in disbelief, he wouldn't buy his story for the world. He saw a dark glint in Mr. Cameron's eyes as he watched him turn around and head out the door humming. He turned his attention back to Alyssa and his face softened.

"Really, Alyssa, what happened?" He asked hoping to get the truth.

"I fell," She answered looking down at her feet.

"Now you know I don't believe that," Gavin pleaded. "What happened?"

"Well, why not? It's what happened," She said raising her voice. She didn't mean to be rude about it but she didn't want to talk about it. "Never mind that. Please, can we just go upstairs and forget about the cause and take care of the effect?"

"Sure," Gavin whispered frowning.

Alyssa lay her head in Gavin's lap as she held a clean tissue to her nose. She closed her eyes and felt Gavin run his fingers through her hair. After what seemed like ten minutes she threw the tissue away and her nose finally stopped bleeding. She lay quietly in her bed slowly drifting asleep. Gavin waited until she was sleeping to get up. He kissed her on the forehead and whispered a silent goodnight before seeing Alyssa fidget.

She moved around trying to find something next to her but only felt the covers underneath her. Her eyes shot open and she quickly sat up. She looked at the door and wondered if Gavin had already left. She scrambled to her feet and ran towards the door before feeling a hand on her wrist. She quickly turned around and hit whoever was holding her as first instinct. She heard someone groan and looked at the person who was hunched over in pain.

"Gavin!" She yelped. "I-I'm sorry!"

"Shit, Alyssa," He mumbled. "That hurt."

"I-I'm sorry, really I am," She said quickly running to his side, her eyes tearing up.

"Don't worry about it," He said. "But that's some punch you got there."

"Yeah," She slightly laughed. "God, Gavin. I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, Alyssa. Seriously," He comforted. "Are you okay?"

Alyssa walked over to the bed and sat down. She took a deep breath and felt tears trying to escape her eyes. She put her hands over her face so Gavin wouldn't see her cry. Gavin wrapped his arms around her and let her lean on him. He was so confused but he didn't want to push his luck.

"Alyssa, what's wrong?" He asked. "Why are you crying?"

"I-I'm sorry," She mumbled repeatedly.

"No, Alyssa it's okay! Honestly, please don't cry." He said holding her.

"Please, don't go," She sobbed. "I'm so scared. Just don't go."

"I won't, don't worry." He kissed her on the forehead again and lay down with her still in his arms. He didn't know what was wrong but there has to be a reason for it and for some reason he had the feeling it was because of her father.

****

"Alyssa!!" Mr. Cameron yelled storming up the stairs.

Alyssa jumped up from her bed making Gavin jump too. She stood up as she seen the door fly open making her heart jump. As soon as Gavin was able to reach his composure he glared at Mr. Cameron. Alyssa wobbled on her two legs, still groggy from sleeping. She watched her father smirk as Gavin took her hand.

"What're you still doing here?" Mr. Cameron asked Gavin.

"What does it look like?" Gavin spat.

"Don't get smart with me boy," Mr. Cameron said.

"Whatever," Gavin said looking towards Alyssa.

"Now, if you don't mind you need to leave." Mr. Cameron said stepping away from the doorway.

"Actually, I do mind," Gavin says remaining stationary. "I'm not leaving here without Alyssa."

"Well, it's not like you have a choice." Mr. Cameron smiled.

"Go," Alyssa whispered letting go of Gavin's hand.

"What?" Gavin said surprised.

"I'll be okay, just go." She whispered.

"But, Alyss—"

"You heard her, now go!" Mr. Cameron said almost yelling, growing impatient by the second. He watched as Alyssa kissed him and rolled his eyes.

"Is this love fest over yet? I mean it's cute and all but you gotta go," He pretended to yawn.

Gavin reluctantly walked out of the house. Alyssa watched him go and was tempted to run after him. When he left her father was staring at her like a madman.

"How was it?" He asked smirking. "You know, the kiss."

"Fine," Alyssa mumbled looking down.

She heard the bedroom door click shut and her head instantly shot up. Before she could react her father was already pinning her to the bed. He laughed a menacing laugh sending chills down her spine. Alyssa was sure the little hairs on her neck was sticking up as tall as they could. She got a whiff of his breath and noticed that there wasn't the usual smell of alcohol. He was totally sober and this scared her even more. She almost understood if he was dead drunk but not if he was flat out sober.

Mr. Cameron kissed Alyssa on her cheek and laughed. He ran is fingers through her hair quickly pulling the locks and making it hurt. He bit down on her earlobe hard and listened to Alyssa whimper.

"Don't worry, you can make all the noise in the world you want, " He said. "No one will hear you."

Alyssa tried to fight back, hitting him as hard as she could but it didn't even bother him. She struggled so hard for an escape, hoping that some miracle could happen. She felt her father start to rip of her clothes and she screamed. He covered her mouth with his hand and yelling a "be quiet" to her. Her cries were muffled and faint as she kept fighting.

After what seemed like hours of fighting, she finally gave up and let her father have his fun. It lasted for hours and she cried and cried until she couldn't cry anymore. When it was all over her father crushed his lips to hers one last time before laughing as he left the house.

Alyssa's body was shaking as tears slowly spilled from her face. She didn't move at first and just laid there on her bed. When she stepped of her bed she tripped over a shoe that was left on the floor. She fell on something sharp and her eyes teared up a little. She looked at the ground and saw it covered in glass by her bed. She hadn't even notice it was there.

Alyssa noticed the blood slowly seeping out of her hand. She looked at the pieces of glass on the ground and touched a huge chunk of it with her bloody hand. She almost forgot how it felt to be cut open. She stayed there and stared at the glass like she was in a trance. Alyssa picked up the largest piece of glass that had her blood on it. She forgot. How could she possibly forget?

Chapter 15: After Shock

"Alyssa Hun, are you okay?" Mrs. Cameron asked from the other side of the locked bedroom door.

Hearing her mothers voice unexpectedly made Alyssa jump. She wasn't going to say anything hoping she'd go away. It was six-thirty and Alyssa wasn't up to part for going to school. She cleared her throat before speaking after changing her mind about talking.

"Yea, I'm fine mom." She said. "I'm just feeling a little sick."

"Do you want to go to school?" Mrs. Cameron asked.

"No, not really," She replied.

"Okay," Mrs. Cameron said. "I'll be home around eight. I'm working a little late today."

"Okay," Alyssa said as she stood next to her bedroom door. She put her hand on the door knob slightly twisting it open so that she could whisper.

"M-mom?" She said hesitantly.

"Yes," Mrs. Cameron said knitting her eyebrows together in confusion.

"W-where were you?" Alyssa asked replaying the memory of her and her father. "L-last night."

"I went," Mrs. Cameron started, looking to her left and seeing her husband watch her. "To hang out with my friends."

She stared at Alyssa intently as if to say that she could not tell her right now but she'll tell her later. She gave a quick smile before hopping down the stairs.

****

Gavin looked around wondering where Alyssa was. She hasn't been to school for the past three days. She wouldn't answer any of his calls or reply to any of his text messages and he became filled with concern and worry.

After school that Wednesday afternoon, Gavin immediately went to Alyssa's house. He knocked on the door anxiously waiting for someone to answer him. A few short minutes later Mrs. Cameron greeted Gavin with a smiling face.

"Gavin!" She exclaimed. "What a nice surprise. Please, come in."

"Thank you." Gavin said giving her a soft smile. "Is Alyssa here?

"She's in her room," Mrs. Cameron answered frowning. "Um, Gavin?"

"Yeah?" He asked nervously.

"Is, is she okay?" Mrs. Cameron asked hesitantly.

"Um," He paused debating on if he should say yes and lie or no and tell the truth. "I don't know."

"She's been a little," Mrs. Cameron paused, searching for a word. "Different."

"How so?" He asked.

"She's been unusually quiet," She said slowly. "Her door is always locked and I haven't seen her out of her room all week. Much less in it. I mean I know I'm